“That ties Carpenter to Signal,” Zack said.
She didn’t want to believe it. But then, Emily hadn’t wanted to believe a lot of things Zack had proved to her in the last hours. Had she been wrong about the warden, too?
Feeling sick inside, she pressed her hand to her stomach. Warden Clay Carpenter. He’d been her father’s best friend. She couldn’t believe he would be involved. But from all appearances he was.
She wanted to rage at the betrayal. At the unfairness of the situation. The ruination of her career. An innocent man like Zack being pursued by every law-enforcement agency in the state.
Innocent.
For the first time it struck her that she now believed everything he’d told her. About his being an undercover agent. About MIDNIGHT. About Lockdown, Inc. and the Bitterroot prison. That he was innocent. All her lingering doubts were finally put to rest. The realization was heady. And it made her even more determined to end the killing and make things right. She knew in her heart there was only one way.
“We need to go back to the prison,” she said.
Zack had already pulled back onto the road. He nearly drove off the shoulder when she made the suggestion. Catching the wheel just in time, he swerved back onto the snow-covered asphalt and shot her an incredulous glare. “Don’t you think it would be a lot easier if we just found a gun somewhere, put it to our heads and pulled the trigger?”
“Is that Zack the MIDNIGHT operative talking?” she asked. “Or is that man who lost his lover two years ago?”
Cursing, he flipped on the headlights and turned the Jeep onto a narrow back road where the snow was deep, the trees thick. “It’s the man who just happens to have enough sense to know when he hears a bad idea,” he snapped, braking the Jeep and jamming it into Park.
“Getting into the prison is the only way we’re going to break this thing wide open,” she said.
“What makes you so sure of that?”
“Because I still have my keys. I know the security codes—”
“Most high-security facilities change codes and locks when there’s a breach.”
“That’s a pathetic excuse not to try.”
“Your idea is suicidal, Emily.”
“The prison is the last place they’ll expect us.”
“That’s because they’ve made the incorrect assumption that you’re sane!”
“Zack, you know I’m right. The proof we need is in the prison.”
“I’m not going to let you do it.”
“If you want to complete your mission, if you want to stop the brutalities occurring in that prison, if you want to stop Warden Carpenter and Marcus Underwood and Dr. Lionel, you will.”
“If I decide to go back in, I do it alone.”
“I have the codes. I know where Marcus Underwood’s office is. I know he keeps all of his vital information on the computer in his office. I know the layout of the buildings.”
“So do I,” he snapped.
“You don’t know about the underground passages.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the underground passages leading to the Special Housing unit. The tunnels are still under construction. Nobody uses them yet. The contractors are still working on the project.”
Zack had seen blueprints of the Bitterroot facility. How could his superiors at MIDNIGHT have overlooked something as critically important as underground tunnels?
“How do you know about the tunnels?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I’ve taken the main tunnel before. As a shortcut. I was running late and had to get to the Special Housing unit.”
“Terrific,” he muttered, but his mind was reeling with the implications. “What makes you think the tunnels will be at all helpful?”
“Because they make the perfect escape route if we get into trouble.”
Zack felt her words like a noose around his neck being drawn inexorably tighter. He stared at her in the dim light coming off the dash, awed by her courage and beauty. Taken aback by his feelings for her. Terrified because she was right.
“It’s the only way,” she said.
For the first time in his professional career panic descended and he felt it all the way to his core. There were too many things that could go wrong. Too many people involved. Mainly a pretty brunette with eyes that could bring a man to his knees with noth ing more than a look. Right now Zack was that man. On his knees and at her mercy, because he couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt.
“Don’t do this,” he said, grinding out the words. “Not after what happened to Alisa.”
“You know I’m right,” she said. “Please, I know my way around the prison. We can get in easily, get the proof we need and then get out before anyone realizes there’s been a security breach.”