Page 47 of Her Chosen Protector

That’s when she heard it. Commands in Spanish. The secret police were entering the building.

“We’ve got to try,” Asher said grimly.

C H A P T E R 1 1

He had to get her to safety. He had to. Never again was someone he cared about going to die on his watch.

He should never have let her try to help with the coward under the desk. Asher shoved harder at the beam, trying to lift it out of the way so he could get to the safety bar and open the goddamn door.

It was too heavy. He stepped back a moment and put his goggles back on. He needed to take a closer look at the door itself. That’s when he saw the casing was now mangled metal that basically welded the door shut. Nothing but C-4 was going to get them out of there, and he heard the secret police getting closer.

“The vault,” Eden said as she yanked at his arm.

“What?”

“We’re screwed. We’re either going to be captured and tortured or die. I don’t like any of those options. To the vault.”

Is she insane?

She yanked at his arm again.

“Explain,” he demanded as he refused to move.

“No time.” She started down the stairs.

Dammit, she knew he would follow her. And he did. As soon as her bloody shoes slipped on the stairs, he was there to steady her. He pushed through the door to the basement. She kicked off her shoes and ran down the hall until she got to the bars that encased the vault. She looked down at the keycode. She was scrambling for something in her skirt pocket.

Keycode! Rafa!

“Kane!” Asher yelled into his mic.

“He’s busy. It’s Leo. What do you need?” Leo’s voice was a sea of calm.

“I need the gate to the vault opened. It’s a keypad. Unlock it now. Then unlock the vault.”

“Coming right up.”

The longest ten seconds of his life ticked by, and then a green light came on the keypad. Asher shoved open the gate and rushed Eden inside. The gate crashed closed behind him. “Lock it, Leo.”

“Done.”

He and Eden skidded in front of the vault’s combination keypad. “Open the vault, Leo.”

“Wait a minute.”

There was silence.

Asher saw Eden looking intently at a piece of paper in her hand.

“Fuck!” she cursed vehemently. Nothing new in that.

“What?”

“It’s too dark. Give me your flashlight. I can’t read Suzanne’s writing.

He’d dropped it during one of the tank assaults. “Don’t have it. What are you trying to read?”

“It’s the combination to the vault. Suzanne gave it to me and Leland, said we might need to hide in it as a last resort,” he heard the panic in her voice.