Game of Fear (Montgomery Justice #3)(91)

A fog fell over her. She could barely make out her father’s words.

Something wet streamed down her face.

“Deb, what about Ashley?” Her father’s voice was soft, hesitant. “Did you find her?”

He’d asked her a question.

Gabe’s thumb wiped away her tears. She clung to him.

“Not yet.”

He paused. “I see. I’d arranged to come stateside, but now I’ll need to wait until I receive confirmation . . . of your brother’s . . . status.”

“I’ll find Ashley,” Deb said softly. “I promise.”

She heard the hitch of her father’s breath on the other end of the line. “I can’t lose two of my kids, Deborah. Do whatever you can.”

“I . . . I will.”

Her father cleared his throat. “Stay safe, Deborah. I . . . I do love you.”

He disconnected before she could respond.

He hadn’t said those words since her mother died.

She clutched the phone, unable to move. She’d wanted to stay on the line with her father. This was the man she remembered from so long ago. She wanted him here. She wanted someone to count on.

Gabe stroked the side of her cheek with his knuckle. “You all right?”

She looked at Gabe. He’s the one she could count on. He’d never let her down. He’d proved that already. No matter how tough things got, he was always there.

“You heard?”

“Enough,” he said gently. Gabe’s phone rang. “It’s Zach,” he said, then pressed Speaker.

“We found the warehouse. Wheels up in twenty minutes.”




The wake-up alarm shrilled over the intercom and echoed down the hallways.

Ashley groaned and pulled herself up to a sitting position. Her room had no windows, but from the grit in her eyes, it had to be night. Why were they getting up now?

She’d heard the moneymen might be coming this afternoon or tomorrow. What was going on?

She dressed swiftly, not wanting to be caught unprepared should the Warden or one of the guards come in.

The Warden was still angry with her. He hated her so much, he would probably do the deed himself when it came time to kill everyone.

She had to stop thinking like that or she’d paralyze with fear. Bravery came and went with increasing irregularity.

Moving carefully, she slipped the tiny screwdriver back into her bra. Today would be the day she’d use it. Ashley couldn’t avoid finishing the programming they’d assigned her the day before. She’d had to do it right. She couldn’t fool them.

Niko was the best programmer among the bad guys, but even the Warden knew code. Enough to verify her subroutines did exactly what they were supposed to.

She’d embedded the grid commands deep, the virus even deeper. But after Justin and Dave’s escape, they checked her computer thoroughly every night. Was she really that good, or had Niko just chosen not to see what she’d done?

The two kids down the hall had disappeared yesterday. Ashley closed her eyes. She’d watched Niko carefully last night. He’d come inside, his face almost gray with fatigue.

And she knew. The purge had started. The least talented went first, but no one was getting out alive. They’d outlived their usefulness.

She didn’t hope to get out alive. She could stop what they planned, though. But only if she or Floyd did the demo. She definitely shouldn’t tick anyone else off until then.

The Warden had engineered the creation of a pervasive piece of code that would make any computer on any network vulnerable. If the computer was connected, he and his people would have a back door into the system. Anywhere in the world. Military, government, financial. Ashley shivered. They had to be stopped.

Boots and shuffling sounded in the corridors. Guards were escorting people to the cafeteria, she assumed, before starting their unusually early day.

Tension made her fidgety. She sat on the bed and her ankle bracelet hit the metal bedstead with a clang.

She studied each corner of the room. No obvious cameras in the ceiling, but she’d seen enough to be careful. There were vents, and she couldn’t risk being caught. This could be her last chance.

Lying on the bed, she huddled beneath the blanket, tucking her legs into a ball, feigning feeling ill. Niko said if she used the wrong tool on the cuff, she’d set it off and they’d know. She sent a little prayer upward, then pulled the small screwdriver from her bra.

Nerves had her fumbling as she felt around the bracelet. A small screw attached at the back.

God, what she wouldn’t give for a flashlight.

The blanket clung like a suffocating hand around her throat. She caught the groove in the screw and turned. No alarm went off. Did it trigger a notification somewhere else? She was committed now.

Every few turns, she fumbled with the screw. Finally, the tiny piece of metal fell to the bed. After undoing the second screw, she pulled apart the ankle monitor and brought it up to her chest. She had to risk a bit of light to check it out. She lifted the blanket slightly. Inside the bracelet two small sets of marks were scraped into the inside rubber casing. C2.

That was the door Niko had pointed out when he’d led her to the armory, and again when he took her the long way back to her room tonight.

A door, metal, but no guard. Only the wall panel. She’d seen cameras . . . and yet . . .