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“I can’t believe I thought it was a good idea to bring you here,” he says under his breath. “Can’t believe I dragged you into this situation.”
“Don’t beat yourself over it. It’s not like you actually kidnapped the girl. I mean, you didn’t, right?”
Nik looks at me, his lips curving into a smile. “Not this time.”
“Well, good. For what it’s worth, I was putting myself into danger every day and twice on Sundays well before you came into my life,” I say, panting as I struggle to keep up with his pace.
“Kat, I’m getting you out of here safe. No matter what,” he says, his tone allowing no doubts.
I sigh. “Nik, I know. But running away from an angry mob army is a little outside of my field of expertise. So, lead the way, and I’ll follow.”
The look he gives me is so scorching hot I’m mildly concerned it will melt me in the spot. He pulls me suddenly against his chest, giving me a quick, rough kiss before releasing me, a smirk on his face.
“There’s the garage,” Vladmir says, pointing to a large building a few dozen yards away. We hurry towards it, trying to keep to the shadows, my hand still in Nik’s. The three of us make our way to the back of the building, and I groan in frustration when I see a locked gate separating us from Nik’s car. I can even spot it through the gate’s mesh; its gleaming dark exterior is so close, and yet so far.
Vladmir slams his fist against the gate, and Nik curses under his breath. We look around, trying to find some way to lower the gate and clear our access to the vehicle, but nada. No keys, no electronic panels, no nothing.
McGuire and his men—whose voices grow closer and closer by the second—must have a remote key to lower the gate.
“We’ll have to make a run for it,” Nik says. “On foot. Kat, I really think you should lose the shoes. I can carry you, but it’ll slow us down.”
“If we’re fast enough, we might lose them in the woods,” Vladmir says.
“Wait,” I say. “I think I see an access panel in the garage. It must lower the gate. I can climb it, get it to lower, and drive the car out. Give me the keys.”
Nik glances at the panel as I point at it, hesitating. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Kat,” he says. “What if it doesn’t control the gate? What if you can’t work it out? You’ll be stuck in there.”
“My plan will work. But even if it doesn’t, I can always climb back out, and we’ll make a run for it then.”
“We’d waste too much time—time we don’t have,” Nik says, glancing over his shoulder. Even I can tell McGuire’s men’s voices are growing louder. They’ll find us at any moment now.
“Nik—” I say with urgency. “I can do this. I know I can do it. You’ll just have to trust me.”
He studies me for an instant, and something I can’t put my finger on flashes over his expression. He takes a deep breath. Then, to my surprise, he nods and tosses me the keys.
I smile at him, and it’s my turn to steal a quick kiss. Before he can react, I step back and take a running start before leaping toward the gate. With a turn of my hips, I leverage my lower body until my legs swing over the top of the gate. Then, I jump from the top, landing gracefully on the ground, absorbing the fall’s impact and straightening myself.
Vladmir lets out an impressed whistle, and I look over my shoulder to find an amazed expression on his face and Nik’s.
With a smirk, I wink at them, hurrying toward the panel. “What did I tell you? Mad skills, baby,” I brag as I run across the vast garage.
“Kat…” Nik says, exasperation and amusement warring in his expression and tone. But his eyes burn with warmth for me, and I melt completely, foolish as I am.
“I’d say this amazing display of breaking-and-entering mastery will cost you, but honestly, you can’t afford me.” I wink at him again.
Nik groans. “You can hustle me for all I’m worth later if we make it out of this alive. Hurry now.”
“Don’t worry, miliy. For you, this one is on the house.”
Vladmir raises his eyebrows. I don’t even care. When I finally reach the panel, I flip it open and study it. “Feeling lucky tonight?” I ask Nik with a throaty voice.
He half laughs and half chokes on a groan. He rubs a hand over his face before sighing. “Kat.” His tone is as close as he’s ever been to begging.
“Ok, here’s the deal. I’ll dumb it down for you two civilians,” I say, as I work on the small keypad on the panel. “Usually, with this tech stuff, I get by with a little help from my friend A.J. But as it happens, I’m very familiar with this type of panel. It’s very run-of-the-mill. Now, here’s the catch—with this model, there are two things I can try. One will get the gate to open, but the other will sound an alarm. There’s no way of knowing which one is each.”
“You didn’t tell me any of this before you pirouetted your way in there,” Nik mutters through gritted teeth.
“Well, duh.” I shrug. “You’d never have gone for it. It’s a fifty-fifty situation. I’ll take those odds. Here goes nothing.”
