Arden smiled. It was his way of telling her that he was concerned for her safety and that he cared.
The excited feeling that always came right before a job flooded her. Arden stretched her fingers, making sure they were limber. She liked the adrenaline, the way it made her feel powerful. It turned her into something better than she could be otherwise.
Colin broke in again. “Setting the camera feed to loop in three-two-one . . .”
The quadralift dinged and opened into a vestibule. A sideboard sat across from the doors, framed by a mirror and a floral arrangement in reds, oranges, and yellows. Tiled floors reflected the overhead lights, making the space feel bright and open.
Wasted space, Arden couldn’t help but think. She was used to cramped confines. In this vestibule alone, she could sleep eight people. It was a shame really.
Hallways lined either side of the Tower, forming an H shape. She focused on her target door and began walking down the sterile hallway. Arden wasn’t really heading for the Atherton apartment suite. Her mark was on the opposite side of the building.
Within minutes she stood outside the metal door.
“We have a problem,” Colin said. “The scanner just picked up multiple heat signatures on the other side.”
“Sun,” Arden swore and stepped back, hands off the keypad for which she’d been reaching. “Get me an alternate route.”
“Guard heading your way. We need to abort.”
“We are not going to abort,” Arden said with frustration. “If I don’t do this now, I might not get another chance. It will be hell to get past that front desk again.”
“Arden, it’s not safe.”
She hated standing vulnerable in the middle of the hallway with nowhere to hide. Arguing with Colin, no less. But she absolutely refused to leave. Dade was somewhere on the other side of that door. She was determined to speak with him.
“I won’t be able to get in the same way,” she said. “Next time I’ll have to use a synth-mask, and if I do that, Niall will know. We both know that’s a very bad idea.”
“Who cares? When he finds out you’re in the Tower without permission—plus asking for help from the enemy—you’re dead anyway.”
“Dead then or dead now, what’s the difference?” she asked. “Stop messing around and get me an alternate route.” Patience was difficult for her at the best of times. Right now she’d strangle him if she were close enough. Arden took a calming breath.
Colin’s sigh over the line was full of sarcasm. “Trusting him is a bad idea.”
“You don’t know him.”
“I don’t have to know him to realize this whole plan is going to blow up.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
She needed to decide. Leave, with the possibility of not coming back? Or stay and play a game of break-in chicken with Colin? Arden gave it thirty more seconds.
“There’s a suite of rooms below,” he finally said. “It’s not directly below the balcony you wanted, but close. Backtrack to the hall. First door on your right is the stairwell. Exit into the hallway, then it’s three doors on your left.”
She smiled and started moving fast. “Thank you.”
Arden wasted no time making her way down the stairs.
“You’ll have to climb up the exterior of the building,” Colin said.
“Not a problem.”
“I’m not worried about the climbing,” he said, exasperated. “I’m worried that you’ll attract attention.”
“I’ll be quick, promise.”
Arden paused at the door from the stairwell back into the hallway, waiting for Colin’s all clear. When she got it, she made her way down the hall to the suite below where she had stood before. She set the flowers down beside the target door so that she could access the scanner lock.
“There are heat signatures there as well,” Colin said, “but not in the two closest rooms to the door. You should be okay. Just don’t waste time.”
“I won’t.” She pulled out her datapad, connecting it with flash wires into the scanner hub. “Uplinked.”
“Running program now.”
Her datapad spun with numbers, taking forever. Arden started getting antsy. “Hurry up.”
“Almost done,” Colin said. There was a pause. “Guard coming your way in forty-five seconds.”
The scanner stopped spinning, the numbers blinking twice, and the door slid open. She disconnected her datapad, picked up the flowers in one arm, and slipped into the room. With her other hand, she pulled her phaser from her hip.
She deposited the flowers on a table just inside the door. She kept the phaser at shoulder level, ready to use. Then, walking farther into the apartment away from the entryway, she rounded the corner into the living area, leading with her shoulder. Her shoes sank into the plush carpet, silencing her footfalls. She could hear noise coming from farther in the suite.
In the living room, the light shone through the windows. It flooded the room, bouncing off the white walls and refracting off strategically placed mirrors.
Arden squinted.
She moved through the living room and out the glass doors onto the balcony. Stepping outside was like stepping into another world. The warmth touched her skin in a heated caress. Perspiration beaded on her skin. She allowed herself a moment to suck in a breath thick with heat and humidity. It settled heavy in her lungs, warming her from the inside out.
The Tower frustrated her with its opulence. Knowing it existed in theory was one thing, seeing it was another. This much free space, in the sun, was the height of excess. How could only a small group of people own such a thing just because they had money and power? The sun was meant to be shared.
A vacuum switched on somewhere in the back of the apartment. She slipped the door shut behind her.
Small groupings of furniture were placed around the deck. There were also several chaise lounges, for a long lie-down in the sun. Lush growing things were everywhere: vines and flowers, plants that served no greater purpose than to look pretty. The scent they gave off was thick with sweet perfume. She reached out to touch a leaf, rubbing its silky stem between her thumb and finger.
A moonglass railing encased the balcony, making it appear as if the floor went on forever. She walked to the edge, looking down into the static cover. Dark and ominous, the smog swirled, shielding the view of the city below.
Arden turned back to the Tower, covering her eyes, so that she could see the terraces jutting off the Level above. The design of the Tower structure was sleek, allowing for very few footholds. She was coming up with possible scenarios for her climb when a noise startled her, the slide of metal scraping against a hard surface.
She looked toward the sound.
Someone lounged on the balcony above, a boy with sun-browned golden skin and long, lean muscles. An arm thrown over his eyes as he lay back cut the view between soft bright hair and a strong chin. There was a bit of leg on display and a chest with very defined muscles with lots and lots of delicious skin.