Oh.Right.
He drew in a breath.“Hey.Kidding.You also saved my life.So—I’ll go first?—”
“You’re right.He might not recognize you.”She put a hand on his arm.Muscles.Hello.“But I go first.Let’s go.”
She scrambled down the roof, careful not to dislodge any tiles, and made the leap to the next building.Flatter roof, so nothing fell, and she crawled up to the peak as he followed her.Across the ridgeline, and there below, another short drop and they’d land right on the stone-covered balcony.A light burned inside.
She glanced at Steinbeck.“On the off chance that the Russians have found him?—”
“I got you?—”
“Save Luis.”
He cocked his head at her.“No one dies on my watch.Just go.”
Her mouth tightened and she gauged the drop—seven stories down.Six-foot gap.She motioned him back and he complied.
“You sure you can?—”
She took off at a run, sailed off the edge, landed on the stone balcony.
The alarm screeched, and she hustled over to the security box and punched in the code just as the sliding door opened.
Luis Sousa appeared at the door, holding a weapon, and within a second, Steinbeck had snatched it away, disarming him.
She hadn’t even seen him land behind her.Now he pushed Luis back into the room, his gun out.
“Clear.”
She followed him in, her hands up.“Luis, it’s me, Phoenix.”
The poor man had his own hands up, his eyes wide as he stared between her and Steinbeck, his breath catching.Then, “Phoenix?”
Stein lowered his gun.“You okay?”
Luis looked at him, and it took a second, but, “Steinbeck?”
“Yep, it’s me.”
Luis had been in his late twenties when they’d scooped him out of the Ukrainian embassy, had liberated him from Russian hands.A genius hacker who’d made an enemy of the Russian government by hacking into their servers and leaking troop movements during the war.
He’d put on weight in the year since she’d last seen him, filled out, and bore the appearance of someone accustomed to trouble.He put his hands down.“What are you—” He glanced at Phoenix.Then, “Are you two working together?”
Steinbeck let out a breath.“Yes.”
Luis grinned.“I knew it.Even then, I knew you two were partners?—”
“Stop,” Phoenix said.“We need to get you out of here.”
“Finally,” he said and walked over to the round table where his laptop sat.She glimpsed the photo on the lock screen a moment before he closed the lid.So Luis had found a girlfriend.Or maybe his sister?
It didn’t matter.She walked over to the kitchen and looked at the security screen, the same system she’d set up in her apartment.“Hallway looks clear.”
“I created a false trail,” Luis said, tucking his computer into his backpack.“I hacked into their system and left breadcrumbs.A plane ticket to Barcelona.Another to New York City.Hotel accommodations in Manhattan.”
“How’d you do that?”Stein asked, closing the balcony doors, locking them.
“I logged in via their smart TV.”
