It hadn’t been hard to convince Pauline to invite me to her apartment at the exact time I wanted. Actually, I’d made it all seem like it had been her idea all along, and I’d called her landline number, so anyone who was listening in—and I was sure someone was—wouldn’t see anything suspicious about two friends wanting to see each other.
Since I wasn’t supposed to know what exactly Pauline’s boyfriend was doing for a living, and Pauline didn’t like to go out much, probably because she was afraid her boyfriend’s business partners could get her in trouble, everything seemed perfectly normal about my little visit. Usually we’d chat for two hours or so, but this time I had to come up with an excuse and leave earlier so I could have time to sneak into Aaron’s apartment and get out in time so that nothing would seem suspicious.
I placed the coffee mug on the glass table in front of me and took a quick glance at my phone. “Shit. I’m going to be late.”
“Late for what?” Pauline’s green eyes widened as she played with a curly strand of her blonde hair. “You just got here.”
“Um, no, I didn’t.” I waved the phone in front of her face so she could see the big clock on the screen. Time usually seemed to fly when I was with her because we could talk about books, TV shows, and random stuff for ages, but this time things were different.
“Is it seven already?” She gaped at me. “Can’t you just stay for a few minutes? What’s so important that you can’t...”
I batted my eyelashes at her. “I have a date.”
“A date? And you didn’t remember to mention that earlier?” Her hand flew to her chest. “What the hell? What are you even doing with me here then? Go!”
I let out a laugh. “I still have an hour to get ready, so you know... when you said you wanted to see me and that your lousy boyfriend left you on your own again... I couldn’t really say no.”
“Hey, he didn’t leave me. He’s just working late.” Her face went serious, but there was something in her eyes that made me think she was getting tired of her boyfriend’s job.
“He’s always working.” I frowned. “And you’re stuck in here. Maybe you could come out with me. I know you hate big parties, but we could go for a nice little dinner or something. I mean, your apartment is nice and all, but it’s not going to go anywhere.”
“I’m too lazy for that.” She grinned, getting to her feet, and I knew she couldn’t tell me the truth. “You should go. And then you can tell me all about the lucky guy tomorrow. I want a full report.”
I got up too and grabbed my purse. If I managed to do this without getting caught, I’d find a way to convince her to go out with me sometime. “Well, I’ll give you more like a summary, because I doubt I’ll have time left to write up a full report.” I winked at her, and we both burst out laughing.
“Ah, Cass, you always make my day. Thank you for that.” She came over to me and pulled me into a hug. As I rubbed her back, I questioned my decision to proceed with my plan. Pauline was a nice girl and if I got caught, she might get in trouble too. My throat constricted at the sole thought of being responsible for something happening to her. I squeezed her tighter to me, but I couldn’t exactly tell her to be ready to run as far as possible from here. She’d report me. She had no clue who I really was, and considering her boyfriend worked for the Viteris, in her shock and panic, she’d probably choose him over me.
Unfortunately, too many lives were at stake. I’d have to risk mine and Pauline’s to try to stop an impeding war and maybe save Katya too. No, I couldn’t stop now. I had to do what I came here for. When I finally let go of Pauline and headed for the door, I stopped to look back at her and flashed her another smile. If anyone was listening in on our conversation through some devices Pauline didn’t even know were in her home, I couldn’t give any clues that I was about to do something very stupid, so I just waved at her.
“See you,” I said as I always did, and walked out of there. When the door was firmly shut behind me, I briefly searched the walls for any cameras. There was only one in the corner, so I headed down the hallway toward the elevator, but just as I was about to pass the door that led to the stairwell, I swayed on my feet.
I stopped, leaning against the wall and placing my hand over my forehead, faking I was feeling faint. I stood there for a few moments, then stumbled toward the door to the stairwell, intent on making everyone believe I just needed some air in case the cameras were still on. Slipping through the door, I made my way up the poorly-lit stairwell, gripping the rail as if it were the only thing keeping me up.
As I made it to the top, I slowly pushed the door open and found myself on the rooftop. There wasn’t anyone in sight, and Aaron’s part of the terrace was supposed to be just behind one of the walls. I inched closer to it and peered around the corner. There was a camera not far from me, but I hoped it was off. The door that was supposed to lead to Aaron’s part was closed and there was no way for me to see through it.
Taking out my phone, I strode over the rooftop and pretended I was searching for a signal, but I kept my head down. My brother had calculated the exact time the guards were supposed to be on the other side of the terrace, which wasn’t exactly foolproof since they could change their usual pattern or come to check if anything out of the ordinary happened. Besides, someone could’ve seen me on the camera if it was on and was monitoring me, so I needed to wait a bit because I was sure someone would immediately come to prevent me from going farther.
I stopped in front of the wall and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. I’d just pretend I was disoriented if someone spotted me or if I opened the door at the wrong moment. The door was rusty red and identical to the one I’d come through, so they’d be more likely to believe that I’d come by mistake. There was also a chance the door would be locked, but Tony had told me they kept it open during maintenance so they could use it as an emergency exit.
When I opened my eyes, I turned around in a circle, my brow furrowed, as if I wasn’t sure in which direction to go. I strode to the door and carefully pushed it open. There were cameras all over the terrace and hopefully they were off. The guards weren’t anywhere in sight. Keeping my head down, I rushed toward the glass door. The apartment was mostly in darkness since the sun had already dipped past the tall buildings, and luckily enough, as I tried the door, it slid open.
I slipped inside just as the guards appeared on the terrace and went to take a look at the door I’d passed through. They didn’t look alarmed, so it was very likely no one bothered to watch the cameras all the time, or they were all busy doing maintenance, so the cameras were off. I traced my hand across the wall and slowly made my way forward until I could no longer see the terrace. Nothing stirred or indicated that an alarm of any kind had been triggered, so I tried to follow the hallway to Aaron’s office.
I placed my hand on the door and realized it was open, so I pushed it wider and dared to take out my phone to get some light. As I lifted my phone, I froze in place because there was a camera right in front of me. I wondered if this one was still working. But as I inched forward, I realized the wires behind it were hanging out. My shoulders nearly sagged in relief. It looked like Aaron wasn’t too inclined to have his office monitored.
The computer was on the desk, and I rummaged through my purse for the lipstick that actually had the undetectable drive in it. The drive had been specially designed by my brother so it would be able to copy the whole disk using its own power source without turning on the computer. I found the slot and stuck the drive inside, watching the red light come on. Once the light turned green, I’d know the files had been copied.
Tony assured me the drive and the data transfer wouldn’t be detectable by anyone. I crouched behind the chair, waiting for the drive to finish for what seemed like hours. I strained my ears for any noise, but there was nothing except silence, not even any sound coming from the busy streets. The apartment had to be soundproof then. I tapped my fingers against my leg as quietly as possible, wondering if there could be something wrong with the drive. Why was it taking so long? Or was I just being impatient?
The light finally flashed to green and I snatched the drive, hopping to my feet. I tucked the drive into my purse and used my phone’s light so I could find the exit without disturbing anything in the office. I only had about fifteen minutes until the maintenance was completed and all the security systems were back up. Once I was back in the hallway, I shoved the phone in my purse and padded to the glass door, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized one of the guards was sitting in a chair right next to the door that was my main way out. Shit. Was there a chance he’d get up before the cameras were back up? Probably not.
I had to find another exit. My brother and I had gone over the alternatives, and my best way out was to find the bedroom that had a window through which I could get out on the other side of the terrace. There was another door there that I could use, but I’d have to be careful because of the other guard. I threaded through the darkness, my sneakers quiet against the carpet. It wasn’t that hard to find the room I was looking for, but as I made my way across it, a soft creak of the floorboards somewhere behind me caught my attention. I was in the middle of the room and there was nowhere for me to hide, so I moved forward, hoping the creak had been caused by me.
“Stop right there,” a male voice said, and pressed what I assumed was the barrel of a gun to the back of my head.