“The reports,” she says as Mong helps her to her feet. They keep reports with the results from the tests. “I… I’ve seen them before, but I didn’t know what they were exactly.”
I bypass the login screen with the help of my reliable custom-made hacking program, then proceed to scan through the myriads of files. While I’m waiting to get a hit, I come across some kind of a document. It’s a contract or something outlining the parties involved and how much money each of them has poured into this drug. It’s a big list, and it has even bigger numbers on it.
“Aran, look.” I hold Mrs. Lynx’s tablet that I’ve made mine so he can see what I’m seeing.
He takes it, frowning more with each page he goes past. Curious, I take a peek, skimming alongside him.
“Oh, shit. All the big players are on this ship!”
We already knew that there would be key players here, but not that it would be a staggering ninety-five percent of them. The names of the remaining five are also in that document too, so I make sure to download it. It will make taking care of the bad guys so much easier.
It’s not long before I get a hit on my search for test results, but just when I start the download, an alarm sounds, and the entire lab is plunged into bright red.
Uh-oh.
I twist my head back, causing the chair to spin with me, and make awkward eye contact with Mong, then Eleanor, and finally with Aran.
“I think they found out what we did.”
The moment the words are out of my mouth, the glass sliding door shatters with multiple loud bangs. Aran throws himself at me, and Mong does the same to Eleanor, all four of us falling to the cold tiled floor with painful grunts as bullets barrage us and break everything in their path.
Seriously? Not again.
“Stay down!” Aran yells, keeping me tucked under his body.
It’s not like I was planning to go for a walk while being shot at. But I guess he said it for the others’ sakes too, as I doubt either of them has had the pleasure of finding themselves in a deadly situation like this one.
Fear snakes its way through me, but with it comes that thrill I taste whenever I get involved in something dangerous. Usually, Aran isn’t part of it because he’d never let me get in that kind of trouble in the first place, but things are different now. We’re together in this, partners who have each other’s back.
I fucking love it.
“Tien,” he says into my hair before popping his head over the cabinets we’re using for cover. “I need that second gun. Do you still have it?”
I kind of forgot he handed it to me, but when I reach back, it’s holstered to my belt. “Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
I grab the dangerous thing and shove it into his hand, pausing as I am about to let go. “Wait. Does that mean you don’t trust me to cover for you? I’ll have you know I am a very accurate shooter.”
He does his version of an elegant scoff. “Games don’t count.”
Just then, there is a break in the fire. He yanks the weapon from me and vaults over the furniture, shooting both guns at the same time as he charges at our enemy. The guards fall down one after the other until there is not a single one left standing.
It’s surreal. This is the coolest, most badass, crazy psychopath-daddy thing I’ve ever witnessed Aran do in my life. And it doesn’t end there either. Nah. More people arrive a second later, but he’s ready for them, ending their attack before it’s even had the chance to commence.
“Hex!” He yells, crouching by the base of the stairs. “Can you get the door closed? They’ve disabled the scanner and manual override controls!”
“Gimme a sec!” I unlock Mrs. Lynx’s tablet. The screen has cracked, but otherwise the device is holding up just fine.
A couple of screens later, I’ve found a way to reboot the door via an emergency protocol of the secondary network. It works like a charm, and soon Aran is back with us. Someone’s blood is smeared all over his suit and his hair is a sexy mess, but that’s fortunately all the damage he suffered. He’s not injured.
As I am about to make sure of it by conducting a very thorough check of his body, a red warning alert triggers on the tablet. I glare at it and my blood turns into ice.
“Hex.”
Oh boy, this is bad, the pinnacle of horrible endings.
“Hex.”
