Oh, this is gonna be fun. I haven’t had the chance to grift on the fly in a while. Planned cons are cool and all, but sometimes you just get a craving for a little improv.
“Ms. Elgin—”
“Agent.”
“Okay, Ms. Agent. I came to find my packmate. He turned in evidence against the Langleys that helped you guys stop a major pack trafficking ring. Now he’s conveniently disappeared, and I need him back. If you could just scurry off and bring him here, that would be great.” I pull out another licorice string and bite off a piece.
Step One: Pretend that I’m not at all intimidated by the fact she’s as tall as Nik and probably could crush my larynx with one hand.
Step Two: Clumsily get out of the car, holding my licorice in one hand and my belly with the other.
Step Three: Trip into Agent Elgin in the process, slamming into her, then grab her ID badge when she’s busy keeping me upright.
Step Four: Spill my licorice on the ground, thus causing the remaining agents to crouch down to help me pick it up.
By the time I’m done with my theatrics, I’ve also got two sets of keys, a wallet, and someone’s cell phone. Then comes the verbal portion of the show. I lay into Agent Elgin—who seems to be in charge—for ten minutes, my longest monologue yet. I accuse them of holding Kaden hostage, kidnapping, unlawful detainment, and a few random war crimes thrown in for good measure.
I mean, I have no proof that they’re waterboarding him, but the accusation gets Agent Elgin riled up enough that she doesn’t notice my full pockets.
“Ms. O’Neil, if you don’t leave immediately, wewilldetain you. We don’t have Mr. Hardin in custody, not that we’d even be obligated to tell you if we did. Go home.”
Cue the waterworks.
“A-are you telling me y-you lost him?” Tears stream down my cheeks, and I add a little hiccupping for good measure. “Y-you lost my mate?”
Agent Elgin instructs her other alpha agents to escort me back to my car, which is still halfway in the street, and she further instructs me to go home and wait for Kaden to return on his own.
I know he won’t, though. They’ve got him, but that’s okay.
I have everything I need to get him back now.
Chapter 25
Nik
“Nik! Nik, wake up!”
I grumble and pull Mags into my arms. “Is the sun even up?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Then hush.”
She pushes away and holds something in front of my blurry eyes. “But I have a way to get Kaden back!”
Thatwakes me up. “What?” I snatch the ID badge out of her hand and squint at the name. “Agent Lois Elgin. Who the fuck is Agent Lois Elgin, and how did you get her badge?”
“I was so close, Nik … They stopped me from entering the parking lot, but I nicked enough stuff to get us all in. We just need to wait until nightfall, then sneak into the building, find Kaden, and bust him out. Easy peasy.”
I rub my eyes with a groan. “Mags, nothing about that plan is easy. I’m sure by now that Agent Elgin has discovered her badge is missing, and after you went to their HQ,ifKaden was even being held there, they’ll have moved him the second you left.”
“Oh.” Mags frowns, then picks up an unfamiliar phone and taps at the screen. “It says they’re moving him to …” she peers at the device “… 152 East Ellington Street, downtown. That’s an old motel, isn’t it? Like, physical key entry old. No keycard. We can work with that.”
“You stole Agent Elgin’s phone?”
“No, no, no. It belonged to one of the other agents. I swiped it when he was helping me pick up my licorice.”
I have no clue what she’s talking about. When did she even leave to do all this?
