They were going to have such a talk about following his very reasonable requests. She was in potential danger. She should keep her phone or watch on at all times. She should answer his every call because he was the man watching out for her.
“Are you sure she’s in there? She might have gone to happy hour.” Kyle followed behind him.
Except he was supposed to be the man working the technical aspects of her case, and Kyle was the bodyguard. He should be back at her apartment studying up on Genedyne and trying to figure out who wanted onto Noelle’s system. He hadn’t been able to send Kyle out alone. “I’ve been tracking her phone. You should do that, too, since you’re the bodyguard.”
“When did you do that? Doesn’t she have to give you permission?”
Not when he could easily get into her phone and give himself permission, but he’d asked. He pulled his phone out, making sure she was where he thought she should be. “She did. It’s part of the job. She’s in the building, but I can’t tell what floor she’s on. Her phone is active and so is her watch. She should be answering.”
When did Genedyne lock their doors? The office hours were done, but he would bet a lot of employees stayed late. He might need to take another tactic. “Follow my lead.”
There was a security guard at the desk. He wore a uniform and seemed to be checking the security cameras. Hutch hustled up to the desk. “Excuse me, sir, but my girlfriend is having a medical episode. She works at Genedyne. She was supposed to meet me downstairs over thirty minutes ago and she’s not responding to calls or texts.”
The guard was an older man who sighed as though this wasn’t the first time he’d had to deal with a situation like this. “Are you on the guest list?”
“Greg Hutchins.” She’d been given instructions to get him on the visitor list. It wouldn’t give him free entrance, but it would make it easier to find her. He intended to make it a clear choice for the man in front of him. “My girlfriend is Noelle LaVigne. She’s…”
“Are you talking about the young woman who uses the cane?” The guard was on his feet now.
In this case, he would let the man in front of him think whatever he wanted to think. He wasn’t going to point out how strong she was. He would use that cane and what it meant to so many people to remove the barrier between them right now. “I’m worried she’s fallen or something happened. She could be in trouble. She’s had some heart palpitations lately. Please let me get up there to look for her.”
The man whose nametag proclaimed him to be Ernie stood and picked up his walkie-talkie. “Scott, we might have a medical emergency on six. I’m going up. We have a couple of guests I need you to watch after.”
Damn it. “Please let me come with you.”
Ernie shook his head. “I can’t. The building is technically closed. We have protocols to follow. Scotty should be down soon. You stay here and I’ll go up and check on her.”
That was not happening.
His heart rate ticked up, adrenaline priming his system. It was a good thing he’d kept up his workout routine. He mostly did it because if he didn’t Big Tag pointed out his soft middle, and it was irritating to always be the paunchiest guy in the room.
And he remembered a time when there had been pain and punishment involved in letting himself go even the tiniest bit.
“Of course.” He managed to get the words out like a man who actually meant them. “I’ll keep trying to get her on the phone.”
Ernie nodded. “She’s probably in her lab. Sometimes those labs can be hard to get a signal in depending on what they’re working on. I’ll be back with some news.”
He waited until the guard was out of sight and then took a quick look-see at the system sitting on the security desk. There were monitors and a laptop. And manual releases for both the outer doors and the first floor stairwells. Thank god for fire codes.
Hutch pulled the wireless earbuds out of his pocket and shoved them in his ears as he dialed MaeBe’s number. One of the things they’d done earlier was to set up how this op was going to work. “Kyle, when I’m close to the stairs, you hit that stairwell button to release the lock and then keep the other guard off my back. Don’t let him watch the security cameras.”
Kyle frowned his way. “What are you… This is a tech thing, isn’t it? Go. I’ll handle things down here.”
“Hey, boss. What’s up?” MaeBe asked.
“I need you to walk me through the Genedyne building.” He didn’t wait for her to pull up the schematics. He needed to go. “I’m starting in the west staircase. I think I need to get to the private gym.”