Chapter 496
Chapter 496:
“Move,” Kael ordered.
As they walked down the hall, Skye saw Manager King watching the security monitors in a glass booth. He saw her. He saw Kael. He looked down at his chest, realizing his lanyard felt light.
His face went pale.
He picked up the phone.
Skye knew what that meant. He wasn’t calling for help. He was calling Elena.
The elevator dinged, and Kael shoved her inside. He swiped his own card—a lower-clearance one—and pressed the button for the Executive Level.
“You think you’re clever,” Kael muttered, watching her reflection in the polished metal doors. “But the boss knows everything. He knew you’d try to run p>
“If he knew,” Skye countered, wincing as the card dug into her neck, “why did he have to hire you? Did his old dogs lose the scent p>
Kael’s eye twitched. “Shut up p>
The elevator ascended. Skye watched the floor numbers. She was going up, away from the servers, away from escape.
But she had the key.
As long as she had the key, she had a chance.
She just had to survive whatever waited for her upstairs.
The hallway to Lucian’s office was a gauntlet. Kael marched Skye forward, his grip unrelenting.
Ahead, a group of maintenance staff pushed a heavy cart full of linens and cleaning supplies. The corridor was narrow.
“Make way!” Kael barked.
The staff pressed themselves against the wall. One of them—a man in a blue jumpsuit with a cap pulled low and a face mask—fumbled with the cart, causing it to swerve slightly into Skye’s path.
Skye collided with him.
“Watch it!” Kael shoved the man back.
In the chaos of the collision, Skye felt a warm hand press against her uninjured palm. A tiny, hard object was pushed into her skin.
The man leaned in, his eyes meeting hers for a fraction of a second. They were familiar. Intelligent.
En𝗷oу 𝗋𝗲а𝘥𝗂𝗇𝘨 𝗅е𝗴𝖺l𝗅𝘆 𝗼𝗻 bе𝗹𝘯𝗼v𝗲𝗅ѕ.сo𝘮
He whispered a single phrase in flawless, rapid French: “Minuit. La Voûte.” (Midnight. The Vault p>
William. Alistair’s chief intelligence officer. The man who could blend into a wall.
Amy, the head pit boss who had been trailing them, turned the corner just as the contact broke. Her eyes narrowed. “Who is that?” Amy screeched, pointing a manicured finger. “He passed her something! I saw it p>
Kael spun around, his hand going for his weapon. “Hey! You! Stop p>
William didn’t run immediately. He dropped a bottle of cleaning fluid. It shattered, filling the hallway with the pungent stench of ammonia.
“My eyes!” Skye screamed, covering her face and dropping to her knees, effectively blocking Kael’s path to William. “I can’t see p>
Kael stumbled over her. “Get off p>
By the time Kael regained his balance and looked down the hall, the man in the blue jumpsuit was gone. The stairwell door was swinging shut.
“Go after him!” Amy yelled at the other guards.
“No,” Kael growled, hauling Skye to her feet. “The boss wants her. You chase the janitor p>
Amy glared at Skye. “She has something. Search her p>
Skye held up her hands, trembling. She had already palmed the tiny object—a micro-earpiece—and, under the pretense of wiping the “chemical burn” from her face, she slipped it deep into her ear canal, hiding it beneath her hair.