From Brittany’s video feed, I could see Tiffany reach intoher bra and pull out what appeared to be a single piece of bubble gum. All business, Tiff unwrapped it and folded it in two. Then she bent down and smushed it between the door and the wall, even with the doorknob.
“Stand clear,” Chloe said, and the twins backed up a few steps.
The next thing I saw from the video feeds was a small spark of light, a single tendril of smoke, and an open door.
“Bubble-gum bombs?” I asked.
Lucy nodded. “Coolies, huh?”
Coolieswasn’t the word I would have chosen to describe that particular explosive, but if I had one soft spot on the Squad outside of my partner, it was Lucy, so I let it slide. Without so much as a single sarcastic comment, I turned my attention back to the screen. The twins were no longer together, and Brittany was approaching a second security desk. There were two guards at the desk, and a quick infrared scan of the building, courtesy of Chloe’s cell phone, showed two more around the perimeter of the offices Chloe had identified as our primary target.
I expected Chloe to dish out some more directions, but instead, she just let Brittany do her thing.
Britt slinked toward the security desk. To their credit, these security guys weren’t looking at porn on their computers, but they were just as fascinated with Brittany as the guy on the first floor had been.
“Hi,” Brittany said, shooting them a slow, sultry smile. “This isn’t the bathroom.”
“Hell-lo,” one of the guards said. The other one gave her a stern look.
“No, miss,” he said. “This isn’t the bathroom. This is a secured wing, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Brittany stuck her lower lip out slightly. “Leave? But I haven’t gone to the bathroom yet.” She leaned forward and grabbed a piece of candy out of a bowl on their desk. She unwrapped it and put it slowly in her mouth. “Can’t you two help me?”
The first guard dissolved into a puddle of testosterone on the floor.
The second guard trembled noticeably, but held firm. “There’s a bathroom on the first floor, Miss …”
“Bunny,” Brittany said. “My name is Bunny.”
I rolled my eyes. She was already practically oozing sexuality out of her pores. The name Bunny was probably overkill.
“Miss Bunny.” Apparently, the guards didn’t share my reservations about the name.
With security suitably distracted, Tiffany snuck out of the stairwell and positioned herself out of sight, behind a pillar.
“First-floor bathrooms are always so icky,” Brittany said. She let a single finger trail along her chest and down toward her cleavage. “And I’ve got such sensitive skin.”
“Bud, she’s got sensitive skin,” the puddle on the floor begged. “Just let me show her to the bathroom.”
“Please, Bud?” Brittany wheedled.
Poor Bud caved. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But, Jimmy, you wait for her right outside that door, and if anyone sees you, tell them she’s somebody’s niece.”
Jimmy, thanking his lucky stars, hit a button behind the security desk, unlocking the main entrance to the securedwing. Trying desperately to look debonair, he escorted Brittany inside.
Chloe watched carefully, and the second Brittany was in the bathroom, she cued Tiffany. “Go for it,” she said. “Guard at the desk is named Bud.”
“Bud?” Tiffany approached the desk.
He looked at her. “What are you doing back so soon?” he asked. “And where’s Jimmy?”
Tiffany stuck out her bottom lip. “Jimmy left me,” she said. “And I never found the bathroom.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “I thought maybe you could show me.”
Bud stood straight up, and I got the sense that when he escorted Tiffany toward the bathroom, it was more to ream out Jimmy than because of Tiff’s feminine wiles.
“Lose something?” Bud asked Jimmy darkly.
Jimmy did a double take. “But you’re in there,” he said.
