know what you’re looking for?” Mack asked.
“Don’t talk to me,” Noah snapped.
“Liv is driving me crazy for an update,” came Hop’s voice.
Mack smiled. “Tell her we’re fine.”
Except they weren’t. Noah was swearing and banging on the keys.
“What’s wrong?”
“I said don’t talk to me!”
A car horn on the street outside nearly sent Mack jumping clear to the ceiling. “Hurry the fuck up,” he griped.
“I’m in,” Noah breathed.
Mack raced over to watch as Noah called up list of files. “What are we looking at?”
“I’m just going to download it all.”
“How long will that take?”
Noah ignored him. Mack clasped his gloved hands into fists and banged them against his forehead.
“Almost done,” Noah said. “Five more seconds.”
Mack counted down in his head.
“I’m out,” Noah said.
Mack let out a relieved breath. “Let’s go.”
Noah pulled out the thumb drive, clicked out of whatever file he’d been in, and then backed away from the computer. The Russian held up his hand before they could leave, looking back and forth down the hallway before giving them a nod.
They made it halfway down the hall before they heard footsteps.
Shit. Shitshitshit. Mack met Noah’s equally alarmed gaze. The Russian spun around.
Whoever they were, they were coming right for them. Mack grabbed Noah and threw him under a desk. The Russian wrapped his fingers around Mack’s wrist and yanked him behind a half wall separating one cubicle from the next.
Two male voices were coming. The night security guards Geoff had warned about. Oh fuck. Oh shit.
And then suddenly the Russian let out a soft moan.
“Oh no.” Mack peered closer at his face. “Oh shit, no.”
“What?” Hop hissed through the earpiece.
“I think there’s something wrong with him,” Noah answered into the microphone.
“Wrong with who?”
“The Russian dude. He’s got a weird look on his face.”
Mack grabbed the Russian’s lapels and dragged him close. “Breathe. Breathe through it.”
The Russian started to pant like he was in labor.
“What the fuck is going on?” Hop barked.
“I don’t know!” Noah hissed.
“What did you eat?” Mack whispered.
“No cheese. Just vegan cheese.”
“You can’t eat vegan cheese!”
“It’s nondairy. Nondairy.”
“It’s still fucking cheese!”
The Russian groaned again, and even in the low light of the computers, Mack could see as the color drained from his face.
Sweat ran down Mack’s back. “You gotta squeeze your cheeks, man. Squeeze and breathe, because if you let that go right now, we’re done for.”
“Are you kidding me?” Noah hissed. “Is this about a fart?”
“You don’t understand,” Mack said, looking sideways. “He doesn’t just fart. It’s like ripping open a sewer line and—”
A soft Russian chant cut him off.
Panic set in. “This is bad. This is so fucking bad.”
“Can’t he just let it out silently?” Noah asked.
“It’s not the sound we’re worried about. It’s the goddamned smell.”
“This is a joke, right?” Hop said through the earpiece.
“I can’t hold it,” the Russian groaned.
“You have to.”
“Not healthy to hold it in,” the Russian grunted.
Mack shook him. “It’s not going to be healthy for you if you let it out either.”
The Russian groaned and wrapped his arms around his abdomen. His face twisted in pain. Outside their hiding spot, footsteps drew closer. Mack smacked his hand over the Russian’s mouth. Sweat poured like a river down his face.
He couldn’t believe it. He was going to get busted for breaking and entering and a hundred other offenses because of a goddamned fart.
And not even one of his own!
But as it so often happened in the manuals, a sudden epiphany broke through the haze of panic. Jail would be worth it because he was doing this for Liv. No one else. He had officially fallen for her. Enemies-to-lovers was no longer just a fictional trope for him—it was his fucking life.
“What the hell is happening in there?” Hop barked into their ears.
The light from the security guards’ flashlights bobbed back and forth across the floor, closer and closer.
The Russian sucked in a breath and held it.
The guards passed by.
The Russian exhaled.
And the smell of death filled the air.
Noah fell onto all fours and crawled, gagging. Around the corner, someone shouted. “Goddamn, dude. Did you just fart?”
“That wasn’t me,” the other guard replied.
There was a moment of silence when the two men realized what that meant.
Mack grabbed Noah buy the arm and hauled him up. “Run,” he hissed.
The last thing they heard as they hit the stairs was a disgusted cry. “Oh my God. What is that smell?”
“I think I shit myself.” The Russian could barely walk much less run downstairs.
“Then you’re walking home,” Mack hissed. “You nearly got us caught!”
“Jesus fucking Christ,”