Chapter 18

18

Cody leaned against the heavy mahogany bookcase, his arms crossed, watching Paige with a mixture of admiration and trepidation. Her fingers moved with practiced efficiency as she assembled an array of specialized gear designed to bypass electronic locks. The soft clicks and whirs of the equipment were unnaturally loud in the tension-filled room.

Bridger looked up from the bag he was packing. "How many hostiles can we expect to encounter?"

Cody had been anticipating the obvious question. "None in the hallway. Usually three in the lab. Two techs and one armed security guard."

Paige wrinkled her nose. "Just one guard?"

Tai caught Cody's gaze. "Fewer people means fewer folks that can turn traitor, am I right?"

Cody forced himself to shrug casually, though the dig hit home. "Exactly. The Consortium's more likely to lean hard on security tech than people."

"Big mistake," Graham muttered.

Cody had to agree. No matter how sophisticated the tech, someone smarter would come along with a way to defeat it.

Paige looked up from the devices she was assembling. "How do we neutralize the workers?"

"Tranq darts," Mason insisted. "With silencers, they'll be on the ground before they know what hit them."

Cody rubbed his shoulder. No kidding. "Great idea," he lied.

There'd be no need for force. But he couldn't get into that now. Not without exposing his source. And that wasn't going to happen.

Bridger watched him quietly. "I can take out two, starting with the security guard. You good hitting the third? I'll assume your skills are up to speed?"

"Copy that." He'd pored over the team's bios a zillion times. Only Mason and Graham were better shots.

Bridger's gaze rested on Paige before he stared back at Cody. "They better be."

Cody stared back, letting his determination shine through. "There won't be a problem."

"Good to know." Bridger grinned, a harsh unfriendly expression. "I don't want to have to take you down again."

Across the antique rug, Tai and Paige huddled over a collection of sleek, black devices. Their hushed voices carried snippets of technical jargon as they prepped the team's comlinks, including one for Cody. The thought of being connected to their encrypted channel sent a conflicting surge of belonging and guilt through him.

No sense getting used to having a team. No matter how much he might wish things would be different, succeed or fail, this mission was a one-off.

He'd help them neutralize the Consortium's virus, bring Jason Reilly back into the fold, and disappear. He had faith that Paige and her team would put serious dents in the Consortium's ability to do business, but not even the Redemption Inc. crew could kill it.

Certainly not before the Consortium made him pay for his betrayal. Nope. After this mission, he disappeared. Permanently.

The scent of old leather and polished wood mingled with the faint odor of ozone from the electronic equipment. He inhaled deeply, trying to center himself. His gaze kept drifting back to Paige, noting the determined set of her jaw, the intensity in her eyes.

Suddenly, her hands stilled. Her head snapped up, eyes wide with realization. "This isn't going to work. The Consortium knows you're on the run. They'll have disabled your access codes."

But he didn't need his old access codes. What he had was better. Foolproof.

And he couldn't explain that to the team. Not the whole story, anyway. If he doled out the info bit by bit, need-to-know only, he'd get through this without having to reveal everything.

"I'm counting on it," he replied, his voice low and steady despite the rapid beating of his heart. "I've got a backdoor." He elaborated, choosing each word carefully. "A borrowed identity they won't know to look for." The words hung in the air, heavy with implication.

He went back to packing mission bags, his hands moving mechanically, loading duffels with an assortment of high-tech gadgetry designed to blind security cameras and silence alarms. The soft clink of metal on metal provided a rhythmic backdrop to the hushed planning session. His eyes, however, kept drifting towards Paige.

Age had only added to her beauty. The years had sanded off her rough edges, leaving behind a woman of wisdom and maturity that was utterly entrancing. A woman who still hated him. The thought sent a pang through his chest, sharp enough to make him fumble a delicate piece of equipment.

Graham shot him a questioning look. Cody shook his head, forcing himself to refocus on the task at hand.

The easy banter between Paige's team members washed over him, a tantalizing taste of camaraderie he knew he could never truly be part of.

Fenn's gravelly voice cut through his melancholy musings. "Hey, slick. We need more of those signal jammers."

Cody nodded, reaching for another box.

Across the room, Bridger and Kate huddled over a tablet, discussing team roles.

Cody inched closer. "There's something else you need to know."

All eyes turned to him, the sudden silence oppressive. "From the moment we get past the first lock, we'll have five minutes to make it into the lab itself. If we don't ..." He let the implication hang in the air.

"The whole complex automatically shuts down," Paige guessed.

Cody nodded, unable to look away from her piercing gaze. He wished he could tell her everything—about the Consortium, about the network of billionaires pulling strings from the shadows, about how, even if they succeeded today, it would never truly be over. But he couldn't. Some truths were too dangerous, even for her.

Instead, he turned back to the equipment, his movements precise and controlled. Five minutes to save the world. It would have to be enough.

Once they'd checked and rechecked their gear, Bridger clapped his hands. "Alright, people. Let's run through this one more time."

Fenn adjusted a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, adopting a nasal tone. "Right, so I'm Arnie Weiss, master plumber extraordinaire, here to fix the toilet in the East Wing."

Kate snorted, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "And I'm your long-suffering apprentice, Molly."

"Don't forget the ‘eau de sewage' perfume," Graham chimed in, waving a small vial of foul-smelling liquid. The team collectively recoiled, noses wrinkling in disgust.

Cody grunted. These guys were nothing if not innovative. Using the castle's notorious plumbing issues as cover was clever. The East Wing, being the oldest part of the building, was a perfect choice—close to their target and plagued with enough problems to justify their presence.

Paige stepped forward, her voice steady despite the gravity of the situation. "Once they're in, Fenn and Kate will open the maintenance access panel behind the third stall. Tai, that's where you come in."

Tai nodded, patting a sleek tablet tucked into his coveralls. "I'll loop the security feed, give you and Cody and Bridger time to enter the restroom and climb through into the tunnel."

The room fell silent as the reality of their task sank in. Cody could almost hear the rapid heartbeats of everyone present, a staccato rhythm of anticipation and fear.

"And then we're in the hallway," Cody added softly. "Once we get through the first set of locked doors, we'll have five minutes to reach the lab."

"More, if my diversion works," Bridger added.

Again, Cody's admiration for the team grew. Smart thinking, planning for failure. If things didn't go smoothly at the second and third barriers, Bridger would instigate the protocol they'd devised and play decoy.

Paige's eyes met his, a storm of emotions swirling in their depths. "Fifteen minutes to infiltrate one of the most secure facilities in the world and steal a virus that could end civilization as we know it." Her voice was tight, controlled. "No pressure, right?"

A nervous chuckle rippled through the group. They were placing their lives in his hands, trusting information he couldn't fully explain. The guilt was like a physical presence, pressing down on his chest.

As the team made their final preparations, checking equipment and synchronizing watches, Cody found himself wishing he could freeze this moment. Despite the tension, despite the danger ahead, there was a sense of purpose here, of belonging. Tomorrow, win or lose, he'd be alone again.