By his side, Cash squatted and peered through his own binoculars. Whatever had compelled Raiden to give him a second chance, he couldn’t imagine doing this without the guy, and he felt another surge of protective impulses, thinking about the danger Cash was about to be in.
Raiden’s earpiece crackled. “Seb has shut down the security system,” Declan announced from his van, parked down the street.
“We’re good to go,” Raiden answered. He took one last look at the warehouse, then headed to the fire escape to climb down.
“Wait a second,” Cash said, catching his arm. “Forgetting something?”
Raiden chuckled. Cash had that sassy look on his face, with his lips pulled back in a half-smile and his hazel eyes dancing. “Come here,” Raiden said, then pulled him into a deep kiss.
“Mmmmm,” Cash hummed. “Something to remember me by when I’m shot down in the warehouse.”
“Don’t even joke about that,” Raiden grumbled, then leapt down, landing on the fire escape grating with a jangling crash.
It was a hell of a thing, to realize he was in love for the first time, and he still didn’t know how to process the fact that those feelings appeared for both Cash and Lawrence at the same time. But luckily, Raiden didn’t feel the need to sit around and worry about shit like that, not when there was something so urgent to get done. He just knew that it felt good and right, and that he was even stronger for it.
He and Cash climbed their way down to the Canal, where they had stashed a small inflatable raft earlier. Once the guard rounded the corner again, they hurried through the shadows, then pushed off across the still water.
Raiden sniffed. “What’s that smell?”
“A lovely combination of pesticides, chemical runoff, and some raw sewage,” Cash replied in a hushed tone.
“What?” Raiden looked down at the small plastic paddle in his hand, dripping with canal water. “Sewage? We’re rowing through sewage?”
Cash tittered. “I figured you’d be a baby about it. But hey, there’s a reason they don’t keep a close eye on this side of the building.”
Raiden started to turn to glare at Cash, but his weight made the raft wobble, and he grabbed the sides instead, terrified of splashing into the toxic water. A few minutes later, they floated to shore, crawled up onto the concrete again, and Cash materialized some wire cutters to make work of the fence while Raiden held watch with his tranquilizer gun.
Pulling back the fence, Cash started to squeeze his body through. “It looks clear,” he whispered. “You’ll have to cut some more fence, though, to fit that body through.”
All of a sudden, a large gray mutt jumped from the shadows, headed straight for Cash, who was caught halfway through the fence. Raiden’s instincts fired before his brain did, and a dart landed in the pooch’s neck before she let out more than a growl.
The dog collapsed in front of Cash. “Stellar,” he whispered to Raiden. “Now let’s go.”
Raiden grabbed the fence, then yanked it back, bending it with brute strength. He paused to pull the dart from the dog and give her a few nice pets. “Sorry, buddy,” he whispered.
“We’re in the perimeter,” Raiden whispered as he pressed his earpiece. “Guard dog neutralized.”
“This is Seb. I’m in the internal video monitoring system. There’s one guard on the perimeter and two inside, near the rear door to the stairs. It doesn’t look like they have cameras on the lower floors. The exterior guard is just about to round the east corner.”
Raiden heard a whoosh of air, and when he jerked his head toward the building, he saw the guard collapse silently to the ground.
Cash blew on his gun as though smoke were coming out of it. “See? They’re great toys.”
With a spin, Raiden pointed the gun jokingly at Cash. “Now I know how to shut you up, too.”
Without responding, Cash hunched down, then took off through the shadows, darting silently like a cat chasing its prey. Raiden moved the fallen guard into a comfortable hiding spot, then kept an eye out while Cash jimmied the lock to get them inside. They listened carefully at the door and followed Seb’s instructions to sneak inside, and when the right moment presented itself, they stepped out of the shadows and simultaneously took down the guards with a couple of darts.
The warehouse was largely empty, with a few dim lights shining at the end where some offices were built. After doing a quick sweep to make sure they weren’t missing anything, Raiden and Cash found the door to the basement.
Raiden’s anxiety spiked. He’d broken into plenty of buildings before and put his life on the line for plans riskier than this one. But he was only minutes away from finding out whether Lawrence was okay, and that was setting his brain on fire.
“Don’t pull some fucking stunt,” he whispered to Cash, “and don’t get yourself hurt.”
“Don’t worry, big guy,” Cash whispered as he picked the lock to the basement door. “I’ll be here to keep you safe.”
They didn’t know much about the basement, and they crept down the stairs slowly, ready for anything. When they reached the bottom, Cash extended a small mirror that he used to peek around the corners. In the clear, Raiden snuck ahead, confident that Cash had his back. The hallway he crept down ran into two dead ends, but there were six doors scattered along the way.
Raiden rested his hand on one of the door handles, and Cash crept into position, his gun pointed straight ahead. Raiden gritted his teeth, ready for a fight.
