by Camryn Rhys
Luther touched the mug and a cold, slick feel of ceramic greeted him when he’d expected warmth.
Had Brooks really been asleep?
The skinny Midwesterner set the crate down and flipped on one of the lights. He reached across the monitors and took a clipboard off the wall. “Let me just check this.”
His finger scanned down the paper and he glanced down at the crate again. “I don’t see it on the inventory list. Are you sure this isn’t on your list?”
He shrugged and took the mug off the ledge. The last thing they needed was another mess. “I double-checked.”
Brooks’ thick eyebrows waggled. “So you’re telling me, we have an extra case of booze just hanging around, and you brought it to me?” He smiled. “It’s not even my birthday.”
Luther walked around the bank of screens and set the coffee mug on the desk. His gaze floated across the images of the boathouse. Nothing. Just the boat floating in the deep water at the end of the dock. “Well, I don’t need it.” He thumbed back toward the yacht. “We’re full up. Maybe I should take it up to the house.”
A deep frown furrowed on Brooks’ face. “I don’t take any of the supplies up there. Drake or somebody comes down and gets them.”
“Then keep it here until they come down to get it.” He gripped the back of the desk chair and let his attention drift down to the screens again. Still no Maggie. “I’ve got to bring that camera tomorrow, so I’ll be back in the morning.”
“They’re supposed to bring somebody up from the back of the island tomorrow night to train on the system.” Brooks slid the clipboard back in to place and walked around to take his seat.
Luther stepped back. “I got the notification, it’ll be here tomorrow morning.”
“Can you bring it out as soon as you get it? I have to climb up the pole to replace the dumb thing.”
With a nod, Luther glanced at the screens. The double-image was noticeable only because the screens beside it were on delay. The angles didn’t all change at once, and for a split second, the two middle screens had the same image, until they shifted. Luther wouldn’t have noticed it, if Brooks hadn’t told him to be on the lookout for the shipment.
“Have they noticed yet?” He indicated the images in front of them.
“Not yet.” Brooks tapped his fingers next to the coffee cup and pursed his lips. “I imagine we’ll have to replace them one by one, if this one went out. They were all installed at once, so that probably means they’re all going to go out at some point.”
“You put in the orders, I’ll deliver the parts.” Luther clapped his friend on the back. “I can help you put the cameras up if you need help.”
“That would be great.” Brooks called after him as he walked to the door. “Don’t forget the Coronas.”
Luther laughed and turned around just in time to see Maggie standing behind Brooks with a bottle raised. She smashed it against the back of his head with a hollow thud and the skinny man went down like a rag doll.
“Sorry, man,” he whispered, dragging his friend’s body toward the back bedroom.
Maggie took his feet and helped. She was dripping wet. “He’ll be fine,” she hissed back. “He’ll wake up in the morning with a headache.”
“You’re that proficient at knocking guys out?” Luther stood over Brooks’ unconscious body and a pang of guilt stole into his chest. He hated that they had to hurt an innocent guy, but there hadn’t been another way.
Luther had no doubt this was by design. Put a nice, oblivious techie redneck in the front control room and no one will want to hurt him.
“We had no choice,” Maggie said, her tone earnest. When he found her gazing at him with concern, he waved her off.
“I know that.”
“We didn’t kill him.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He closed the back door that led to the wraparound deck. Maggie must’ve left it open when she climbed up from below.
“Come on.” She grabbed his arm. “I need to look at this system. We have work to do.”
Luther followed her, the regret growing and dropping into the pit of his stomach. She was right. They had work to do. But he couldn’t get the flashes out of his head of his friends lying in pools of their own blood on the penthouse floor.
Adrian Rossi had asked for them to be cleaned up like he’d spilled wine.
Psychopath.
“I wish I had my tablet,” Maggie said, distracting him from his revenge fantasies. “Is there a security protocol?”
“I don’t know.” Luther nodded toward the back bedroom. “And you just knocked out the only guy who does.”
She flexed her fingers. “Not a problem. Let…me…just…” She typed like the devil chased her. “I think I can re-route the backdoor if I can just get to my dad’s mainframe.”
A black screen came up and words and symbols flew across the screen. All the things that flashed were gobbledygook to Luther. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Can you tell if there are feeds here that you don’t already have?”
“Not yet.” She kept typing. “It looks like there’s another security center somewhere on the island.” Maggie glanced up and around the room. She jumped out of the chair and ran around the banks of screens.
Her head disappeared and Luther heard her crawling around. Something came loose and she laughed.
“That’s why.”
“What?” He followed the noise and found her sitting cross-legged in front of an open panel on the back of the console.
“There’s a patch. There must be another source somewhere.” Her eyebrows pulled together and she met his eyes. “We’re going to have to find the other hub.”
Luther’s tongue slid around in his mouth. I should’ve known. “You knew this already, didn’t you?”
Her shoulders hunched. “Luther.”
“No. You’ve been in the penthouse. You’ve seen the feeds we have.” He slammed his fist down. “You knew the boathouse wouldn’t be enough. You had to.”
“I didn’t know…per se. Not until you told me how isolated all the staff is from each other.” She put the panel back and sighed. “Look, I know you don’t want us to take any risks, but that’s what this is. I volunteered to come on this mission in the first place because I knew they’d need me. I knew what I was getting into.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Then stop treating me like some damsel in distress. I need to get deeper into the island.” She stood and wiped at her shorts. “First, I need those dry clothes, and then—”
Luther grabbed her shoulders. “Maggie, listen to me.” He took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure the right words would come, but the fear was rising inside and catching him by the throat. He couldn’t let her run off into danger. “I don’t know what all this magick stuff means, but I know that I care about you more than I should. I don’t think you’re some wimpy girl who can’t take care of herself. I’ve seen what you can do.” He pulled her into him and the wetness of the ocean water soon seeped into his clothes. He didn’t care. He couldn’t let go.
“Then let me do it.” Her arms slipped around his waist and she returned the embrace with fervor. “I promise. I’ll be right back. I just need to get some dry clothes and then I think I can sneak between the cameras and get into the interior of the island, and…”
“No.” He pulled her to arm’s length and pinned her with a pointed gaze. “You aren’t going anywhere without me. Not ever again.”
The air between them charged with energy and Luther tried to focus on the task at hand. All he wanted to do was carry her back to the mainland and hide her away in some far house, or fly across the ocean and get away from Adrian Rossi and the Halfi…and his past and her family, and just disappear into safety somewhere. He couldn’t help it.
He had friends in Russia. He could get them to Moscow, and…
“Then let’s go.” Her smile was sexy, challenging and infuriating all at once.
Luther took her hand and led her to Broo
ks’ closet to find clothes. He would’ve rather been headed for Russia, but his little firecracker of a wolf would never stand for running away. She was all hero.
His.
Fuck.
Chapter Eight
Maggie snatched a pair of women’s sweatpants and a tank top from the closet in Brooks’ room. It took her seconds to peel off her wet clothes and slip into the heavily perfumed spares. She didn’t even want to know why he had women’s clothing stashed in his closet.
The pants weren’t small enough, but the drawstring could be tightened enough to keep them from falling down. Maggie rolled the cuffs up to shorten them and nodded to Luther. “Ready?”
“No.” He glared and flashed her a menacing frown.
She shrugged and ducked out of the boathouse, getting into the narrow blind spot between camera angles as quickly as possible.
Luther treaded behind her, his footfalls nearly as silent as her bare feet.
Leaving the dock behind, she led them across a white beach, careful to stay in the shadows and far away from the road and glow of the overhead floodlights.
“We’ll stick close enough to the road to follow its direction,” she whispered, pointing to the thick tree line a dozen yards straight ahead.
“You’re not climbing that with bare feet,” he growled.
“Look, if we don’t hurry, the patrols will sense my presence. We have to get to the house quickly. Once I’m mixed into a group, they won’t be able to tell the difference.”
He grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop. Concern poured from him in waves and she gulped air, surprised by his protectiveness. “Are you saying the guards that I know nothing about are wolves too?”
She pursed her lips. “Probably.” She didn’t know for sure, but it was the only thing that made sense. Adrian wouldn’t want to expose his being a wolf to a human. He wouldn’t trust anyone but those he’d created, raised, and brainwashed to serve him. The craptastic truth was that those guards were probably also related to him. And they were most likely going to kill some of them before this mission was over.
“Come on.” Maggie twisted out of his grasp and led him up the rise from the beach. The ground was still sandy in most places, with some flat outcropping rocks.
Every death ate at her insides like slowly rotting flesh. She would serve her alpha in whatever capacity necessary, but each lost life weighed heavy on her soul. Luther thought his soul was dark from killing one person, but she and her team had long since surpassed that number.
Fighting training was mandatory to be a pack enforcer, but she spent the majority of her time behind a computer screen. Being petite put her at a disadvantage against humans. Only on four legs was she an equal to men that outweighed her by a hundred pounds.
She pulled herself up another ledge, keeping a sharp eye on the road to their left through the thick trees. Her foot caught on something and she tumbled forward. Before her face slammed into the ground, strong arms encircled Maggie’s waist and swung her away from the impending crash.
Air rushed from her lungs and she swung her feet back and forth, stretching for footing, but he tucked her against his chest instead and kept walking.
“I can walk. Put me down,” she hissed.
“You just proved that untrue. Now shut up or I’ll sling you over my shoulder and take you back to the boat.” Luther kept climbing, holding her tightly as they neared the edge of the winding road Maggie assumed led to the main house.
He paused beside the road and took a cursory glance to the left and right.
“Camera,” she muttered.
“Where?”
“Wide angle lens. Ten o’clock. It’s watching the power box just around that bend.”
He shook his head and glanced down at her. “How the hell?”
She smiled. “I can hear the hum of the electricity. It’s really quiet out here.” Maggie pointed to the right. “If we stick in the shadows another forty feet or so before crossing the road, we should be good.”
Luther took a couple backward steps and moved down the road the way she’d pointed. His heart raced in his chest and she took a moment to enjoy being this close to her mate. Hell could break out at any moment, and she had a man willing to carry her through a jungle rather than let her step on a rock.
The rumble of a vehicle made her heart leap. “Down. Down,” she hissed, scrambling to get out of his arms and dropped to her stomach on the ground. He released her and hit the loamy soil beside her.
A jeep came barreling down the road and she hoped to the gods they were moving too fast to feel her presence. She could feel theirs, but she was more in tune with magick than many wolves ever tried to be.
The jeep didn’t slow, and Maggie breathed a sigh of relief when the rumble of its engine faded into the distance. She popped up from the ground and tapped Luther’s arm. “Let’s move.” She spurted forward before he could grab her again, crossed the road and ducked into the darkness of the island jungle.
He followed carefully behind her, making sure to keep his tread soft—impressive for a guy in big combat boots.
Maggie paused behind a large tree trunk and took a deep breath. The mansion that lay out before them could rival any private resort. It was the epitome of luxury and decadence. Stone columns. Gardens that would’ve made the king of Babylon jealous.
“How are we getting past the cameras?” Luther’s low voice rumbled, warming her insides. He pointed to a rotating metal box on top of one of the Greek inspired columns.
“If we time it right, we can slip through.” Maggie pointed to another camera. “Ready…” She crouched, tensing her legs for the sprint she’d need to get across the blind spot before the cameras turned on her again. “Go,” she breathed.
She dove behind a raised garden water fountain and counted in her head until the camera turned away from her again.
Luther had followed at her heels perfectly.
Maggie pointed ahead of her toward the corner of the house, then motioned him to follow to her right.
He nodded.
She counted to twenty and then leaped from her position. Her bare feet thudded silently across the marble patio along with Luther’s only slightly heavier footfalls. When she reached the corner of the building, she slid along the wall, keeping an eye for the next camera. But, unless they were hidden better than the previous ones, there weren’t any watching this area.
They moved along in the dark until Maggie came across a door. She laid her hand on the lever and sucked in quick breath, surprised when the latch moved easily and it swung open.
The rich decadence outside was mirrored on the inside. They stepped into an indoor hallway that made of the perimeter of an open courtyard, but what truly drew Maggie’s eye was the way the moonlight glinted off several pairs of iron rings affixed to the floor. There were no ropes or chains in site, but it was obvious the area was used for something unconventional.
“Where are we going?” Luther whispered.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and she shivered. Focus. Stop thinking about what the monster has done. “We have to find his living quarters. The security room in the hotel was adjacent to his room in the hotel. Habits are hard to break. He would want to have easy access to all his feeds.”
“Why is the place so quiet. It feels empty,” he asked, following her up a flight of stairs.
“It’s not,” she whispered back, moving stealthily from one patch of shadow to the next. The eerie prickle of magick on her arms and the back of her neck made Maggie extra aware. There were wolves in the house, they were just too far away to pinpoint a location.
They could look for them later. She had to get into Rossi’s mainframe. Without specs and details on the island, or at least his private feeds, planning a rescue would be nearly impossible. They needed this intel or the team was right back at square one. Who knew how long Rossi would stay on the island this time when he returned the next day.
She opened a pair of double doors
and slipped inside. The bedroom was tastefully decorated, but cold. Nothing was personal. No pictures. Nothing said that said a psychopath lived here either.
Luther closed the doors softly behind them. Moonlight filtered through sheer curtains on the windows. Nothing screamed that the security room was hiding here, but the familiar and comforting sound of humming hard drives and circuit board fans pulled her toward the far wall. There wasn’t a single computer visible in the bedroom.
“What?” Luther whispered.
“Computers. I can hear them.”
He snorted. “Must be nice.”
Maggie reached the wall and ran her hands up and down, scouring it for a seam—for anything that might lead to a hidden area. “Start at the other end. Look for something that could be a latch or pressure opened.”
He moved away from her and began the same search. A loud click sounded near him and Maggie straightened from her bent position. The panel of wall near Luther had opened up, and the bright light of monitors flooded the semi-dark room. She hurried to his side and they both entered the closeted space.
“Is this what you needed?”
Maggie slid into the leather chair in front of the bank of monitors and cracked her knuckles. “If it isn’t, I’m going to take my frustrations out on something breakable.” She opened up a command prompt window and started.
The first goal was to build a back door into the mainframe she could access from the apartment in Choaca.
“Well?” Luther asked, pacing back and forth behind her chair. “We need to get out of here soon.”
Leaving was the last thing on her mind. She was in the den of the monster and she wasn’t leaving until she had everything she needed and a little more for good measure. A screen on her right flashed on and she pointed to it as she flipped on a set of feeds she’d just discovered. “We’re headed there next?”
“Where is there?”
“Basement.” Maggie finished the last bit of code that would allow her into the mainframe whenever she wanted then went back to the partition where the feeds Luther was watching had been hidden. Not even the security guards had access to these feeds. They were private only to Adrian. Her heart lurched as images flashed across the screens in front of her.
