Page 43 of Guarding Truth

A click sliced through the air. Juliette froze.

Caleb tried the door.

Locked.

“Someone locked the door,” he whispered. “It locks from the outside, not the inside.”

A sizzle ripped through the air and plunged the closet into inky blackness. All of the equipment came to an abrupt halt.

“We’re not alone,” Juliette said. She pulled out her phone to call for help but couldn’t get a signal. She turned on the flashlight and positioned it to illuminate the computer rack.

“Our office tends to not get a signal, especially in the center of the building.”

Juliette sucked in a breath. “Well, security knows we’re here, and we just saw two maintenance workers.” Her voice faltered. “Maybe someone will be by soon.”

“Just be honest with me. I know we’re in trouble.” He sniffed, a strange odor tickling his nose. “What is that? Smells like a campfire.” Nausea made him clutch his stomach. The scent was familiar?—

Kerosene!

“No. No. No. No. No.” Juliette pounded on the door. “Help. We’re in here.”

She shone the flashlight on the door, where smoke filtered under the crack.

“They’re getting rid of any evidence. Jules, we’ve got to get out of here.”

If they didn’t do something, the computer room would double as their coffin.

TEN

THURSDAY, 10:45 A.M.

Juliette pounded on the door, mentally thumping herself for walking them right into a trap.

“How do they even know we’re here?” Caleb muttered. “It’s not like we’re broadcasting our every movement.”

Unless Blake had told someone he’d seen them there. Juliette couldn’t help suspecting Caleb’s partner, even if Caleb refused to consider it. “We just need to get out of here. And we faced tighter situations during basic training, right? This shouldn’t be too difficult. I mean, it’s not a no-win situation.” She yelled to be heard over the clang of the fire alarm.

He nodded. “There’s always a way out. That’s what we’ve got to believe.”

They surveyed the room to see what they had to work with. The metal storage racks lined each wall floor to ceiling, housing servers and spare computer parts.

She pulled on one of the shelves. “I think this can hold our weight.” She climbed the first few rows, thankful the whole unit had been bolted to the wall. She hit the fifth shelf and stopped at the ceiling. The ceiling tile gave way with a push, and she stuck her head through the crawl space above. “We should be able to shimmy through the air duct toward the other side of the locked door. Hopefully they just lit a small fire and didn’t set the entire place ablaze.”

Juliette hoisted herself through the hole in the ceiling. Smoke had reached the three-foot-tall ductwork, but not enough to cause breathing or visibility issues. For now.

Caleb climbed up behind her but hung back with just his head sticking through the vent. He shone the flashlight for her, illuminating the shiny silver metal duct. She crept along, praying the airway would hold her weight. After a few feet of inching through the narrow passageway, she found an air vent that led into the hallway below, on the other side of the door to the server room that doubled as their prison.

She looked back and saw Caleb’s head sticking up into the ceiling. “The fire isn’t coming through the door, just a lot of smoke.”

Juliette pried off the air grate with a pocket knife the security officer hadn’t confiscated. She stuck her head out of the ceiling a few inches and saw the source of the fire. A trash can full of paper and cardboard had been set ablaze right outside the door to the server room.

She was about to let Caleb know to follow her when a man walked directly under the air vent. At least he didn’t spot her in the ceiling. She inched her head back into the crawl space. The guy wore all black, including a ski mask, and was talking on his cell phone. He probably had fifty pounds on her. She turned the best she could in the tight space and held up a finger to indicate they had company. Caleb nodded and stayed put.

The work lights lit the area below, enough for her to see. She tried to hear the conversation, but it sounded muffled. Escape options were limited—either they take on this guy or stay trapped in a not-so-fireproof room.

The man turned around and stopped directly under her position. A crazy, Hazard Pay Montgomery–style plan formed, but it was risky, knowing there were two men to contend with—the big lug below and whoever was on the other end of that call. But she had to get herself and Caleb out of that locked death trap.

The hole was maybe a foot wide and eight inches deep. Just enough space for her to drop down and startle the creep. She held her breath and waited for the perfect moment.