His expression shifted from exasperated to incredulous. “You’re expecting us to change your tire?”
“Well, you certainly wouldn’t expect a lady like me to do it, would you? And how else are we going to get out of here? I mean, I suppose we could wait until AAA can come rescue us, but you know how long those wait times can get. We’d be stuck here forhours, and I don’t know what your bathroom situation is here, but our bus does not have with a lavatory.”
A myriad of expressions crossed the man’s face before he finally closed his eyes and heaved the heaviest sigh I’d ever heard.
Oh, yeah, we were doing our job, all right.
“Gibson, who on your team knows how to change a tire?”
“Are you serious, sir?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
I watched, thoroughly amused as the security detail suddenly found themselves playing mechanic. I did my best to sink to the back to our little fake tourist crowd, just in case one of them somehow got suspicious of my relatively simple disguise.
Hopefully, our other two teams were benefitting from this distraction.
36
LEO
My lungs were burning, but I forced myself to go a little bit farther, my arms cutting through the water until finally, I saw the shimmering light above my head I’d been waiting for. Angling myself upward, I kicked hard until my head crested the surface. I glanced around. I’d made it to my target. The fish hatchery.
I drew in a deep breath, fighting the urge to cough. I didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to us. Hopefully, the majority of the staff would be too distracted with Alicia and Ven’s group to hear us. I’d been skeptical of the plan when it was first proposed, but the two mercenaries in our group assured us we needed a multi-prong attack. We’d completely lucked out with Chadwicke, which was perhaps a bit ironic, and if it hadn’t been for Ven’s spontaneous manifestation of plant powers, we wouldn’t have survived the auction. Given those facts, I wasn’t exactly keen on arguing with the experts.
At least I could take solace in the fact that my mate was safely on the bus, about as far from danger as she could be while still being involved with the plan. Honestly, I would have loved it if she’d stayed home, reading and taking care of her cats,but I’d long since learned that wasn’t an option. Ven wouldn’t stand by while others put themselves in danger. Considering how powerful she could be if she could access plants again, it would’ve been selfish of me to ask her to stay behind.
I sensed someone rapidly ascending beside me before I saw them, but a bit later, America burst through the surface of the water. Almost instantly, she started coughing, and I clapped my hand over her mouth quickly. It had been no small feat to swim that long to get through to the hatchery, but we had to do our best to be as stealthy as possible.
Once I felt her breathing slow beneath my palm, I let go, and she gave me a rueful look.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
We didn’t need to say much else, because by then multiple of our allies were also popping up around us. The small area we’d come up in was becoming crowded, so I swam over to the edge and pulled myself up onto dry land. And just in time too, because suddenly, a dark shadow filled the depths of the pool, and a few seconds later, none other than a giant moose head broke through to the surface.
Right. I’d forgotten moose were somewhat aquatic creatures, and that killer whales were legitimate predators of theirs. It was wild to think about, and it didn’t get any less wild as Chiga shifted out of his animal form so he could clamber onto the bank with us.
Jeez, I wasn’t a small man, but standing next to the giant of a shifter made me feel that way. Thank God he was an herbivore, otherwise the rest of us would have been done for.
As more hauled themselves onto the bank of the hatchery, I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose at the rather intense smells. We were lucky the brothers weren’t shifters, because there wasno way they wouldn’t be able to pick up on the pungent stench wafting from my team.
Still, it could be worse. I wasn’t on the team infiltrating from a septic truck. After my experience with the compost truck at Chadwicke’s, I figured I’d earned the reprieve. Although fish filth wasn’t exactly what I would normally call areprieve.
“We ready?” Marco, one of America’s cousins, asked softly.
I shook my head, listening carefully. Thanks to Alicia’s scouting, we’d found out about the septic repair our second-strike team was going to take advantage of. It was the type of opportunity that wouldn’t come again so easily, and I didn’t want to ruin it by jumping the gun. While both the properties were in different areas, I should be able to pick up the rumble of the pump once that was started, and that would be our cue.
“I don’t see any security,” America said, peeking out the window she was crouched under. “Looks like our distraction drew plenty of them away.”
“Don’t let your guard down,” I cautioned. “Alicia said this place is enchanted to the gills, and they have some pretty nasty mercenaries along with their normal security detail.” I shot Chiga an apologetic glance. “No offense meant.”
“None taken. My profession collects bastards and assholes like my fiancé collects trading card games.” He cracked his knuckles, his pleasant smile turning far more serious. “I’ll take care of them, though. I know how they operate. That’s why I’m on this team, after all.”
That, he was.
Our plan had three parts, each dependent on the other. There was the distraction team with their broken-down bus full of loud noises and even louder personalities. Then there was my team. We were about to change into employee uniforms that would hopefully be waiting for us before we infiltrated the manor proper.
