“I’m joking, I can handle it. I’ll figure something out,” Micah assures us. “If we can’t lose Cassel, we have little choice.”
“Okay. Swap out with me,” Henry orders. “See if you can get back and fix it because I can’t do anything with that computer of Cassel’s, and Ellis just keeps going, ‘We’re going to die. We’re all going to die.’”
“He’s wildly optimistic like that,” Tavish says before he chokes the guard out and then starts tying him up and gagginghim so that when he eventually comes to, he won’t be able to alert anyone.
“Well… I’m out. Don’t cry about me going, just remember the moments we shared together,” Micah says.
“Anyone hear anything?” I ask. Which gets me a glower from Micah before he dashes off.
“Henry, why don’t you swap out with Everly or Jackson?” I ask.
“You think I can’t handle this? We don’t have time to waste. And me running back to them is just another chance for someone to see us. Let’s move.”
I hesitate because I really feel like maybe I shouldn’t drag Henry into something like this, but before I can say anything, he’s already climbing the fence like a pro using Tavish’s body as a step up.
I’m not quite sure Tavish is fully on board with this, but I decide that as long as he looks like a footstool, we might as well use him as one, and clamber up his body as well.
“Does it look like I want to be stepped on by you?” Tavish growls as I pull myself over the wall. There’s supposed to be a sensor on the wall that would detect anything going over it, but as long as the rest of Cassel’s equipment is still working well, it should be down.
It really is handy having someone around who knows tech. Since I have no knowledge of how to break into security systems, I generally had to spend a lot of time watching and observing in order to figure out how to shut them down, or else get in undetected. But in an instance like this, when we have twenty-five minutes, we don’t have time to waste.
Especially now that we have no communication coming from Ellis to tell us how much time we have left and if anyone is coming our way.
When we reach the grounds, I find that we’re in some garden area with a clear view of the party taking place in the backyard. There are tents and tables and far more people than I can fathom a young child who isn’t even of school age knowing.
I sneak along the edge of some bushes where I find a tent set up and hesitate. I see two men in knockoff Disney animal suits taking a break inside it, and a brilliant idea begins to form.
“These things are fucking impossible to breathe in,” one of the mascot performers complains.
Cassel nudges me. “Tavish and I will split this way. If we find Raul and the communications come back on, we’ll alert you that way. But while you look for him, I’m going to focus on finding his information. If I find something and need you, I’m going to pop a balloon, alright? No one will suspect anything if a balloon pops.”
“Got it,” I say then watch the two of them sneak off in the opposite direction. I nod to Henry to come take a look at what I see happening inside the tent.
He slides over and looks inside before giving me a look that very much indicates, “If I don’t get to be Donald Duck, I’m going to have a ducking fit.”
Does it really look like I’m going to fight him over that? What kind of man does he take me for to think I’m going to wrangle him to the ground over Temu Donald Duck? I’m honestly not even sure if itisa duck, but if my Daddy Henry wants the duck, he’ll get himself a duck.
So I throw out some fingers with the intention of counting down from three when we’ll take action and knock the performers down. Henry, always the overachiever, dashes in before I even fold a finger down, and I’m left rushing after him to drag the second guy down as he watches his buddy get pummeled by a man with a ski mask on his head. Their costumes do very little in helping their struggle for survival. They flail,arms going wildly, but with their mascot gloves in place, they seem to be unable to do much and the lack of oxygen keeps them from screaming when Donald Duck’s head pops off, but my guy keeps his head on quite well, even through the struggle.
Henry, the “why am I involved, I can’t believe you guys would drag me into something like this” man, is wearing a smile on his face while he drags his guy out of the tent and into the area behind it where no one would go. Henry’s expression seems to have petrified the man since all that can be seen of Henry are his lips and his eyes and he looks manic, even to me and I love the man.
Have I tainted this man too much? Or just right?
No way of knowing for sure.
I pull out my trusty bad guys’ abduction kit and set to work. The moment I pop the mascot head off, I slap duct tape over the man’s mouth and then drag him out of his very snazzy “Goofy who has had one too many alcoholic beverages after his wife of sixty years left him for another man” mascot suit. Then I cable tieandtape his wrists before helping Henry with his guy. We drag them both back so they can’t roll into the tent, and then tape them to a tree so there’s no way they’re going anywhere.
“This has to be the most foolish thing I’ve ever done,” Henry decides as he eyes his duck suit like he’s not over there eager to dive in.
“I’ll call you Daddy Duck now,” I say.
“I’m leaving,” Henry states.
“No! Daddy Duck, why would you leave? I thought you loved me.”
“Some days it’s questionable,” he mutters as he climbs on in. Really, this whole thing is just spectacular, and my favorite part is him pretending he’s not into it.
I slide into the Goofy suit before hurrying off to find the head that’d rolled toward the tent, but Henry’s suit’s head is insidethe tent. I check to make sure no one is looking before slipping in and grabbing his head. Then I grace Henry with his head and give him the best thumbs-up I can muster in this suit.
