It had really been very simple. He’d asked her to bring only two extra things to his room that shift – a tiny lockpick, nestled unseen in her pulled back ponytail, and a digital wristwatch. And she’d obeyed, undone his left side hospital restraints, handed him the lockpick so he could work off the handcuffs binding his right arm and leg to the bed.
Child’s play. He was loose in under sixty seconds.
Then, as discussed, she’d cried out, right on cue. The agent who’d rushed in to defend her hadn’t had a chance at all. Mikel came from behind the door, grabbed, twisted, and broke the man’s neck. He was dead before he hit the floor.
Paula’s eyes grew huge, but she said nothing. They moved the agent’s body to Mikel’s bed, covered and angled him so he looked like he was sleeping soundly.
She c
