That wasn’t happening. “If I went back to Kensington, I’d go mad.”
Ethan groaned. “Don’t come straight to the facility. We’ve made camp about two miles south, in the trees below the ridgeline. I’ll send TINK our coordinates.”
Nineteen excruciating minutes later, Deacon located his fellow PAN in the forest surrounding the HOOK facility. Ethan and Nicola were deep in conversation beneath an ancient oak tree with two other members of the extraction team dressed in full tactical gear. Deacon bypassed his friends and went directly to the teenager bent over a stump. “Has there been any sign of her yet? Do you know if she’s all right?”
The stone-faced PAN with serious black eyes looked up from the schematic drawing of the HOOK building to glare at him. “Who invited you?” Owen was shorter than Deacon, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in ruthlessness—which Deacon had found out the hard way when they had sparred a few years earlier.
Owen was very good at his job.
And he was among those who didn’t care for Deacon after the bird-watching incident.
“Owen. Please.”
“We know she’s inside the building somewhere,” Owen grumbled, removing the binoculars hanging from around his neck and setting them into a black bag at his feet, “but we’re unable to use TINK to pinpoint her exact whereabouts. They must have some sort of signal jamming tech.”
“Is she—?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t even let me—”
“There’s no need for you to waste your breath. Whatever you’re going to ask me, the answer is going to be that I don’t know.”
“What do you know?”
“I know I’ve been doing this for twenty years.” Owen shoved him toward the others. “And I know that if you don’t get your ass back with the rest of the spectators, you’re gonna be sorry.”
“And in those twenty years,” Deacon snarled, jabbing his finger toward the building in the distance, “have you ever infiltrated a secure facility where they know of our existence and our ability to fly?”
“Have you?” Owen smirked as he pulled a silver tube from his vest pocket. He pressed a button, and the tube disappeared except for a faint blinking light. When he tossed it into the air, it floated toward the building.
They were wasting time in a bloody pissing match. “How many FAIR-Es have you let off?” The tiny, drone-like devices extraction used for reconnaissance would send video back for analysis.
“That’s number seven.”
“Is the receiver in here?” Deacon pulled a nickel alarm clock from beneath a pair of night-vision goggles and asked why they’d brought it.
Owen took the antique timepiece and tapped the black and white face. “When we cross paths with HOOK, it’s standard procedure to leave them a souvenir. Drives ‘em nuts.”
Deacon withdrew the FAIR-E receiver and handed it to Owen. Instead of turning it on, Owen set it on top of the blueprints. “What are we looking at here?”
“The smaller buildings in the front are administrative offices.” Owen slid his fingers along the page. “Vivienne wouldn’t be in there. The larger building is surrounded by CCTV cameras, and it’s where most of the employees are located.”
“How many entrances are there?”
“Four. The main door has a security guard, and all the others are keycard access only.”
This was bad. So much worse than he’d feared. If there was no way in—“Can we get our hands on a keycard?”
“If we do, we have to wait until after it gets dark to use it. The fields around the building are too big to cross in daylight, especially when they know we’ll be approaching by air.”
Darkness was hours away. They had to get in sooner. “What about windows?”
“If only I had thought of that,” Owen drawled, dragging his hands over his face. “Some windows have been left ajar or completely open, but there’s no way they’re an oversight.”
“They know we’re coming,” Deacon said. The leaves rustled in the evening breeze.
“Of course they do. And at the moment, we can’t get a handle on where she is within the building without putting everyone here in jeopardy.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
Owen exhaled a huff of breath. “At the very least, we wait until nightfall. There are bound to be witnesses, but I have to minimize the damage at the front end in case all hell breaks loose.”
The lazily falling sun inched toward the horizon. “And then?”
“Then we need to get eyes on the inside.”
“No one’s comin’ for you, Viv.”
“Who said that?” Vivienne sat up, then collapsed back onto the bed. Why was she so dizzy? She pressed a cold palm to her aching head and turned to see a hazy figure sitting on the chair next to the bed. “Mom?”
“What have you gotten yourself into, honey?” Anne had a patient frown on her lips.
Vivienne blinked twice but didn’t dare move for fear of making the apparition disappear. “Don’t worry. Deacon will save me.” He was her guardian angel. It was his responsibility to keep her safe.
“No, he won’t. He’s gone.”
“He’ll come back for me.” Even as she spoke the words, the claim rang hollow. No one would be storming the gates of HOOK to come to her aid. Whatever HOOK had in store for her, she would have to endure it on her own.
“Do you honestly believe they’ll let Deacon risk his life to save yours? You’re expendable. He’s not.”
“Were you always this mean?”
Anne smiled, and for the first time, Vivienne recognized a bit of herself in her mother. “I’m trying to help you, honey. It’s not Deacon’s job to save you.”
“Of course, it is.”
“No. It’s your job to save yourself.”
“The window’s open. I could just—”
“If they know your secrets, you’ll never escape.”
Her mom was right. She had to keep her secrets.
Vivienne sat up carefully to study the barren room. Her stomach let out an empty growl. She was starving. And freezing. The cell had a toilet and a single thin cover for the bed, but nothing had been left for her to eat.
Muted beeping sounded from behind the industrial door, and then the heavy metal partition opened.
“Who authorized this?” A man snapped from the entrance. He had strawberry blond curls and wore a white button-down beneath his white lab coat. The red sneakers made him seem more likeable than the man in combat boots beside him.
“Your brother did,” combat boots said.
Brother? Did that mean this guy was related to Lawrence Hooke? He looked at least a decade younger.
“My brother isn’t in charge of research,” red-shoes ground out. “This is my division, and he has no say. Got it?”
“Yes, Jasper.”
“Can’t you tell this poor girl is freezing? Get her a warmer blanket.” A keycard jingled on a cord attached to Jasper’s pocket when he came over to the bed and knelt beside her. His forehead creased, seemingly with concern. “Have you had anything to eat or drink, Vivienne?”