Page 17 of SEAL's Tempest
Tempest turned to see Josh in the middle of the lab as he took in the pristine surroundings.
“Good idea. Check each of the glass cabinets for a small smiley face sticker. That’s the one we need to find. You can start on that side. Just don’t open the cabinet if you find it first.”
“Got it. Don’t open. But a smiley face, huh? With all the high-tech security, that’s how they designated the tech?” Josh laughed.
Tempest grinned. It was kind of ridiculous after all the security measures they’d gone through to get into the room.
The fifth cabinet Tempest checked had the sticker. “Found it.”
Sweat slid down her back and prickled against her forehead. She couldn’t wait to get out of the damn bunny suit. Working in one of them every day would make her nuts.
“What can I do to help?” Josh asked as he walked over.
She handed him the box she’d been carrying. “You can unwrap that and open it for me. I need to find the latch to disable to safeguard.”
“Oh, joy. Try not to blow us up, okay?”
Tempest winked. “No problem. It’s not part of mission protocol.”
Josh chuckled as he unwrapped the box that would protect the chips until she could pass them on to the techs who’d be waiting on base. “I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Yes, very good.”
A moment later, Tempest found the button. With a sigh of relief, she slid open the door and grabbed the three trays of chips inside. Josh held the case open as she placed each tray in a secure slot built into the box, then closed the lid and latched it.
“Is that it?” Josh asked.
“Not quite. We can’t leave any trace of the lab behind.”
“How do they expect us to demolish this building? I don’t have explosives with me. Do you?”
“No, but we don’t need them. The entire building is wired to self-destruct. Once I enter the correct sequence in the keypad by the entry door, we’ll have five minutes to clear the building before it implodes.”
Josh nodded. “Makes things easier.”
“Yes, it does. Trust me, I don’t always have it this easy. Let’s get out of here. I can’t wait to get out of this suit.”
“Me, either. I feel like I’m in one of those zippy bag things,” Josh said.
Tempest chuckled. It was an excellent analogy. Now that the chips were secured in the airtight case, the clean room protocols were no longer necessary. Tempest breathed a sigh of relief as she took the mask off and stepped out of the white suit.
“I’d lose my mind if I had to wear that for work every day,” Josh muttered as he tossed his suit on the floor.
“Me, too. They couldn’t pay me enough,” Tempest responded as they stepped out of the lab. She didn’t bother to close any of the doors since the building wouldn’t be standing soon. Besides, there was nothing left of value except the box she’d returned to her pack. But until she handed it off on base, the mission wasn’t complete.
They moved through the building quickly. Tempest was anxious to see her sister and rendezvous with the rest of the team at the EXFIL point. Too bad Murphy wasn’t done with them yet.
Thank goodness for the surveillance set up. If she hadn’t been able to check it prior to opening door to enter the print shop, they would have come face-to-face at least five men. It looked like they were trying to figure out how to open the door. With any luck at all they wouldn’t know she and Josh were already inside.Velniop.
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Josh murmured as they looked at the men who blocked their exit from the building. “Looks like Murphy has decided we haven’t been fucked with enough yet.”
“Funny. Who knew you had a sense of humor.” Tempest turned to see his grin. That smile helped diffuse the fear that tied her stomach in a knot.
“I’m devastated you didn’t realize this until now.” Josh grabbed his chest and pretended to be wounded.
Tempest grinned; she couldn’t help herself, even though she knew all of this was for her benefit. She wanted to tell him she was fine, that she’d been in worse situations—and alone.
“So sorry. I’ll try to do better in the future. She had the urge to stick her tongue out at him but stopped herself in time.
