Billionaire Ransom by Lexy Timms

had discussed it at length, but she was horribly aware that, at some points, they could and would be clearly seen.
    Katie knew every twist and turn of the hallway, yet she still felt ridiculously out of place. The clothing she wore felt awkward and strange. She stopped just outside an office door, and Morgan bumped into her.
    “Here?” he whispered.
    She shook her head and moved on. The door had been to her old office, and she didn’t recognize the name that now hung on it.
    From what they could tell, most of the offices were empty and silent, the air around them hushed and still. When they reached Blake’s office, her hands shook again as Morgan used the lock-picking tools to open the door.
    Precious seconds ticked by, measured by Katie’s thunderous heartbeat and the fear creeping along her nerve endings. Finally, the door gave an ominous click as it opened. Katie gasped loudly then held her breath when Morgan shot her a look.
    The security cameras were outside the office, not within. She knew that the whole thing hinged on whether or not a guard had noticed two people near Blake’s door. They had to assume that one had, and hurry.
    There was also the little thing about the alarm inside her father’s office that she hadn’t told Morgan about. She pushed past him and hurried in, quickly hitting the number her father always bragged about as the year he made his first billion. Even her father didn’t know she knew the alarm code. She had been in the office the day he had it set up, not that he had noticed.
    She motioned to Morgan when the lights of the alarm showed green, indicating it had turned off.
    She hurried to the safe and skidded to a stop in front of it. It sat hidden behind a hand- painted landscape of the city. She stared at the wall safe and hesitated. The files would be in a place where nobody would find them. This was too obvious, the first place a thief would look, and her father would have it set to alert the guards on the floors below. She turned to Morgan and shook her head before walking quickly to a potted plant.
    Morgan followed, his face showing his confusion. He pointed to the safe behind the picture.
    “Booby-trap,” she whispered and then giggled out of nervousness. Really? Scary-ass situation and she had to giggle at the word ‘booby’?
    She dropped down to a low squat position and moved the heavy pot over.
    Morgan helped and let out a low chuckle when he saw the safe hidden low in the shallow alcove behind the potted plant, in the floor.
    Katie carefully put on her black leather gloves, and took a moment to steady herself. She pointed to her watch and then the door so Morgan would keep an eye out for anyone coming.
    Heart racing, she stared at the lock. There was really only time to try one combination, and she knew exactly what it had to be. Blake would have hidden his most precious items using the thing that was the most precious to him.
    She keyed in Charlie’s birthday and held her breath.
    The safe rose from the floor and opened silently.
    She gave Morgan a thumbs-up. Ironically, now that they were so close to success it was terror that gripped her, not relief. Getting the document was one thing, but what if it wasn’t there? What if guards showed up? They still had to make it out of the building with the file.
    Her body shook as she took off her jacket, opened the messenger bag and began stuffing every file within the safe into it. There wasn’t time to rifle through and find just what they needed so she took it all. Just before she was about to close the door, she stood and hurried over to a filing cabinet.
    “What’re you doing?” Morgan hissed.
    She didn’t reply as she opened the third drawer from the bottom and pulled out a handful of files from the tightly-packed stack. She hurried back to Morgan and stuffed them into the safe before closing and lowering it back into the floor. She gave Morgan a nod.
    He rolled the plant back into its original position and stood. They