The Gender War (The Gender Game #4)(84)

“The plans to King Maxen’s palace,” I replied. “With any and all defenses listed out.”

He frowned. “Why?”

I sighed in frustration. “Because the king misses his fuzzy bunny slippers.”

“I don’t like sarcasm,” Thomas retorted, crossing his arms.

“Okay, then.” I pressed my hands to my temples. “Because…”

Amber interjected, “Because after that we’ll stop bothering you.”

Thomas looked at her for a second and then nodded curtly. “That would be helpful, yes.”

He began typing rapidly on the computer, and I pulled out the handheld I’d had Amber pick up from her father’s stash and set it on the desk. “Download it to that,” I said.

Thomas continued to type with his left hand—an impressive feat, I had to admit—and picked up the handheld with his right, placing it in front of the tower that housed the processors for the wall of computer screens. He paused typing long enough to plug it in, and then resumed. I watched as blueprint plans flashed across the screen, too fast for me to note anything, and then a progress bar popped up, indicating they were being transferred to the handheld.

“You know,” Thomas said, turning back to me. “Those defenses are no joke—they are automated, with several triggers, including thermal scans. It’s going to be impossible to break in there undetected.”

I had considered this. “Could you hack them?” I asked, and he shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger.

“Not from here—it’s a closed system. I’d have to be there to…” He trailed off, his eyes growing wide. “No,” he said emphatically. “No.” He turned to Amber. “You said you would leave me alone!”

Amber shrugged. “I thought we could. But it looks like we need you there.”

“Yeah, well, I need to live. I don’t know what you’ve got planned, but I will not go along with it, you hear me?”

I nodded for a second, trying to find the reserves inside my adrenaline-flooded mind to deal with this on his level. Finally, I moved forward, leaning over Thomas until he squeaked in fear and tried to back away, feebly scooting his computer chair back a few inches. “Tabitha has my family,” I said, breathing in through my nose. “She will make them suffer before they die. Thomas, she has Quinn. She tortured him in front of Amber’s face. You’re the only one who can possibly increase their odds of survival.”

“Thomas,” Amber said, her voice low with anger, “we have to get Tabitha. We’re going to get Violet’s family back, and we have a plan to take Tabitha down.”

Thomas’ small eyes glanced to her, then back at my face. The man was shaking under my gaze. His shoulders were scrunched up tight, and he pressed his hand over his heart, as if checking to make sure it was still beating. “I will not—” he began.

“Look,” I said, trying to be as cold and rational as I could. “Thomas, we need you to get into that castle. Tabitha knows we’re here. If Tabitha knows, then Desmond will know. If I don’t get there in time, they will kill my family, and then they’ll come for us here. Desmond will know you’re here, Thomas. And she will have you killed. And there will be nobody left to stop her… Or,” I breathed, feeling inches from either crying or strangling the man, “you can go with us now. Help get us into the palace. Help us get Quinn and my family back and stop Tabitha. Maybe she hasn’t told Desmond about our base yet. Maybe we’ll be in time to stop her from coming here. But we need you there.”

I leaned back, taking some of the pressure off Thomas, but not letting my eyes leave his. The small man regarded me from behind his glasses, and I waited, holding my breath.

After a moment, he breathed out noisily and met my gaze. “All right,” he said. “I’ll go with you. But… you’ll owe me one.”

I shook my head. “No,” I said softly, thinking about the picture in my bag. “I’ll owe you six.”

Amber seemed to know what I was thinking. “Seven,” she said grimly. “Seven.”

Thomas didn’t reply. Now that he’d decided, he just quickly detached the handheld from the cable and handed it to me, then clicked through his programs on the computer, finishing whatever it was he was doing.

A knock on the door startled me, and I whirled, wondering if somebody had overheard the whole scene. I didn’t want any more complications. Not now.

When I heard Jeff’s voice say, “Violet?” I breathed out in relief. Jeff was one of the most effective people I’d met, but he wouldn’t try to convince us to change our plan, even if he’d overheard it. I unlocked the safe room door and let him in.

“Yes?” I asked. “Did you get ahold of Viggo?”

“Unfortunately, no,” he said. “I’m currently trying to locate our inventory list for the handhelds that came from Mr. Ashabee’s armory so I can find out which one he took, but I’m not sure that list actually exists yet.”

My heart, which had leapt with hope at the sound of his voice, felt leaden again. “Thanks for telling me. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk to him… ”

“Before you leave for the palace,” Jeff finished, so smoothly that I barely even noticed what he was implying. When I did, I looked sharply up at him.