Shelby ran up to her SUV and returned with sunglasses and a floppy fishing hat. “Found this in the back on the floorboard. I think it belonged to Bobby Smart. I brought him in the other day for drunk and disorderly conduct to sleep it off in one of our cells.” She handed the hat and sunglasses to Lissette.
Lissette placed the hat on Simon’s head and tugged it in place. Then she held up the sunglasses. “Nice sunglasses,” she said, then grimaced. “Don’t hate me for this.” She punched the lenses out of the frame and handed the glasses to Simon. “Hopefully, they won’t look close enough to notice there are no lenses.” She stood back and studied him. “Better.”
Shelby motioned to the duffel bag. “Choose your weapon.”
“I already have mine.” Lissette bent to pull up her pant leg, displaying a sheath with her bejeweled dagger tucked neatly inside.
Simon wanted to load up with a gun, several magazines full of ammunition and a couple of smoke grenades. His hand hovered over the K-Bar knife. Finally, he shook his head and stepped back. “Can’t. They’ll frisk us before they let us inside. They probably won’t take offense to Lissette’s knife, though they’ll confiscate it. But if I go in with a weapon, they’ll see it as a threat.” He’d have to rely on his hand-to-hand combat training and the fact they wouldn’t be expecting a scientist to jump them.
Shelby handed Simon and Lissette radio earbuds.
As Simon pressed his into his ear, a sheriff’s boat drove up to the dock. Sheriff Bergeron waved from the helm.
“There’s my ride,” Shelby said. “Good luck.”
Simon felt in his pocket for the rabbit’s foot and remembered it was still in the wet jeans he’d left in the houseboat.
“I’ll be right back.” He ducked back into the houseboat, found the rabbit’s foot and tucked it into his pocket. He was back on the dock seconds later.
“Ready?” he asked Lissette.
She nodded, her face set. “I’m ready. Let’s go get Holly. My pirogue or the skiff? Either way, I’m driving.”
Simon’s lips twitched. “Are all the Gautier women so...”
“Bitchy? Demanding? Cocky?” she offered.
“I was going to say confident and self-assured,” Simon said.
Shelby laughed as she climbed aboard the Sheriff’s vessel. “You have to have balls of steel to tangle with Voodoo Queen’s spawn. Bonne Chance.”
“We’ll take the pirogue,” Lissette said decisively. “The motor is quieter.”
She climbed into the pirogue, took the cell phone with the map app open, so they could find the location they needed to reach, and waited silently while Simon settled into the middle seat.
Hand on the tiller, Lissette maneuvered the small craft out into the bayou.
Ridiculously aware of the damp rabbit’s foot in his pocket, Simon prayed it truly was lucky and that it would help him get Holly out.
Alive.
Chapter 15
“The team is in place,” Remy’s voice sounded in Simon’s ear as he and Lissette proceeded slowly, the BioEnergen facility in sight, the long pier where supplies had been brought in and product shipped out loomed ahead.
“Anton’s drone is in the air with the infrared camera engaged,” Remy reported. “As Rafael and Landry reported, there are no wide perimeter guards. Our guys have moved quietly and quickly into place, ready to take down the exterior guards as soon as you and Lissette are inside. One concern we have is the presence of a large yacht sitting a mile away, with a helicopter perched on the deck. We’re trying to get a close-up of the registration decal to see who it belongs to.”
“Let’s hope Holly isn’t on it,” Simon murmured. “We’re going in.”
Lissette guided the pirogue to the pier and cut the engine.
Simon tied the line to a ladder and held the craft steady as Lissette eased out onto the ladder and climbed up to the pier.
Simon followed. Once on the pier, he looked around. It was empty—no people, no guards to walk them into the building.
He pushed the empty glasses frame up on his nose and held out his arm.
Lissette hooked her hand through the crook of his elbow.
