Home > Colt (Storm MC #10)(6)

Colt (Storm MC #10)(6)
Author: Nina Levine

“Reading.”

That gets me her eyes and I drag mine from her body to her face. “Anything good?”

“Lee Child’s latest book.”

Straightening, she closes the fridge and comes to sit on the couch next to me. “I know a lot of his readers weren’t a fan of that book, but I liked it.”

“Reacher is different in it, but I don’t mind the change. It keeps shit interesting.”

“I agree.” She yawns and I note the exhaustion lining her face now that we’re sitting this close. Her makeup hid it from a distance.

“How are you going with the network? You look ready for sleep.”

“It’s done, and yeah, I’m ready for sleep. But we have work to do.” She yawns again. “I just need a break for like twenty minutes or so and then I’ll be good to go again.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No. You?”

“What were you searching in the fridge for?”

“Nothing. It’s what I do when I’m working and need a break or when I’m procrastinating. I look for food. And trust me, I don’t need any more food. Not after inhaling four doughnuts.”

I move off the couch and grab a glass from the cupboard. Filling it with water from the water cooler, I take it to Echo who tracks my movements like she’s been trained to do so. She may be exhausted, but she’s nowhere near asleep.

“Thanks,” she says as I pass it to her. Surprise is clear in her eyes and I wonder at that. I wonder why me getting her a drink is something unexpected.

“So,” I say as I settle my ass on the edge of the table near the couch and cross my arms, “how’d you get roped into working with Zane?”

She holds up a hand. “Wait. You just got up to get me a drink, but not one for yourself?”

“Yeah. I figured you could do with some water since you haven’t drunk any in hours.”

More of that surprise fills her eyes, but she lets it go as she mutters, “Seriously,” before drinking most of the water.

“Seriously what?”

“No, that wasn’t directed at you.” At my frown, she elaborates. “It’s been a shitty year of shitty men for me, and then the day after I decide celibacy is the safest option going forward, the universe puts you in my life. A man who opens doors for women and who gets them drinks without being asked to. Seriously, the universe has a weird sense of humour.”

“Celibacy, huh?”

She finishes the drink. “You’d make that choice too if you’d been subjected to the men I have been.”

“So having a door opened for you and a drink given to you is enough for you to decide on a guy?”

“Fuck no, but it’s a start, and trust me, it’s a start that no other man has had this year.”

I’m about to tell her she’s been hanging out in the wrong places when a loud boom sounds from somewhere outside of this room. A second later, the lights go out and we’re surrounded by pitch-black.

I push off from the table at the same time Echo stands. Our bodies crash together, and my hands instantly go to steady her. They land on her waist. Her hands come to my chest.

“What the fuck was that?” she asks. I don’t miss the worry in her voice.

“Stay here,” I direct. “I’m gonna go check it out.”

“Ah, no. I’m not staying here.” She scrunches my shirt in her hands, stopping me from moving.

My brain has shifted onto the fact this building can be hacked into in three minutes, that the lights have shut off, and that some suspicious shit has gone on with Stone Security and the club lately. In my mind, I’m already on my way to investigate. Echo slowing me down causes a frown to crease my face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking down at her. It’s dark, but I can make out her features thanks to my eyes adjusting quickly.

She looks up at me, fear etched sharply across her face. “The monsters in the dark are what’s wrong.”

Her answer completely throws me. “I wouldn’t have picked you for a girl afraid of the dark.”

“I’m being serious here. You can’t leave me alone in the dark. I can do anything with a light on, but no lights and I’m outta here.”

I agree without hesitation and lead her out of the kitchen. “Stay close,” I say as I pull my gun from its holster and make my way through the floor we’re on, looking for the source of the sound.

“You’ve secured the system, right?” I say after we establish we’re alone on this level.

She nods. “Yeah.”

“So no one can get in?”

“I know of two people in Australia who could break my code. Neither of them is in the country right now, but that’s not to say there isn’t someone else out there who I’m unaware of. Let me check the system.” With that, she heads in the direction of the surveillance room and her laptop.

She taps away at her keyboard, fingers flying furiously over the keys in a way I’ve never witnessed before. Glancing at me, she shakes her head. “The system hasn’t been compromised.”

I work through possible scenarios for a few moments before saying, “We need to check the other levels.” I don’t know shit about the security system here, but I know the sound I heard, and I know we’re standing in darkness we should not be standing in. Both of these are red flags that we’ve got a problem of some sort.

Echo follows me out to the lift and after confirming it’s not working we make our way to the stairs. We head downstairs because I don’t think the noise came from above. A few moments later, we’re on the next level and make our way around it. When we find nothing, we repeat this investigation on the next level.

Again, nothing, so we go down another level.

As we exit out of the stairwell onto the bottom floor, I pick up the sound of boots. It’s faint, which tells me whoever it is isn’t close.

Coming to a halt, I look at Echo and put my finger to my lips while I concentrate on the sound.

I’m almost certain the person isn’t coming towards us.

I signal to let her know which direction we’re gonna go and after she nods, I start moving again.

There’s an issue with this level, though. It’s a fucking shitshow of a mess that we have to manoeuvre our way around. Desks, chairs, computers, and a whole heap of other shit has been piled in like it’s a storage fucking unit. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but with only a sliver of light coming in from outside, and the urgency to get through this mess to find whoever’s in here, it’s not the easiest to see where I’m going.

“Fuck,” I mutter when my shin collides with something hard.

Looking down, I spot what looks to be a computer monitor from the fucking eighties. I’m mentally cursing Zane for leaving it smack fucking bang in the middle of the path when Echo runs into me with enough force it causes me to stumble forwards.

I trip over the damn computer monitor and land on my knees.

That, I can live with.

The resulting domino effect of junk cascading around me, I fucking can’t, because it lets the intruder know we’re here.

“Shit. Sorry,” Echo says, crouching next to me. “I heard a sound behind me.”

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