Cherish Me (Stark Ever After #6.5) - J. Kenner Page 0,21

panel.

“If you can manage that,” Jackson continued, “you should be able to get out without being seen. The panel opens behind the reception desk. So long as you stay low and quiet, you should be relatively invisible.”

“Should be isn’t good enough. What’s my backup plan?”

“Unfortunately, your backup plan is to manage to get from one side of the shaft to the other, then balance on a four-inch ledge while you pry open the elevator doors and crawl out that way. But then you’d be more or less in plain sight. Also not ideal. So cross your fingers that you can get out through the access panel.”

“Roger that.” Damien sighed, considering the way this day had gone, he had a feeling he was going to be hanging by his fingertips in an elevator shaft in front of a four-story drop to the ground floor, trying his damnedest to pry open a set of doors before his fingers slipped. It wasn’t a nice idea. “I’m in a goddamn action movie.”

“And all action movies have a happy ending,” Jackson retorted. “You’ve got this.”

“Yippee ki-yay,” Damien said, making Jackson chuckle.

“There’s no reception in the elevator shaft,” Jackson said. “Once you get in there, you’re on your own. Text us when you get out so we know you got through.” He drew a breath. “I’ll see you and Nikki when it’s over,” he said. “And Damien? Don’t play the hero. Shoot to kill. It’s the best way to stay alive.”

“Roger that,” Damien said. They ended the call, and as soon as the line went dead, he felt bereft and alone. He drew a breath, picturing Nikki. He had one goal, one purpose, and she was it.

Knowing he was running out of time, he hurried to the access panel. It was opened with a combination lock that the owner would have reprogrammed. Jackson, however, always kept a failsafe programmed in for those owners who were disorganized enough to lose their own combination, and then need access years later.

Damien dialed in the failsafe, pressed the button, and exhaled with relief when the panel swung slowly open. Score one for the good guys.

He peered down. It was an elevator shaft, all right. Thankfully it was only an eight-story building, but he would be just as dead if he fell. It looked like the elevator was stopped at the second or third floor, which meant he’d only fall six stories from up here on what was essentially the ninth floor. But that was hardly a consolation.

The ladder was to his right as Jackson had said. Before he climbed on, he checked the AK-47’s magazine. Empty.

He frowned. That left him with only a handgun. And if Barclay and his crew had another magazine, they’d have another weapon.

He considered keeping it with him, either as a bluff or in case he managed to acquire a magazine, but decided it was better to be nimble. He took out the magazine, then dropped it and the rifle down the shaft. Maybe they’d hear the clatter of it hitting the elevator car and assume he was on the first floor.

That done, he climbed into the shaft and closed the access panel behind him. He held on with one hand and used his phone as a light as he searched for the tool belt.

It wasn’t there.

All he found was a coil of rope, which he hooked over his shoulder.

Feeling a displaced cowboy, he started down the ladder, then paused at the next access panel to listen and check his surroundings.

The ledge at the sixth floor access panel held a duffel bag. Frowning, Damien reached for it, then let out a soft whistle when he tugged at the zipper to expose at least two dozen bricks of C4.

If Damien hadn’t recognized the explosive material from the work that Stark International did with various construction and military groups, he would have been convinced by the label that conveniently read C4-Explosive.

Since he doubted that the building management had any need to leave explosives in the elevator shaft, he could only assume he was going to have company soon. Even if they weren’t looking for him, they’d be coming back for the explosives. The plan, he assumed, was to take it down to the lobby level, then blow their way into the vault to get to the red beryl gem.

With luck, the local teams that Ryan and Dallas called in would manage to take down the perimeter guard before any one of them got a warning off to the