Free Triple Threat by H. L. Wegley Page A

firewall.”
    “I’m watching.”
    She looked up at Josh’s tense face, his gaze locked on the stairwell.
    “That won’t do. You look like a man going to the gallows. Not a honeymooner. Put your arm around me and close your eyes half way.”
    His strong arm pulled her shoulder to his side.
    “That’s better.”
    Josh held her snugly while she hacked furiously for ten minutes.
    “I’m in.” She pressed her lips together.
    “Hurry, Kate.”
    Katie perused the hard drive where she found several files of interest. She transferred them to her machine, and then located the email client. She downloaded his repository of email messages. “I think I’ve got all we need. Now we need to get out of here before that nice, Middle-Eastern-looking couple returns.” She stood, dropping her netbook into her purse.
    Josh stood beside her with his arm around her shoulders. “Too late, Kate. They just entered the hallway. What now?” he whispered.
    Katie tried to appear calm as she stood facing Josh. She put her arms around his neck.
    “Kate, what are—”
    “Kiss me, Josh, and you’d better hurry. They’re looking our way,” she whispered into his ear.
    His head didn’t move.
    “Do it now, Josh.”
    Slowly, Josh closed the distance between their faces, pressed his lips against hers and then pulled his head back.
    “Not very convincing. We’re supposed to be newlyweds. Do you call that a kiss?” She pulled his lips to hers.
    Part way through the kiss she had initiated, Josh got into his part, really into it.
    For a few seconds Katie ceased acting as feelings entirely new to her took her breath away. She pulled her lips from Josh’s and was breathing hard when she glanced at the man and the woman unlocking the door to the room.
    The man muttered something about shameless Americans.
    But the woman smiled at her, then followed the dark-haired man into the room.
    Katie looked up into Josh’s wide eyes.
    He was doing some heavy breathing, too.
    “We need to get out of here, Josh.”
    “Kate, I really…I mean—”
    “Save it for later. Let’s hurry to the car and—”
    The door to the room flew open. The man’s head stuck out, scanning the hallway. She and Josh were the only people in the hall.
    When the man’s gaze reached her and Josh, it locked onto them.
    He spoke loudly in a foreign language to the woman, and then glared at them.
    The man must’ve realized someone woke up his computer.
    “Run. We’ve got to take the fire escape.” She yanked Josh’s arm and the two sprinted to the nearby fire exit sign. Katie pushed Josh through the door, and then glanced down the hallway behind them.
    The woman ran the other way to the stairwell.
    The man broke into a run, sprinting toward them. His hand held what looked like a gun.
     
     
     
     

11
     
    “He’s got a gun.” Kate’s voice sounded too calm for such an out-of-control situation.
    Josh took the fire escape steps three at a time. He jumped the last five feet to the ground, his knees buckling from the impact.
    Kate landed beside him and ran past him toward the Village Stroll.
    This main walkway through Whistler Village was filled with tourists. Would the gunmen attack with potential witnesses everywhere?
    “Hurry, Josh!” Kate reached back and grabbed his arm. “His gun is still out.”
    She was right. Witnesses might not deter this guy. Kate had probably given him several reasons to kill them when she hacked his computer. But what had happened to the woman?
    When he glanced northward along the Stroll, a dark-complexioned woman loped toward them, dodging tourists as she bore down on them.
    “Kate, the woman’s coming up behind us.”
    Kate surged ahead, running into a large opening in the village with three potential paths ahead of them.
    The man emerged between two buildings to their west. Correction. Only two available paths.
    “Follow me.” Kate sprinted southward toward the base of Whistler Mountain. “My surprise was tickets for us to ride