it out and it should be put away in a case. Cecilee’s the only one I trust not to take it.”
His brown eyes lightened and he nodded. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll have her check and come back for you.”
“Absolutely,” Darcy lied.
As soon as he turned the corner, Darcy lifted the hem of her shellam and darted up a flight of stairs and raced up the steps to the next floor. She knew exactly where to go and skidded along the hall with one hand braced on the wall to slow her speed. The door to the archive room opened when she pushed it.
Hurrying to the first comp station, Darcy sat and activated the desk comm. The screen came to life as it had when Nikol showed her. She clicked a few buttons and got the prompt for password access.
“About to make you my bitch,” Darcy whispered as she let her comp skills have free rein.
It took several tries, but the system was similar to what she worked with on Earth but way faster. Once in, she realized the language was still in the Standard language from when Nikol had adjusted it so she could read it weeks ago. She pumped her fist and accessed the security systems first.
Cameras, logins—Darcy wiped her presence from them all and reset the timers to ten minutes prior to her entering the room with a blackout scheduled to cover all footage ten minutes from now. After that, she flew through the other systems. All she had to do was figure out how to send a coded message to the Singles Program coordinator.
Time ticked at the back of her mind. She had to hurry. Any moment, Tseju could return. There was no telling how Cecilia would react to him asking about a random piece of jewelry. Sweat dampened her palms but Darcy was close to figuring out the messaging process.
Success! Her cheeks hurt from her smile as she composed a message. The screen froze mid-stroke.
“What the hell?” Darcy tapped the keys and the file she’d been accessing locked. Nothing she did could get her back in. Damn, damn. The screen suddenly turned red.
Unauthorized Access Identified.
Her breath stuttered in her chest. She couldn’t get back in. Someone had discovered her presence and taken necessary steps to shut the whole system down. Darcy jumped to her feet, knocking the chair behind her over. She straightened it and glanced around the room.
“Shit, shit, shit!” At least they couldn’t undo the time erasure protocol she’d enacted. If she hurried, Darcy could still get out unseen.
She raced to the door and closed it behind her. No one was in the hall, but that didn’t mean anything. The cameras would be back online soon and she needed to be far away from this room and this part of the house. Sweeping up the ends of her shellam, Darcy headed straight for the stairs, praying she got back to Nikol’s suite before she was discovered.
***
Nikol arrived back and entered his suite to an almost hysterical Cecilee and the other tutanis on their knees, shaking in terror. There was one woman missing, the one he wanted to see most upon his return. “Where is she?”
Cecilee raised her gaze to him. “She’s not here. She went out with Tseju but he came back saying Darcy wanted to know about a necklace.”
“What?!” Nikol’s stomach dropped.
She wasn’t here?! Because of a necklace? To his knowledge, Darcy didn’t care about any of the holkom he’d given her. The only item she ever wore was the bracelet from his mother. “How long has she been out?”
Cecilee began wringing her hands, her features pinched tight. “Not long.”
That told him nothing. What was his Earth woman up to now?
Cecilee worried her bottom lip. “I thought she’d be back by now. Tseju went to retrieve her when I told him I put the necklace up.”
“Tseju isn’t with her?” Nikol didn’t understand why the guard would have left Darcy alone. Nothing was making sense.
Cecilee rose and voluntarily touched him for the first time. “You must find her. Quick before your father or any other discovers her. She does not respond well to correction.”
The truth of her warning blazed like a light in his head. Lothar would love to get his hands on Darcy especially if he found her wandering the estate without a guard in a place she didn’t belong. And if he knew his Earth woman, she was probably doing something she shouldn’t. Trouble had a tendency to follow her.
Nikol took off