“You heard me.”

“But I don’t understand. Did you dig it so you could escape?”

Luther shook his head. “I was the original engineer when the council decided to build vampire-proof prison facilities. My blueprints became the basis for all current prisons the council operates, even though I left the project to join Scanguards before the first stone was laid.”

She still stared at him in surprise. “How can you be so sure they didn’t change the design after you left?”

“Because the council didn’t want to spend any more money on plans.” He paused. “And because my design was genius.”

“But if you knew of a way out, why would you stay for twenty years?”

He blew out a breath of air. “I didn’t say I knew of a way out.”

“But you said you can get us in.” A panicked tone snuck into her voice.

Luther nodded. “I can. But it’s only accessible from the outside. A fail-safe in case of a prison riot. Nobody can get out in case of a lockdown, but reinforcements will have a way in to help the guards on the inside.”

“And you’re only mentioning this now?” Katie braced her hands on her hips, an action which involuntarily made his gaze drop to her heaving chest. This wasn’t the first time he noticed her perfect proportions, her well-formed breasts, her slim waist, and her shapely hips. A perfect hourglass figure.

He shrugged, finally tearing his eyes away from her. “You didn’t ask.”

“Well, that’s just great,” she grumbled. “What else have you not told me?”

Her demanding tone riled him up. “A bunch of stuff that’s none of your fucking business.” When her lips tightened to a thin line and her eyes narrowed, he couldn’t help himself, and continued, “Or did you wanna know about the hookers the guards ferried in from time to time and pimped out to those V-CONs who could afford to pay for them? Would you like to know the sordid details about that?”

Christ, he didn’t know why she was riling him up, or why he was fighting back by provoking her. But he just couldn’t stop himself.

Katie thrust her chin up. “I don’t give a damn who you fucked in prison, or who the guards or the other prisoners fucked. All I care about is getting into that damn building and finding out who kidnapped Isabelle. Can you get that into your thick skull?”

“As long as you can get it into your thick skull that I’m the one giving the orders here.” He turned and walked toward the wall. “You coming, or what?”

With satisfaction he heard her stomp after him.

For now he had the upper hand. And it was absolutely necessary for it to remain that way. She needed to listen to him to survive inside the prison walls. Katie knew that. But once they had what they’d come for, he couldn’t wait until they went their separate ways. Because a woman like Katie could get under a man’s skin, in more ways than one. And that was another thing she knew only too well. Or why else would she swing her hips in that enticing way, and dangle her boobs in front of him as if she were offering them?

Luther suppressed another curse. Maybe Katie had already gotten under his skin, because as much as he wanted to regret the kiss he’d stolen from her, he couldn’t. For the first time in over twenty years he’d felt alive. And the thought of never again feeling like that drove him half insane. It took all his self control to restrain himself and not pull her back into his arms and bring that kiss to a much more satisfying conclusion. One that he could guarantee would be satisfying for both of them.

18

The hidden entry was exactly how he’d designed it. The mechanism was opened by a sequence that was easily deciphered if one understood the system behind it. It was a combination that changed daily and depended on a number of factors including the longitude and latitude of the prison location, and the time and date. Simple but effective.

Luther wasn’t surprised that they’d never changed the system to a random code controlled by the guards inside; he understood the reasoning behind it. In case of a prison riot, reinforcements had to assume that all the guards were dead or unable to communicate, which would delay access to the building if they had to be given the code from somebody on the inside.

When the heavy steel-and-concrete door fell shut behind them, Luther didn’t look back. He knew there were no indentations, no ridges, no grooves on this side that would even indicate that it was a door. There was no way out. Even trying to blast a hole with C4 would be an exercise in futility. A deadly one: the force of the blast had nowhere to go but down the long tunnel leading away from the door. Anybody standing in its deadly path would be incinerated.