Off the Grid Christmas Read online

  If the blueprint was accurate, the vent was on the east side of the building, close to the back corner. An old cobblestone road led in that direction. He bypassed it, still walking with the crowd. Heading into the alley from the main street would be a red flag to anyone watching. He turned the corner and walked around the city block, grabbing coffee and some pastries from one shop, then stopping at another to buy some cold-cut subs.

  Normal things that a normal person walking near the harbor might do.

  There was plenty of hustle and bustle, plenty of camera flashes and excited chatter. He followed a small group of tourists past GeoArray. No public entrance on this side, but there were several doors and plenty of security cameras.

  The buildings to either side were commercial properties. He used that to his advantage, walking down the cobblestone alley and trying the door of an obviously closed souvenir shop.

  He turned back, sipping coffee and scanning GeoArray’s facility. There were several doors. Just like the blueprint had indicated. At the back corner, a vent sat flush against the brick wall.

  He walked past as slowly as he dared. Phillips-head screws held it in place. There’d be a fan just beyond it. Easy enough to dismantle and remove with the right tools.

  If he knew Silas, the guy would have an entire toolkit tucked away in the rental. He believed in being overly prepared. So did Kane.

  He stepped out of the alley, merging with another small group. They were walking slowly, snapping photos of some of the older buildings and plaques that explained the history of the area. He took out his cell phone and did the same, taking a picture of the alley, zooming in on the vent and getting a picture of that. He snapped a photo of a small memorial marker that stood near the street and then turned to snap one of the back of GeoArray’s building.

  One of the doors was opening, and he lowered his phone, pretending to scroll through photos as two men stepped outside. One was a stranger—tall with black hair, wearing a suit that probably cost a small fortune. The other looked familiar—light brown hair cut short, expensive suit, thin build.

  Randy Sumner.

  Arden’s ex.

  The guy looked haggard, his cheeks gaunt, his eyes deeply shadowed. Whatever was going on, he didn’t seem happy about it.

  Kane gave himself just enough time to notice those things, and then he moved away, merging with another group milling around near a bus stop. He snapped a few pictures of the distant harbor and waited impatiently for Randy and his buddy to make a move. If they returned to the building, he’d go back to the SUV. If they left the area, he’d follow.

  Either way, he had information he didn’t have before.

  Randy was in town.

  As far as Kane knew, the guy was a consultant working out of GeoArray’s DC office. If he’d flown into Boston, he must be feeling pressure to make sure the cyber exchange went off without a hitch.

  The fact that GeoArray hadn’t been able to find and dispatch Arden probably had her idiot ex sweating bullets. He knew what she was capable of, and he knew she wouldn’t stop until she was forced to or until she achieved her goal.

  The door opened again and a uniformed security officer stepped out. He was pushing a cart of luggage, and he didn’t look happy about it.

  “Where do you want it, Mr. Emory?” he snapped, loudly, rolling it toward the street.

  Kane tensed at the name.

  Emory and Randy together with a cart full of luggage all sounded like an escape waiting to happen. The two men made their way toward the curb.

  “You called a cab?” Emory asked, glancing at his watch and frowning.

  “Didn’t you ask me to?”

  “Don’t get smart with me, Henderson,” Emory growled. “I don’t like it.”

  “Yes,” the security guard ground out. “I called a cab.”

  “When it gets here, load everything in it and take it to the dock. The Relentless Journey is in its usual spot. Just leave the stuff in my cabin.” Emory slapped a wad of bills in the guy’s hand. “That’s for the extra effort. Come on, Randy. We’ve got a few things to discuss before I leave. Let’s grab some coffee.”

  “What do you mean, leave?” Randy sputtered, his face flushed with displeasure.

  As Emory and Randy approached the bus stop, Kane turned away, knowing he was staring and afraid he’d be noticed. He texted Silas to give him an update, his back still to the men as they moved past.

  “We’re both leaving, Randy. You go your way. I go mine. We knew it might come to this—especially with the elusive DeMarco girl still just out of reach.”

  Kane fell in step behind them as they passed, keeping within earshot of their conversation.

  “The plan was to leave after the file transmission, if we couldn’t find Arden and get the files back,” Randy whispered. “Why are you packing up now?”

  “My wife thinks I’m leaving on a business trip this morning. My girlfriend and I are going out for dinner and I’ll likely stay on the yacht tonight. But I’ll be ready to launch it tomorrow night in the event that you haven’t retrieved those files. Not that I owe you an explanation. I’ve paid you plenty for your work. Or, should I say, for your girlfriend’s work?”

  Randy responded, but the words were lost as the men walked across the street.

  Kane could have followed, but he’d heard enough. He was more interested in the yacht. If he could get on board, he might be able to figure out where Emory planned to go. Despite what the CEO had told Randy, Kane wondered if Emory planned to leave long before the exchange happened.

  Not that the exchange would ever happen.

  Not if Kane had anything to do with it.

  He texted Silas again and let him know that he was heading to the docks. He tucked his cell phone away, finished the last of his coffee and headed toward the glittering water of the harbor.

  FOURTEEN

  Arden dreamed of Christmas.

  Of family gathered in her parents’ large home. Of good food and conversation, of laughter and off-key singing. She dreamed of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream, a fire glowing softly. Kane smiling at her from across the room. Cold wind whipping in from an open door. A dog barking.

  A dog?

  She opened her eyes, still groggy with sleep, and stared into Dutch’s dark eyes. He leaned in so close, his nose touched her cheek and his hot doggy breath fanned her face.

  “Are you going to eat me?” she asked.

  “Kee-gur’-lah!” Silas commanded leaning into the open front door of the SUV and eyeing her dispassionately. Dutch immediately backed away. “I see you’re awake.”

  “I see you’re still grumpy.”

  Someone laughed.

  No. Not someone. Kane. She could see him now, standing next to Silas, his hair covered by a black cap. He had a couple days’ worth of stubble and a rugged outdoorsy look that made her wonder if he spent most of his life tromping through forests.

  She was stretched out across the back seat of the SUV, her backpack under her head. Her laptop was still open and sitting on the floor, the battery charging in the SUV’s power outlet. She’d spent a couple of hours prepping for the night mission and waiting for Kane. She wasn’t sure when she’d dozed off, but it hadn’t been dark.

  Now it was.

  Which had to mean that it was almost time.

  She sat up too quickly, saw a million tiny stars dancing in front of her eyes as she opened the door. Her foot caught on Kane’s duffel, and she nearly took a header on the cement.

  She would have if Kane hadn’t grabbed her arm, his fingers curving around her biceps. “Slow down, Arden. We’ve got time.”

  “It’s dark,” she pointed out. “And I’m ready.”

  “Not until you eat.” He handed her a paper bag, his hand sliding from her upper arm to
her wrist. “I brought back cold-cut subs. I thought you might be hungry.”

  “I’m starved, thank you.” She began unwrapping the sub. “I’m going to love you forever for this, Kane,” she said, just like she would have if he’d been one of her brothers.

  Only he wasn’t.

  “We’ve moved on from like to love pretty quickly, Arden,” he said, urging her back until her legs hit the SUV and she was sitting on the bench seat again.

  “Just a figure of speech,” she muttered. She removed the last of the wrapper from the sub and did everything in her power to not look in his eyes.

  He was special, and he was trouble, and he was exactly the kind of guy she should not be saying things like “I’ll love you forever” to.

  Because she thought that she could do that.

  She could also get her heart broken, her dreams crushed and all her silly little fantasies about forever dashed.

  Again.

  Only this time it would be worse, because this time, she’d be dreaming all those things about Kane. And he was so much more than Randy had ever been.

  “I bought it so you could eat it,” Kane said quietly. “Not stare at it like it’s going to bite you.”

  She took a bite, swallowed. “This is so good.”

  “Eat up. We can’t afford to have you distracted tonight.” He crouched in front of her, brushing strands of hair from her cheek. “I know I don’t need to tell you that I’m worried about what we might come up against in there. If I could take down the system myself, I’d leave you here and do it.”

  “I know what’s riding on this. National security—”

  “I’m worried about you, Arden. Which reminds me.” Kane reached into a large pocket in his jacket. “I bought you dessert. It’s gingerbread. It seemed appropriate. Since you like Christmas so much.”

  “You’re kidding.” She opened the small white bag, got a whiff of spicy ginger and sweet molasses. “You aren’t kidding.” She took a bite, savoring the lightly iced desert.

  “A gun would have been more appropriate,” Silas grumbled, polishing off the rest of his own sub.

  “We’ve got those, and the security team at GeoArray doesn’t look armed,” Kane responded. “Not that that means much.”

  “Did you see the ventilation shaft?” she asked, finishing off the gingerbread and brushing crumbs from her hands.

  “I did,” Kane acknowledged. “I also saw your ex and Marcus Emory. Emory has all of his things packed on a yacht. He’s ready to leave the country once this deal goes through—unless he can find you and eliminate any threat of discovery.”

  “Is Randy going with him?”

  “Emory may take his girlfriend. Randy’s on his own. Both of them are going to be disappointed.”

  “When they don’t get the payoff because they failed?”

  “When the FBI takes them in before they have a chance to escape the country,” Kane replied.

  “That’s definitely the best-case scenario,” Arden agreed.

  “Speaking of the FBI, I think we should fill Grayson in on what we’ve learned before we head into the facility.”

  “What! I thought we weren’t going to get him involved in this until it’s over? If he has knowledge that we plan to break into GeoArray’s secure facility, he’ll have a duty to report it.”

  “You’ve decrypted the files, Arden. We have all the proof we need. Marcus Emory is selling proprietary national secrets. If we weren’t under time pressure, I’d turn this over to Grayson and let him and the FBI deal with GeoArray from this point forward.”

  “We already determined that could take too long.”

  “Right. We’re going in. We’re taking the system down. I’m planning on all three of us getting into that building and getting out of it,” Kane responded. “But if that doesn’t happen, someone has to know what’s going on at GeoArray. I want you to send your brother the files before we leave. He won’t see them until it’s too late to stop us.”

  She knew what he was saying.

  She understood his fear.

  If they were captured and killed, GeoArray would get away with an act of espionage that would rival the Robert Hanssen case, which was the worst in FBI history.

  She grabbed her laptop. “I’ll send them to his work email. That way I can encrypt them with the FBI’s encryption program. We can’t take a chance of the files leaking out.”

  “You have access to the FBI’s encryption program?” Silas asked.

  “Yes, I’ve consulted for them before on special cases,” she answered. She attached the files to an encrypted email and sent it to her brother. “Done.”

  “You’re quick.” Silas opened the SUV’s hatchback. “Now, how about we get moving?” He tossed several things in her direction. Somehow she managed to catch them. Black gloves. A black cap like Kane was wearing.

  She put them on, then set her computer on the seat, the screen glowing blue-white.

  “Are you leaving Dutch?” she asked. The computer had to stay on. If the connection was disrupted, she’d have no way to reset it from inside the building and nowhere to send the command and control application once she removed it from the network.

  “He’ll stay back here,” Silas said. “Oh-wahn’-kah,” he commanded, and the dog hopped into the cargo area of the vehicle.

  “If he comes up here and steps on my computer, we’re sunk. The connection needs to remain open so I have a safe place to send the files.”

  “Dutch will stay put. He’ll also keep people away from the SUV.” Silas shut the hatchback and rounded the side of the vehicle.

  “Ready?” Kane asked, offering a hand to Arden.

  She took it, allowing herself to be pulled from the vehicle. December wind blew through the parking garage as they made their way to the stairwell, and she wanted to press close to Kane, gather a little of his warmth.

  She wasn’t just cold.

  She was scared.

  There was no guarantee they’d be able to make it into GeoArray through the ventilation system. If they did, there was no guarantee that she could accomplish her task before they were discovered.

  She didn’t say what she was thinking.

  For once, her nerves didn’t cause a stream of words to spill out of her mouth. She was going through the steps she needed to take, mentally rehearsing the quickest, most efficient way to infect GeoArray’s server with a worm that would disrupt system operations. She’d have to be careful to stay out of the system storage to preserve the network’s integrity. If she did it right, there’d be no chance that anyone connected to the system could retrieve files from it until she restored the server and turned it over to the FBI.

  They stepped out of the parking garage and stuck to the shadows as they approached the rear of the darkened GeoArray facility. Arden waited impatiently while Kane and Silas unscrewed the vent cover.

  They set it against the brick wall, then disconnected and removed a fan that blocked the ventilation duct.

  It took merely moments, but it felt like hours. Cold, moist air blew in from the harbor and seeped through Arden’s layers of clothes. By the time the fan had been removed, she was cold to the bone, her teeth nearly chattering.

  “This is going to be a problem,” Silas said quietly, and she moved closer, eyeing the dark shaft that led into the building. It was small. She’d be able to fit, but there was no way either of the men would.

  “Time for plan B,” Kane said.

  “Which is?” Arden asked.

  “We try to get in one of the back doors.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No.” He scowled. “I’m not kidding. There’s no way Silas and I are getting in through this vent.”

  “You don’t need to,” she argued. “I can fit through, and
I’m the only one who really needs to be in there.”

  “You’re not going in alone.”

  “We could stand out here all night arguing,” Silas said. “But that’s not going to do us or the country much good.”

  “We’re not arguing. We’re switching gears.” Kane started to walk away, but Arden grabbed his hand.

  “We don’t have time to switch gears. We don’t have time to try something that might not work. This is our best chance, and I’m taking it.”

  “She’s right, Kane,” Silas agreed. “We try to get in one of those doors and set off an alarm, and that information will be out before anyone can stop Marcus Emory.”

  “No,” Kane said again.

  “You’re letting your heart influence your head. That’s a good way to get people killed,” Silas responded.

  Kane scowled. “What’s your point?”

  “If I were the one who could fit through there and take down that system, you’d let me go.”

  “You’re a trained professional.”

  “Who can’t fit through the shaft,” Arden cut in. She needed to get moving before her nerves got the best of her. “I memorized the blueprints. I know the easiest path to the server room. It should take me forty minutes tops. If I’m in there longer, call the cavalry.”

  She released his hand and would have climbed into the shaft, but he touched her shoulder.

  “Arden,” he said quietly. She turned, looked into his gorgeous eyes. Even in the dim alley light, she could see his concern.

  “Don’t stop me, Kane, okay? This has to be done. I’m the only one who can do it.”

  He nodded. “You have forty minutes. Not a minute longer.”

  “Afraid I’ll fall through the ventilation shaft and start spouting random facts about espionage and the death rates of spies?” she tried to joke.

  He didn’t even crack a smile. “I’m afraid of not getting a chance to see your Christmas sweater this year. It’s one of my favorite parts of your family’s Christmas celebration.” His knuckles skimmed down the side of her cheek, and she felt the heat of his skin through the thin fabric of his gloves before he stepped away.