Page 72 of Run

When night fell, Harvard and Ryan appeared with two rollaway beds, which David helped them set up in the corner of the room.

“How’s it going?” Harvard asked as they watched Elle’s fingers fly over her keyboard while the screens in front of her changed almost as fast.

“I have no idea.” David grinned. “I only understand every tenth word she says—at most.”

“Must be weird for you,” Ryan mused. “Being the useless one for a change. I mean, all you can do is sit around and wait while your genius girlfriend does all the work. It’s tough for a man of action.”

Harvard and David stared at him.

“What?” Ryan shrugged. “I’m always the useless one, so I know what I’m talking about. My advice? Fill the time with gaming or naps. It’ll fly by.”

“What’s happening upstairs?” David asked Harvard.

“A whole lot of pacing and cursing. Police have amped up the pressure on Lake to get us to come in for questioning. Tessa swears she’s going to start Armageddon if we don’t turn up soon. She’s been covering for us but can’t do it for much longer. Her superiors are putting the pressure on. Not only that, but Downing Street’s demanding she do her job. Her rank might carry a lot of weight, but nowhere near enough to stand up to a force like that.”

He ran a hand over his shaven head as Elle started humming a tune while she worked. “Meanwhile,” he continued, “the media’s all over Marcus’ murder. Turn on any news channel, and it’s wall-to-wall footage of his body, along with speculation about the syndicate and impending gang wars. The whole situation is a powder keg that could blow up in our faces at any second.” He frowned, watching Elle. “Is that—”

“TheStar Warstheme tune,” David and Ryan said at the same time before grinning at each other.

“It means things are going well,” David said. “If it’s not, we get Darth Vader’s theme music.”

“If she starts making sound-effect noises while miming the Death Star blowing up—run,” Ryan said.

The humming suddenly stopped, and Elle stood, sending her chair crashing to the floor behind her. “Booya, Vader! The Death Star plans were definitely in the main computer,” she muttered before taking a deep breath and shouting, “David! It’s done. I’m done. We’re done.”

And then she started doing this strange little jig where her hands and feet alternately went up in the air. It took him a second to figure out what it was, then it struck him. “She’s doing the Ewok dance, isn’t she?” he asked Ryan.

“Dunno. Never seen this before. Hoping I never see it again.”

“David,” she hollered.

“I’m here,” he said with amused indulgence. “Turn around.”

She spun to face them. “David, I did it. I cracked it all—even the stuff Marcus and Abasi couldn’t get into. Tommy James is going to jail. Or hell.” She grinned. “Hell or jail. Who cares? We’ve done it.”

She ran across the room and launched herself at him. “Isn’t that awesome?” Elle beamed at him, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist.

“Very.” He beamed back.

She was so freaking cute, dressed in her outfit from the day they ran to the safe house—blue hair in low bunches, green slogan T-shirt, lavender jeans with an unfortunate hole in the knee, and pink Dr. Martens. Had there ever been a sexier woman?

Movement caught her eye, and Elle noticed they weren’t alone. “Harvard, Ryan, what are you doing here?” She looked around. “This isn’t the bedroom. Where are we? Wait! I recognize that lava lamp, and I call dibs.” Her head whipped back to David. “Why are we in TayFor’s basement?”

“Uh, because you demanded we come here?” David said through a grin.

“Anybody else got the urge to study her for a psych paper?” Harvard murmured.

“Somebody should,” Ryan agreed. “When she zones out like that, all she can see is code. Doesn’t notice anything else. I once swapped out her chair for a beach ball. Was really funny watching her try to figure out where it came from when she arrived back on planet Earth.”

David glared at him. “That won’t happen again.”

“No.” Ryan inched behind Harvard. “No, it won’t. It was juvenile. I’ve matured since then.”

Elle placed a hand on each side of David’s face and turned his head to face her. “We need a team meeting. And an energy drink. Oh! And the toilet. I really need the toilet.” She climbed down and ran for the bathroom. “Call a meeting. We’re going to win.” She screeched to a halt outside the door. “Wait? What time is it?”

“About nine,” Ryan said.

“Morning? Night?” Elle hopped from one foot to the other.