by Mary Buckham
If it was meant as a rebuke, he had failed.
“I know. That’s why I don’t. Maybe I’ll start calling you M.T.”
“Try it, Monroe, and pay for it.”
She only increased her smile and started humming as she strode away. Bearbaiting was outlawed in most countries in the world, but she suddenly understood its allure.
Chapter 3
“You want to do what?” Disbelief coated Alex’s words.
“You heard me. I want to visit the director’s office.”
“Break in, you mean?”
“Visit. Temporarily. I’ll remove nothing.” Vaughn slid the small packet of tools into the band of her black pants, which matched the rest of her outfit. Only it wasn’t the black of a downtown New York business day; it was the darkness of stealth.
She and the other two recruits had rendezvoused in the hallway, empty at this hour of night, leading to their spartan quarters. All the others were asleep. Wise women.
Kelly stepped closer, concern pinching her expression. “It’s not wise, Vaughn. If you’re caught, it could be an automatic expulsion. What can be worth that?”
“The thrill?” She said it softly, but meant every word. What she didn’t say was the real reason—her competitive gene, which could not be suppressed for long.
“Seriously, Vaughn,” Kelly continued as if Vaughn hadn’t answered. “I’m sure Jayleen didn’t mean that ridiculous bet about digging up the dirt on M.T.”
Vaughn looked at her, shaking her head. As a former kindergarten teacher, Kelly could sometimes be as innocent as they came; at other times, she had X-ray vision.
“Jayleen meant every word of it. Which is why she made it in front of as many recruits as possible.”
“But you didn’t have to snap at it like a trout to bait.” Leave it to country girl Alex not to gloss over the obvious.
“Point is, I did accept it. Now I’m doing something about it.”
“But what’s in the director’s office?”
“Personnel files.” Vaughn considered face blackener, then discarded it. Hard to explain if she was stopped, coming or going. On the other hand, if she was stopped, after curfew and in a part of the compound normally off-limits, explanations were going to be the least of her worries.
“You expect to find out what M.T. means from his personnel file?” Alex didn’t look as if she bought the idea. “Why don’t you just ask the man?”
This time, it was Kelly who rolled her eyes. “Even if Vaughn could get within a hundred yards of Stone without getting on his bad side, do you really think he’s going to tell her?”
Vaughn nodded. “Wish me luck, ladies.”
“Wait.” Alex stepped forward. “You’re not going alone.”
Kelly soldiered to Alex’s side even as Vaughn shook her head.
“I appreciate the thought.” Which she did. More than they realized. “But I made the bet. I pay the price.”
“And what kind of friends are we to let you go with no one guarding your back?” Alex demanded.
“Ditto.” Kelly nodded, looking around her. “Give me two secs to get dressed. Alex will keep watch on the outer perimeter while I’ll cover you inside the mansion.”
“Guys—”
“’Nough said.” Alex reached into the side pocket of her windbreaker. “Besides, now I get to try out these new mikes.”
Vaughn looked at her hand. “I thought the lab said those were experimental. They’re off-limits.”
“Like what we’re doing isn’t?”
“You think the lab is going to look the other way if they find you liberated their new toys?”
“They’ll be back in the shop tomorrow.”
“If we make it through tonight.”
“Having second thoughts, Vaughn?”
“Never.” At least none she’d admit out loud. But the mission had changed dramatically. It was one thing when it was her tail, and her tail alone, on the line; now Alex and Kelly could suffer, too, just two weeks before graduating. And all because Vaughn couldn’t resist the smug taunt of Jayleen’s words. Was this the price of friendship? If so, it was hefty.
“Let’s go.” Kelly had rejoined them, dressed all in black now.
“Fine. But it’s still my mission.” Vaughn would not let them get hurt. No way. “If I say cut and run, you two do exactly that. Am I clear?”
“She’s beginning to sound like Stone,” Alex muttered, her voice low as they crossed the darkened halls of the dorm area. “Lord save us from two of them.”
“Smart mouth.” Vaughn turned to her, a palm outstretched. “Hand me those mikes.”
They inserted easily enough, a listening device the size of a large freckle placed just below the ear, a wrist-mounted microphone small and light enough to be all but invisible and disguised as an ordinary wristwatch. Very ordinary. They needed a Bugatti version if they were going to move in the world Vaughn moved in.
They checked the mikes twice before Vaughn nodded toward the empty courtyard. “Alex, take two o’clock. Patrols cross every fifteen minutes. Don’t let them catch you.”
“As if I haven’t learned anything in the last seven weeks.” Alex shook her head as she crab-shuffled off.
Kelly hung behind Vaughn’s right shoulder.
“Once we make it through the front doors, I want you to stay put.” Vaughn’s breath vaporized in the cool night air.
“But—”
“That’s an order, McAlister.”
“But how are we getting though the doors? It’s not like they’re open.”
Vaughn patted the fanny pack strapped across her waist. “I have a few tricks I learned before I arrived here.”
“What kind of tricks? From whom?”
“Former boyfriend, and you’ll see.”
Vaughn darted ahead, aware that every second was critical. The sweep of a security light momentarily bathed the grounds as she dodged behind a juniper bush.
On the count of three, she slipped ahead, not stopping until she reached the Romanesque arched doorway leading into the main hall.
By the time Kelly joined her, Vaughn had her tools out, three spread at her feet, one rolling through her fingers.
“What are—”
“Picks.” Vaughn crouched forward, ignoring the fear already congealing in her stomach.
“Lock picks? But why not the electronic—”
“They expect electronic devices.” Vaughn turned her head to see and hear better. “They’ve rigged this door to withstand every electronic device made.”
“But—”
“Think simple.” She reached for the next size of metal pick. “The more we defend against the high-tech, the easier it is to forget the basics.”
“Like picking a lock?” Kelly’s tone indicated she was getting the gist of it.
“Exactly. Like picking a lock. A lost art as people rely solely on gadgets to counter other gadgets.” That sounded profound enough—now if only the picks would work.
“And your former boyfriend taught you this?”
“Yes.” The tumbler fell. A sweet, sweet sound. “This and a few other things.”
She stepped inside the marble hallway, crossing to a keypad and punching in a sequence of numbers.
“You know the key code to this place?” Kelly was one step behind her.
“No. But I know a mathematical sequence that scrambles ninety-nine percent of the codes used. Another lesson from the beau.” And if it worked, she’d have to take back half the awful things she had said about him. But only half.
A red light blinked off. They were in.
“And if this had been the one percent?”
Vaughn grinned. “Then we’d be screwed. Now stay here. Establish contact with Alex and keep low.”
“But—”
“My mission, my call. Stay put.” And don’t let yourself get hurt.
“Be careful.”
Vaughn gave no reply as she headed down the hall toward Ling Mai’s office. Th
is was a long shot. But if there was going to be any information on M. T. Stone, Vaughn guessed Ling Mai would keep it close at hand. Vaughn only hoped the game was worth the price. The image of Jayleen’s stunned expression when Vaughn told her what the M.T. stood for guided Vaughn the last steps, her crepe-soled boots whispering on the marble floor.
The lock on the director’s door was child’s play. A few quick twists of the smallest pick and it clicked open. Obviously no one expected a security breach that would go this far.
Now or never.
Once inside, Vaughn closed the door gently behind her, waiting for the darkness to settle around her before she trusted herself to switch on her pen flashlight.
She raised her wrist to her mouth. “You there, Alex?”
“Copy. All clear.”
“Kelly?”
“Nothing in sight.”
So far, so good. If only her thumping heart and surging adrenaline would get the message. A few more moments and she’d have what she came for.
Three steps to the brocaded chair; jog to the left. Four more steps to the desk. The goal—a credenza immediately behind the director’s ornate desk. It was the only logical place to keep files.
But when Vaughn reached the solid piece of furniture, the thin shaft of her flashlight highlighting its cherrywood surface, she paused.
“Damn.”
She hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud until Alex’s voice came over the mike. “Problem?”
“Just a little one.”
Like hell it was. Who kept a tungsten lock on a credenza and why hadn’t she noticed this when she’d been in the office before?
“How little a little problem?”
“Nothing I can’t figure out.”
In a month or two.
On the other hand, she hadn’t come this far to give up. The picks would get her only so far, and nowhere until she broke through the first set of double-digit keypad codes. She should have brought a drill.
No point in wasting time. She knelt, holding the light between her teeth and set to work. She’d almost broken through the first wall when Alex’s voice came through the headset.
“Kelly, eyes open, ten o’clock.”
“I see them.”
Them? The ground sweepers usually walked singly.
Vaughn spoke around the flashlight in her mouth. “How many?”
Alex’s voice overrode Kelly’s. “Four. Headed straight for the main house.”
Four? Who could have—Jayleen.
Old win-at-any-price Jayleen.
“Kelly, you and Alex clear out. Now.”
The first lock opened. Choices? Try for the second or save her skin?
“No way.”
“Do it. Direct order.”
She leaned closer to the lock, hoping her comrades did as told. If anyone was going down for this, she wouldn’t let it be them.
Two digits to go when she heard the slam of the front door.
One digit.
The lock gave. She shoved the drawer open. The sudden blaze of light overhead exposed the empty drawer. Empty except for a single piece of paper. With one sentence.
Better luck next time, princess.
He had known she was coming. Jayleen was in cahoots with Stone.
It figured that like a dumb-as-day duck, she’d waltzed into her own shooting gallery. No one to blame here except herself.
She heard rounds chambered into handguns, squared her shoulders and raised her hands.
Without turning around, she knew whose face she’d see. Stone.
Crud in a bucket.
“Got anything to say, princess?” came his slow drawl with a hint of Southern charm buried deep beneath its layers. Very deep.
She stood and turned, keeping her own voice casual. “Anyone seen my eyeliner? I lost it the first day we arrived and seven weeks is just too long to be without it.”
A guard ducked his head to hide a grin. There was no such response on Stone’s face.
“Call Ling Mai,” he barked.
“You need not bother.” The director stepped into the tense room as if this were an everyday occurrence at four in the morning. “Stone, your men will not be needed anymore. Vaughn, I suggest you take a seat.”
Vaughn did as directed, aware of the pit of her stomach free-falling. Ling Mai’s face gave nothing away. For once she could not say the same for Stone. He closed the door behind the last guard and stood to the left of the chair Vaughn had chosen.
It placed him at a height and strategic advantage—he could watch her but, unless she craned her neck around, she could not see his every move. Another point to the instructor.
When would she learn what a neophyte she was in this world? And would she have another chance to find out?
She kept her gaze focused on Ling Mai, who took her sweet time settling herself behind the formal desk, sparing only one quick glance at the empty drawer gaping open in the credenza.
“Is there an explanation for tonight?” she asked the two before her.
That surprised Vaughn. She expected to be in the hot seat, but the words implied judgment was still suspended.
“On a routine grounds inspection, my men and I discovered the very inept Ms. Monroe breaking and entering.”
Routine inspection, her foot. And what was that inept line? She’d broken into the drawer.
“Not so inept if she passed three levels of our security precautions,” Ling Mai remarked.
Yeah. Take that, Stone.
But now was not the time to gloat. Vaughn held her tongue. Who said she didn’t know how to?
“Your explanation, Vaughn?” Ling Mai turned her inscrutable gaze fully on Vaughn.
“A bad mistake in judgment.” She pressed her fingers against the grain of leather armchair rests, seeking some solace in the chair’s solidity. Not that it helped. Not with the fear tap-dancing through her system.
This was the end. Any moment now Ling Mai would say the fateful words—you’re out. Stone would crow and Vaughn’s worst nightmare would unfold. She’d be a failure. Her one chance at doing something, being something, and she’d have thrown it away because of a dare.
The man behind her made a noise that coming from anyone else would have been a snort.
“You disagree, Stone? It’s not a failure in judgment?”
“The woman broke into your office. Who knows what types of secrets she was hoping to steal, or what she was planning to do with them.”
“You knew.” Vaughn shifted enough in her chair to speak to her accuser. “You knew exactly what I was going after because you set me up.”
He didn’t reply. He didn’t even have the decency to glance at her, except for one fire-branded look that made her glad there was a third person in the room.
“Is this true, Stone?”
“An exercise,” he replied to Ling Mai. “Bait was offered, and taken, without regard for the consequences, and two team members dragged into the fiasco. Not the mark of a reliable operative.”
“Vaughn?”
“I admit to taking the bait. I am responsible. The consequences were known and valued as worth the risk.”
“Including the possibility of dismissal from the program?”
Everything inside her stilled. Not yet. Please, not yet.
Her mouth puckered into dryness so fast she could not answer. Instead, she only nodded her head, a stiff, disjointed puppet-like motion.
“And your teammates?”
If anyone paid for this, it’d be her and her alone. She cleared the lump in her throat, giving emphasis to each of her next words. “They were advised, strongly, to stay behind. None of this is their responsibility. If someone is to be removed from the program, it’s me, and me alone.”
“But they came with you.”
Time pounded against her. Could she have been more insistent? Not told them in the first place? Her whole body was suspended. Too much was at risk here. She’d acted rashly, again, and had been nailed because of it,
but she was not going to let Alex and Kelly go down with her.
“I take full responsibility for what happened tonight,” she repeated, her hands curling into wedges. “No one else is to blame. No one else needs to be punished.”
“But you do?” Ling Mai’s voice sounded like a mother’s croon, soft and melodious, not capable of breaking Vaughn’s heart. Which it was doing, piece by piece.
“If you think I should be punished, I’ll accept that.”
“You should be out,” Stone spoke behind her.
It was a constant refrain with the man.
She ignored him.
Ling Mai offered only a quick glance in his direction before she spoke again to Vaughn.
“I think it best you leave now. Return to your quarters. Punishment will be decided upon and administered at the proper time. And you will accept it as such. Is that understood?”
“Yes.” Vaughn stood, by willpower alone, and turned, only to find her way blocked by Stone.
“It’s not over yet, princess.”
“Never thought it was.” She notched her chin up with her words, using the only weapon she had left. Her disdain.
He made her step around him. Harder than it sounded with her legs so wobbly.
But she did it. Marched past him, down the hall and out into the night chill. Kelly and Alex were nowhere around.
Well, when she screwed up, she did it big-time.
It would be small comfort tomorrow.
“Well?” Ling Mai waited until she heard the sound of the main door closing.
“She got farther than I expected.” M.T. remained rooted behind the chair Vaughn had vacated, his stance no less tense.
“Do I detect a note of respect?”
“She acted emotionally in the first place. Risked her life and the lives of two other trainees in the process. Used equipment from the lab without authorization.”
“Equipment?”
“An experimental mike set.”
“Interesting. We did not foresee this. And yet she made it past the patrolled courtyard, the outer door, my office door and into the credenza. I believe you thought she’d be stopped before the first door.”
“If you want me to say you were right, don’t hold your breath. She might have a few talents—”
