Page 5 of Sam's Salvation

She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t take too long, my dear. The night is still young.”

Audra kept her smile in place until he walked away. Once he was out of sight, she let it fall with a grimace. “Bleck.” She shivered and shook out her limbs. Keeping one eye on his path to the house, she took another through the garden to the patio that came off his bedroom. Earlier, she’d slipped in and made sure the doors were unlocked.

She sent a glance over her shoulder as she reached the doors. A breeze whispered through the trees, and she could hear the party going strong in the ballroom. With a quick twist, she opened the French doors and let herself into Liam’s bedroom.

Stillness surrounded her as she shut the door. Her heels sank into the plush cream carpet as she crossed the room to open the door a crack. Peering into the hallway, she saw no one. Audra slipped off her heels and stepped out onto the tiled hallway floor. Her feet made soft scuffs as she strode toward Liam’s office. This part of the house was off-limits to guests, so she was unlikely to meet anyone. It also lacked surveillance, which she didn’t understand. A man in Liam Brogan’s position should have cameras everywhere. He had a few, but most of them were on the perimeter of the property. He wanted to see people coming, not who was already there. She wasn’t complaining, though. It made her job easier. A bug would have made it even easier; she’d already know what the meeting was about. But she’d learned early on that while Liam wasn’t the most security conscious mob boss, he did order periodic sweeps for listening devices. Thankfully, she’d learned that little tidbit of information before she’d planted anything.

When she reached the office, she set her shoes on the floor and reached under her skirt to the tool belt strapped to her upper thigh. It was a special one she’d had custom made. Low profile, it hugged the crease of her thigh and hip. Liam had roving hands, so she’d wanted it tucked up as high as she could get it. So far, he hadn’t ever gotten a hand high enough to reach it.

From the belt, she removed a set of lock picks and made quick work of unlocking the door. Grabbing her shoes, she went inside, closing the door behind her. She gave the lock a quick twist.

Safely ensconced in the room, she turned and surveyed it in the dark. Through the light coming in from the windows, she could see Liam’s solid oak desk looming on the far side. A long conference table took up most of the space to her right. Bookcases and a small seating area occupied the area to her left. She shook her head. It wasn’t her first time in here, but she still marveled at the size of the room. It was bigger than her living room and kitchen combined at her flat in London.

Audra moved to the desk. Any information would be locked away in the drawers. She’d seen him stow some files in the bottom once and lock them up. Using her lock picks again, she turned the flimsy latch and slid the drawer open. Audra took the small penlight from her thigh belt and shone the beam on the drawer’s contents. On top was a small journal.

She lifted it out and opened it. Lines of code stared back at her. She repeated the top entry to herself. “350G TS DTC.” Frowning, she shook her head. “Gobbledygook. That’s what it is.” Audra took her phone from her dress pocket and photographed the pages. She’d send them to her handler and let the analysts figure out what it all meant.

Once she had pictures of every page, she went through the rest of the drawer’s contents, photographing everything. When she was done there, she opened the drawer above it, but it was just office supplies. Feeling along the bottom of the desk and the tops and backs of the drawers, she found nothing else of note.

She peered out the window, then closed the blinds before sitting down at the desk to open the laptop. Reaching into her little thigh pouch again, she took out one of the USB sticks her handler gave her and plugged it in.

“Come on, come on, come on,” she muttered as it did its thing to crack the password. She drummed her fingers on the desk and glanced at the door. She needed to get back to the party before Liam went looking for her.

The screen changed and the desktop icons appeared. She clicked on the file explorer and then the documents tab. Her gaze raked down the contents, stopping on one with her alias. “What?”

Audra clicked on it. Images of herself popped up. Most of them were of her running errands. A few were through the blinds at her house. One showed her walking through her living room in her underwear and a t-shirt. She remembered that night. That was the night she ran into Sam. When she got home, she’d been too keyed up to sleep, even after a shower. She’d wandered out to the kitchen to get some wine and ice cream, hoping the comfort food items would help settle her mind so she could sleep. It hadn’t helped. The ice cream had just made her think of decadence and the wine had stoked her hormones. She’d had some vivid dreams that night once she finally fell asleep. Had one of Liam’s bodyguards seen her with him? Was he afraid she was cheating?

But the pictures went back further than that night. He’d had her under surveillance for months, it appeared. How had she not seen someone watching her? Better yet, why hadn’t her handler, Theo? He lurked around sometimes, just to check things out. Did he know about this and just hadn’t said anything?

That felt like a more real possibility. So long as it was harmless, she could see him keeping it to himself. If she’d known, it might have made her more guarded, especially when she was out by herself. Her mysterious stalker would have picked up on the change and reported it to Liam.

Audra plugged a second USB device into the computer and copied the contents of the folder. She went back to the documents tab and looked at the other folders. Only one looked promising. It had some of the same code as the ledger: DTC. She opened it.

Muffled voices came through the door. Her head shot up. “Shit.” She was out of time. With a few clicks, she copied all the files to the USB drive. Clicking back to the hard drive tab, she scanned it quickly, making sure she hadn’t missed anything, then ejected her device, exited all her windows, and closed the laptop. Stuffing everything back into the slim pouch around her thigh, she grabbed her shoes and padded silently to the door. She could still hear voices. They were down the hall, but she couldn’t risk leaving.

With a soft curse, she glanced at the window. The blinds. She’d forgotten to open them when she shut the laptop. Good move, Aud. She crossed to the window and turned the stick.

The voices grew louder. One of them was Liam’s.

Audra bit back a frustrated groan. She should have been out of here already, but that damn folder had distracted her. She bit her lip and weighed her options. Going through the door was not one. She could hide under the desk or behind the sofa and pray they didn’t find her if they came inside.

She glanced at the window again. Or she could go out that way.

Shadows moved through the light coming in from under the door. There was no time to waffle. Get out or hide.

She chose out. Ducking under the blinds, she flipped open the window lock and tugged. The sash slid up with a soft swish. Audra lifted a leg through the opening. Metal clicked on metal at the door. Her heartbeat rose several notches. She only had seconds left. Wiggling her other foot through the window, she hopped to the ground and spun around, whisking the window closed before diving into the bushes lining the house below it. She crouched in the shadows and kept her head down, thankful for her dark hair. She wished she had a shawl, though, to hide her gleaming white shoulders.

A light came on, illuminating the yard beyond. Audra stayed put. In this position, someone would have to practically press their face against the glass and look down to see her.

Minutes passed, and the light stayed on. Her legs started to tingle, the blood flow restricted by her position. She chanced a glance at the window. No one was visible. She snaked her left leg to the side, following it with the rest of her body. She needed to get back to the party and would have to chance moving. If she stayed against the house, she could likely make it out of view.

With slow, deliberate movements, she kept up her sideways walk, staying low to avoid the windows. By the time she reached the edge of the house, her thighs burned. She peeked around the bushes and glanced out. The shadows in the garden shifted as the wind ruffled the trees. No people-sized shadows moved, though. Audra gave the area one last cautious look, then stood and walked out from behind the hedge. She paused long enough to put her shoes back on, then wandered back to the party.

She made it through the rest of the evening without incident. Liam returned to the ballroom about ten minutes after she did and proceeded to hang all over her. He’d had a few drinks in his office. She could smell the whiskey on his breath that wasn’t there when he kissed her in the garden. When it came time to leave, she made sure to say goodbye with others present so she didn’t end up pressed into a dark corner. She really didn’t want to maim him and blow her cover. Not when she was so close to bringing him down.

Cool, dry air hit her skin as she left his house. It felt wonderful after the cloying atmosphere inside. Too many bodies wearing too many different perfumes. She’d wanted to escape to the garden again, but didn’t dare. Not only because she didn’t want to invite Liam’s advances, but she also didn’t want to arouse suspicion. So, she stayed. Now, though, she had a splitting headache.