by Jaclyn Hardy
Dani used her bobby pin again to unlock the door to the house. She put her hand on the doorknob and listened carefully for anyone on the other side of the door.
Hunter left her side and moments later, the door to the outside closed. The terror from before was nothing like it was standing in the dark. The only light came from Hunter’s flashlight as he wandered back over to her.
Slowly she turned the doorknob and peeked inside, but no one was around. She reached back to tell him to follow and something brushed against her hand. The scream escaped before she could stop it. A hand clamped over her mouth and strong arms pulled her close.
“Shh, it’s okay. It was just my hair you touched. I need you to be quiet. Can you do that?” Hunter’s voice rumbled against her ear.
Dani nodded, and Hunter let go. She gulped in the musty air, trying to calm down. Losing her cool right now was the last thing they needed. They waited for another few minutes before trying the door again.
The kitchen was just as she remembered it. Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, everything in perfect order. She stepped inside, and Hunter closed the door behind them. She put a finger to her lips and pointed to the stairs where they could hear the sound of a vacuum and someone singing.
Hunter pointed the other direction and they went that way, careful to avoid creaks in the floor. The sound of the garage door suddenly rumbled near them, sending Dani’s heart racing. Todd’s grandparents were home.
They took off the other way. Dani figured she’d take her chances with whoever was vacuuming and ran up the steps. Hunter dove into the first room that was open and pulled Dani with them. They quickly shut the door and slid down it.
The vacuum turned off and whoever had been working passed by humming to themselves. Hunter tried the door and crept out crawling toward the end of the hallway. Dani wasn’t about to crawl in a dress, so she took off her shoes and tiptoed to the last door. It was locked, unlike the rest of them.
Dani listened for a moment and frowned. Someone was in there. The lock was different from the others that they’d encountered. Her bobby pin wouldn’t work. Hunter nudged her out of the way and used a lock pick set to open it. Dani was going to have to get one of those.
The room was dark, as if the windows had been painted black. That wasn’t suspicious at all. Dani gasped when Hunter’s flashlight hit a small, blonde woman in the center of the room. Anna. Dani ran forward, but the expression on Anna’s face stopped her.
Something was wrong. Anna’s eyes kept darting down and to the left. Dani followed them and gasped. Two blinking lights sat nearby. A bomb was not something they’d been prepared for. Dani leaned back into Hunter. “I don’t supposed Ben taught you how to disarm a bomb?”
“No, why?”
Dani pointed at it and Hunter stiffened next to her. She turned on her own flashlight and followed the wires from the bomb over to where they attached to Anna. If anyone tried to release her, it would go off. Dani slowly reached for the tape over Anna’s mouth. She pulled it off carefully, cringing each time Anna whimpered.
“Where is everyone?” Dani asked quietly.
Anna licked her lips. “I don’t know. Who are you?”
Dani frowned, then remembered she was wearing a wig. “It’s Dani. I’m here to help you get out of here.”
“Dani? Why do you look like that?”
“Long story.” Dani reached into her sock and pulled out the tracker, then handed it to Hunter. “We’re going to get you out of here, okay?”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears. “How did you find me?”
Dani pointed at Hunter. “Hunter and my friend found you. Have you been here very long?”
“I don’t know. Days, weeks.” A tear ran down her cheek. “Why is this happening?”
“We’ll explain when we have you out of here.” Hunter pulled out his phone and answered it. “We have a bomb here.”
Cursing came from the phone. “I need a picture.”
Hunter took a picture and sent it. Moments later, his phone buzzed again. While he worked on the bomb, Dani stood and tried a light switch, but the light didn’t come on. The window. She carefully circled around the bomb and scratched the paint on the window to let some light in. Perfect. Another few inches and Hunter was able to see what he was doing better.
“It’s not working.” Hunter fumbled with the wires. “I don’t think this is made like you’re describing.”
Dani felt around the window until she could find the latch. It wouldn’t budge. She wiggled it more until it finally loosened and opened.
“No, no blue wires. Are you sure it wasn’t the green one?” Hunter’s voice was filled with frustration.
Dani pried the window open to let in more light, then knelt next to Anna. “Did they ever say anything about how this would go off?”
Anna shook her head slightly. “Only that it would go off if someone tried to move me.”
“Hunter?”
He looked up from what he was going. “What?”
“Ask Ben what would happen if we cut all the wires at once.”
“Wait—what?”
Dani pointed at the window. “We could throw it out, but only if there’s a slight delay between cutting it and having it go off.”
“Dani wants to know what will happen if we cut them all at once.” Hunter’s hand paused over one of the wires. “Are you sure?”
Anna shook her head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“If our guy doesn’t know how to undo the wires, we’re not going to be able to do it. That means we have to get creative.” Dani undid the vest attached to Anna and slowly pulled it off.
Hunter jumped up. “What did you do?”
“I took off the—”
“You may have just killed us. Look.” Next to the blinking lights, a clock had appeared. When Dani had said they needed a little time, she meant more than the fifteen seconds on the timer.
Dani reached down, yanked the box away from the wires and ran for the window. She threw it as hard as she could and was instantly pulled back away from the window. Hunter pushed her to the ground tipped Anna’s chair over, then dove on top of them as a loud explosion rocked the house.
Smoke filled the room and debris fell from the ceiling. Dani coughed and pushed up off the floor so she could help untie Anna. Hunter scooped Anna up in his arms and they sprinted for the staircase. A maid stared at the debris in her newly cleaned house and her eyes widened when she saw the intruders heading for the front door.
Police sirens came closer as they ran down the front steps and into the waiting Jaguar. Anna climbed in the back with Dani, and Ben took off before Hunter even had the door shut. They headed up farther into the mountains and found a side street to come back down.
“That was probably the stupidest thing you could have possibly done.” Ben turned onto the main road and sped away. “It’s a good thing it worked.”
“Hey, we needed to do something fast, and it was all I could think of.” Dani pulled a sobbing Anna closer to her. “Where to now?”
There was silence for a moment. “We need to get Anna home. That’ll take a bit while I figure out flights. I could take you back to the hospital if you’d like. We should probably get her checked out anyway.”
Dani rubbed Anna’s shoulder. “Let’s do that. Anna, do you want to call your parents?”
Anna nodded and took the phone from Dani. Now that Anna was safe and they had the crown in hand, Dani hoped that she could go home and life could get back to normal.
H unter grinned as he thought back to what had happened that day. The vision of Dani grabbing the bomb and throwing it out the window was something that he wouldn’t forget any time soon.
Now that they were back at the hospital and things were back to normal, it occurred to him just how lucky they were to be alive. Dani snored softly leaning against his chest while they sat in the room with Carlie and Dee. He loved how well she fit, tucked next to him, her arm across his chest.
“That’s so good to hear.” Dee stood and kissed him. “So what are we going to do next?”
“Well, I figured since Dani’s apartment is compromised, we probably shouldn’t head back there. Plus, Carlie should probably have time to recuperate.”
Carlie rolled her eyes. “I told you guys already. I’m fine. Give me two days and I’ll be able to travel.”
Hunter laughed. “Even if you could, no airline is going to let you on with a brand-new baby.”
“He’s got a point. Besides, we have another couple of weeks until the auction.” Ben handed out tickets. “We’re heading to Utah. My parents have a cabin up there and it’s completely off the grid. Then in two weeks, we’ll all head to Budapest to get the scepter.”
Budapest. Not exactly what he’d had in mind for his summer break. “I think Dani and I are going to sit this one out. She’s obviously exhausted, and I need a lot more training before I’m ready to do the tech stuff.”
The others stared at him, stunned. Ben blinked. “You don’t want to come?”
“Well, I mean, I do. But I don’t think Dani’s going to be too thrilled with the idea. And I don’t really want to leave her behind.”
Carlie laughed. “Leave Dani to us. For now, I think I need to sleep. I want to check out tomorrow, but I can’t if I’m a zombie.”
Hunter gently shook Dani. “Hey, wake up. We need to take off so Carlie can sleep.”
Dani yawned and stretched. “I didn’t realize I’d even fallen asleep.”
They stood and said goodbye to Carlie, Braden, and Calvin, then left the hospital. Ben tossed a set of keys to Hunter.
“You’re driving this time.” Ben wrapped an arm around Dee as they walked down the steps. “Just don’t hurt the poor thing.”
The keys in his hand were to a BMW. “What happened to the Jaguar?”
“I had to switch it out. The news is reporting a mysterious black car fleeing the scene of an explosion earlier today. Figured we should probably ditch it.” Ben stopped at a red BMW and opened the door to the backseat.
Hunter climbed in and adjusted the seat and mirrors. This was much better than the cars he and Dani both drove. The pedals were more sensitive than he was used to, and he had to keep reminding himself to relax.
Instead of going to a hotel like Hunter had expected, they pulled up in front of a small yellow house near the beach. Ben opened the trunk and they all grabbed their bags. The house had four rooms and they each took one. Hunter pulled out his laptop and turned it on, praying that it would actually turn on. He hadn’t tried it since the sprinklers had come on in Mr. Carpenter’s house.
The jingle as it came on was a welcome sound. He signed in and checked his email. His grades had come finally, and he was relieved to see several As. He’d worked for every one of them.
Dani came out of her room and sat next to him. “Think I could check my email?”
“Of course.” He slid the computer over to her and stood to get a drink of water. She’d been asleep when Ben had announced their plans and he couldn’t decide the best way to tell her that they’d planned for her to go with them.
A gasp came from behind him. He turned to find Dani staring with an open mouth at the computer screen.
“What’s up?” He walked over to see the email that she’d been staring at.
“They fired me. I’ve worked at that antique shop for years. I saved it from ruin by updating their software, and they fired me.”
Hunter placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “I mean, I don’t blame them. I haven’t been to work in what, a week?”
“They’ll rehire you when they realize everything you’ve done for them.” Hunter frowned. Something wasn’t right with the screen. “Move over for a sec.”
Dani scooted over, and Hunter entered a few codes before slamming the laptop shut. His computer had been hacked. Whether it was through Dani’s email or something else, they’d been compromised.
He pounded on Ben’s door. “Hey, Ben? We need to get out of here.”
Ben answered the door and yawned. “What are you talking about?”
“My laptop has a bug on it. Whoever did it can track us.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ben sighed. “I was so looking forward to sleeping, too.”
Hunter shoved his stuff back into his bag—except for his laptop—and headed back out to the car. The others trudged out there soon after and they went to a cheap motel. It was a very large step down from where they’d stayed before, but at least it was secure.
He dropped onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Ben was asleep within minutes, but Hunter was wide awake. That laptop had all of the projects he’d worked on for school, including his thesis. And now it was gone. While the thought of going to get it back was tempting, he knew it would jeopardize all of them.
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made that the hacking had to have come through Dani’s email. Especially since it was the antique shop that had sent the email to fire her and then only moments after opening it, he’d found the hack. What if the email hadn’t been legit? What if it was just a way to get the email opened and the virus delivered.
Hunter rolled over and forced himself to close his eyes. Whatever the reason, it was done and he would have to get a new laptop when he got back to Arizona. Whenever that was.
The excitement had officially worn off. Between being stuck sitting in a hotel and listening to the three women talk about the baby and wedding plans, Hunter was ready to pull his hair out. He needed to get back home and find a job, but he was beginning to think that would never happen.
Hunter scrolled through the world news for the hundredth time that day searching for anything that might have to do with the auction in Hungary. One article caught his attention and he sat up. Delegations from several countries would meet in Hungary to celebrate the birth of the prime minister’s son.
It was the first mention of Hungary for days. Birthday celebration? Probably not. It was time to move. Hunter wrote down the details and shut his new laptop.
“Got it. Let’s do this thing.” Hunter stood to grab his things and chuckled as everyone else in the house scrambled to get things packed.
They’d gone over the plans several times and everyone knew their parts like the back of their hand. Hunter and Dani would take Calvin and wait at the computers. The other four would attend whatever celebration had been planned and then find their way into the auction held later on. They’d snag the scepter and be out of there by morning.
Even the alternate plans had been thought of in case something didn’t go according to plan. They were set. Hunter grabbed the last of his clothes and shoved them into his bag and met the rest of the group in the living room.
“What time did you say the flight is?” Dee asked, popping her last bite of toast into her mouth.
“Four o’clock.” Ben opened the door and they left the house they’d rented. The hotel hadn’t worked once Carlie and Calvin were out of the hospital. The walls were paper thin, and the place was cheap enough that they didn’t provide a playpen for him to sleep in.
Once they got to LAX, the group split up. Xander and his crew knew to watch for six people, and while they still hadn’t proven where his allegiance was placed, they preferred to avoid him at all cost.
The international terminal was packed with travelers which made getting through customs take longer than Hunter would have liked. As soon as they were through, he and Dani found their gate. Ben and Dee would leave first to make sure things were secure. Hunter and Dani’s flight was next, with Carlie and Braden getting there not long after. Trying to coordinate flights to work like that had been a pain, but they all had their jobs to do and Ben needed to be there to scope thing
s out before everyone else arrived.
When it was time to board, Hunter took Dani’s hand and they went to stand in line. She smiled up at him, her eyes dancing. Hunter kissed the top of her head and pulled her close.
“Excited?”
“Excited. Terrified. It’s all the same right?” Dani moved up in line and handed the attendant her ticket and passport.
Their seats were in first class—Ben’s way of apologizing for dragging them into this—so they found their spots and settled in. Dani pulled out a magazine and Hunter pulled out his laptop while he waited for the rest of the plane to board.
He checked on the celebration again. He found the location online easily enough, but finding blueprints of the building proved to be more difficult. He’d just found the right one when it was time to put things away for take-off.
Dani leaned toward him. “You can relax, you know. It doesn’t have to all be about work.”
“I know, but this is huge. I want to make sure we’ve thought of everything before we get there.”
“You realize nothing is going to go according to plan, right?” She settled in and closed her eyes. “And don’t forget. You promised me a tour of the city when we’re all done. If you need to research something, find me the coolest architecture in the city so we can start there.”
Hunter laughed and pulled up the list on his phone. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”
Dani looked through the list and grinned. “This is perfect. I’ve heard of most of these places.”
“I figured we’d start with the more popular ones first.” Hunter slid his phone into his pocket and made sure his seatbelt was fastened. Flying wasn’t his favorite form of travel.
Dani reached over and squeezed his hand. “You’ll be fine.”
He caressed her fingers and kissed her hand. They’d come a long way since the day he’d helped her into her apartment with her arms full of groceries. He’d fallen hard for her that day, but had pushed it aside, content to stay friends.
