Xavier (Vigilance 4)

A moment later, I realized what I had to do.

Once I was far enough from the door that I knew he wouldn’t hear me, I got back on the radio. “Taking care of an issue here. Will join you in a few. Sit rep. Over.”

Giorgio responded. “Targets approaching in two boats. Boldly. Not trying to hide. Over.”

“Stupid and reckless, my favorite kind of enemy. Over.”

“Reckless can mean easy to capture,” Devil said. “But it also means unpredictable. I ought to know. Over.”

“Keep watch. Be ready. Out.”

I raced down the set of steps that led into the part of the basement not connected to the safe room. I had an armory there, but the room also held lots of tools, and if I remembered correctly… I nearly cheered when I found what I needed, a large padlock with a boron alloy steel shackle to lower the chances of someone cutting through it before I could cut through them. No computerized locking system would be a match for Emilio, but a thick block of iron would hold him in.

My stomach churned at the idea that he’d know I’d betrayed him. He would be able to shift the position of the surveillance camera in the vestibule outside the safe room door to see what I’d done, but by then it would be too late for him to escape.

35

Emilio

I heard the safe room door rattle, but I didn’t hear the beep that signaled someone had put in the passcode, nor the whir of the lock sliding back.

Shit. I hoped it was X out there, not someone else. Surely none of the men from New Orleans could have made it all the way here so fast.

I sat back down and clicked away at the keyboard until I’d shifted the view of the closest surveillance camera and got a visual of the entrance. What I saw made hot anger consume me. There was a huge padlock attached to the door. I hadn’t even realized there was a way to lock it that way. It must’ve been left over from when Arlington owned the house. Had he used the room as a prison?

X was just moving out of the range of the camera. The fucker had locked me in. I ran to the door, banged on it, and called for him.

“X! Dammit! Come back!”

I wasn’t sure he could hear me. The door was probably soundproof to prevent anyone from realizing there was someone inside. I pounded my fist against it, then winced and rubbed the side of my hand, knowing I’d be bruised.

If X had used the computerized lock, I would have been able to override it. He’d known that. The damn bastard.

I looked around the room. There had to be another way out. There had to be something I could do. X was out there, vulnerable, and while I was furious at him for lying to me, I couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to him. I’d never wished more that I had some physical skills instead of just cerebral ones. If I was a fighter like X, he would’ve let me come with him. I would be able to protect him from the men I knew wanted him dead.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. My heart was pounding. I could watch from the safe room and try to warn X if I saw someone approaching, but this wasn’t like most of the other environments where I’d been eyes and ears for Vigilance. There were fewer ways for me to help them out in the wild. There were no security systems for me to override or lights for me to turn off or HVAC systems for me to send haywire. All I could really do was watch and hope I might see someone before they did.

I brought up all the various views I had and studied them, looking for anything unexpected, anyone they might not see.

A moment passed, then another. I saw some of the men from New Orleans come onto the island. One went down immediately, likely thanks to Giorgio and his sniper rifle. The other ran, knowing now that they’d miscalculated how easy it would be.

Did they actually think X was that stupid? He was a fucking asshole, but not an idiot.

Then I saw him. Badger. He was actually there, decked out in camo, carrying a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. He looked like he thought he was in a video game. I had no idea if he really knew how to use those weapons, but even if he didn’t, he could still be dangerous.

I checked my other screens.

Another of the enemy men had been taken out. From the way Lancelot was dancing around, I assumed he’d done it. Tony wasn’t with him. I wondered if Lance had managed to secure the monkey in his room.