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"I can’t do ht," Jack said "Stay put, Peri I --closer, coh Peri once an to ache "Catch," she said, rolling the phone into a tube and tossing it at hiainst the city lights
"Let etthe tiny felt o out there without me," he said, his sudden alarh her
"Just find the files I’ll be right back" J IN OFFICE she wrote on her pal him as she blew it dry, recapped the pen, and tucked it behind her top
"Peri …"
"I wrote a note," she said, nervous at his angst, and she slipped out, easing the door nearly closed behind her Dropping to the flat carpet, she wiggled across the receptionist’s office and peered around the end of the desk, propping herself up on the flats of her arht to be concerned He had to witness a draft to anchor her But to fail ht reach an already decimated Asia
That’s why they were here, to find and re the virus before a second wave of death washed through what had once been nearly two-thirds of the world’s population Opti had coo, when Asia’s political hierarchy thumbed their noses at the new CO2 levels set by the United Nations and therefore threatened the entire world with continued rising global teineered population reduction was illegal, funded by the Billion by Thirty club with the sole intent of broadening their financial interests in Europe Peri thought it a that she and Jack had helped alht on the ceiling becarew louder and a uniformed man came around the desks Peri’s brow furrowed
It wasn’t the guard that Bill, their handler, had told theer and thinner, and wasn’t singing along with his phone As Peri watched, he tucked his flashlight under his aro into one of the private offices ringing the floor Lips pressed, she waited until the guard ca sloshy
Damn He was a lifter: fa the building as his personal, no-card-required shoppingout of the ordinary as he strove not to get caught The worst case would have hi the chocolate
Breath held, Peri crept back to Jack He looked up fro when the lock clicked on and a red light froht!" he whispered, yelling at her in a soft hush
"We got a lifter," she said, and Jack’s fingers hesitated
"He coo ask him"
Mood sour, he returned his attention to the crystalline projection Peri padded over for her phone, breathing in the light scent of his sweat as she tucked it away Her mind drifted to the sensation of his touch on her skin as his quick fingers searched folders and files "Maybe the files have a bioested
"No I siht need to hit the labs downstairs," Jack gru a double take when he realized her lips were inches from his ear "Peri, back up I can’t hen you’re that close"
"The labs? Good God I hope not" Peri leaned to put her ar--filled with all sorts of interesting things that needed an artist’s touch to get past TSA--rested on the desk, and she wondered if she should get so was noisy "Why don’t you shut it down He’s just shopping, and we’ve got all night"
"It’s not here," he muttered, and she pushed off his shoulders and went to listen at the door Hearing a sliding clatter, she roughly gestured for Jack to cut the light Gri files about the screen "I thought wave technology had a sleep corner," he whispered
Peri tensed Footsteps Co closer "Shut it off Now!"
Jack’s face was creased in the diuard was in the secretary’s outer office, and she settled into a balanced readiness beside the door He was co of her thumb and the itch in her feet "Damn it, Jack I haven’t drafted in six months Don’tacross the ood enough, and with a tiny beep frouard caive hi behind the desk like a guilty teen found looking at his dad’s porn Expression twisting, the man dropped the bottle and reached for the pistol on his belt
Peri moved as the bottle clunked on the carpet The man yelped, shocked when her crescent kick slaun into the secretary’s office Hand to his uard dropped back His shock turned to anger when he saw Peri’s sliure cloaked in chic black True, it looked suspicious, her in the dark and in an upper office where she had no right to be, but add some jewelry and Louboutins, and she was ready for a five-star restaurant "You’re nothing but a little bitty girl," he said, reaching for her