by Stella Hart
“Is my makeup okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “You look like a different girl. The purple shadow was a good touch.”
“Thanks.” In order to look more like a beaten-down mansion maid, I’d brushed on some dark shadows under my eyes after learning the technique from an online stage makeup tutorial. A sick lesson, but one which was necessary.
The radio suddenly chirped. “Hey, Blaine. You sort the fence out?”
Alex cleared his throat. “Yeah, just got the branch down,” he said, affecting a slightly higher tone to sound like the now-dead guard. “I’m about to get back on route now.”
“Good. Could’ve caught fire and damaged the fence at some point after the rain.”
“That’s what I… figured would... so I….” Alex ground out a broken sentence, pressing the radio button on and off multiple times as he spoke.
“You’re breaking up, man.”
“It’s these goddamn radios,” Alex said. “Can you hear me now?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve been having issues on all the channels. And not just me. Some of the other guys couldn’t contact each other for a while earlier. I think it’s this fucking weather messing up the signal.”
“Probably. You do sound a bit weird, even when you aren’t breaking up.”
“You should let everyone else know about the issues, so they don’t panic in case they can’t immediately reach someone. I would, but I gotta get back to my patrol.”
“Sure, man, I’ll do that. Talk later.”
Alex put the radio back in his belt and stuck the key in the ignition.
“Good idea,” I said admiringly. “Now when they can’t reach other while you’re going around sniping them, they won’t immediately realize something is happening. They’ll think it’s just the crappy weather.”
He winked. “Exactly. It wasn’t supposed to rain tonight, but it is, so we may as well use it to our advantage.”
I nodded. He was right. With anything that happened to go our way in terms of luck, we had to grab onto it and milk it as hard as possible. It might be the only piece of luck we got all evening.
Alex started the car and began to cruise along the fence line, keeping the headlights on high beam. “You’ll have to get down soon,” he muttered as we drew closer to the side of the house.
I could see well-dressed guests arriving and heading inside via the main front entrance. Mostly men, but a few women were within their ranks. There were guards everywhere too, but no one gave a second glance to the car, assuming it was Blaine on patrol. I hunched over just in case.
Alex crossed the end of the driveway a few minutes later, slowly drove along the track that ran parallel to the front fence, then started on the right side. Ten minutes later, he stopped the car about a third of the way up the fence line and dimmed the lights before lifting the radio to his mouth again.
“Another few branches fell over here on the east fence. Don’t think they set anything off, but I’m gonna take them down just in case,” he said to explain why the car was stopped again, in case anyone noticed and wondered.
“Got it,” came the faint voice from the other end. “Christ, this weather.”
Alex and I got out of the car. He grabbed the hiking backpack and slung it onto his back, and we crept toward the back gardens of the mansion. There were plenty of trees along the way for us to duck behind on the off chance any of the guards happened to move and come out here, but none of them did.
Ten minutes later, we were approaching the back of the walled garden. On the other side lay the greenhouse.
“Shit,” Alex suddenly murmured, holding one arm out beside him, across my chest. He gently pushed me behind a thick bush, then ducked down beside me. “Looks like Blaine was either wrong or lying. There’s a guard walking around the wall.”
I squinted out from behind the bush. He was right. A guard must’ve recently been told to come and guard this wall; he’d walked up to the area and was now standing still, looking bored as he gazed around. He hadn’t spotted us or heard our movements, thank god. “What do we do?” I whispered.
Alex put the bag down. “Easy. We get rid of him. No cameras around this part, remember?”
He grabbed a few things from the bag—mostly weapons—and then we crept as close as we could to the back wall of the garden without alerting the guard newly posted there. “Stay here,” Alex murmured as we reached an arborvitae hedge and crouched behind it. We were only a few yards away now.
Alex picked up a rock and tossed it toward the wall, aiming for an area a few feet right of the guard. It landed in the snow with a heavy clump. The guard reflexively whirled round to his left to see what the sound was, and Alex crept up from the other direction.
Before the guard had a chance to register what was happening and call for backup, Alex plunged a sharp blade into the side of his neck and covered his mouth and nose with his free hand. He slumped against the wall, slowly sliding down. The only sound was a grim gurgling as he bled out on the snow.
Alex motioned for me to approach. I dashed toward him. The guard’s eyes were glazed over now; he was dead already.
“Are you ready?” Alex asked, pulling a small hypodermic needle out of his jacket pocket.
I nodded and took it, sliding it in one of my own pants pockets. “Give me a boost?”
“Of course.”
He helped me over the wall, then climbed over himself. Fumbling with Blaine’s keys, he finally located the one for the greenhouse’s back door. Before he opened it, he turned to me. “You remember where to go?”
I nodded. “Security room is by the staircase on the very left, past the library.”
“Good girl.” He squeezed my hand hard. “Sure you can do this?”
“Yes.”
“That’s my girl. If anything happens and I think you’re in trouble, I’ll come in and we’ll improvise something.”
“I’ll be okay,” I whispered. I smoothed down my hair, then nodded toward the door. “I’m ready. I promise.”
Alex gave me a long look. I stared back at him, my eyes wide, and then we both leaned forward at the same time, melting into each other as we kissed. Neither of us said it, but we both wondered if it was our last time. Anything could go wrong, especially for Alex.
“I love you.” My voice was a hoarse whisper as I broke away.
“I love you too.” Alex pushed the door open, and before I stepped inside the greenhouse, I gave him one last look.
Then the door closed behind me, and I haltingly walked through the dim building, heading toward the door on the other end that would take me into the mansion proper.
“Can you hear me?” Alex asked through my earpiece.
“Yes,” I said. “You?”
“Loud and clear. Remember the basil.”
I reached into my left pants pocket and grabbed the handful of herb cuttings I’d taken from the basil plant we bought last week. If any of the inner guards happened to see me coming in from the greenhouse, they’d probably want to know why, and I didn’t have time to be picking around the plants in here. The basil was my little green lifeline.
I reached the door and tried the handle. “Shit. It’s locked,” I muttered into my collar mic.
“Knock. Say you got locked out when the guard shows up.”
I gulped. “Okay. Here goes.”
I rapped on the door. Five minutes later, the inside patrol guard showed up. He was tall and wiry with heavy eyebrows, an aquiline nose and a mean, shrewd expression.
He opened the door and sized me up. “What the fuck are you doing? How’d you get in there?”
It seemed my fake maid disguise was passing for now. He was addressing me as if I belonged here, instead of calling for backup and saying there was an intruder.
I gave him a blank look. “You let me out half an hour ago. At least I think it was you,” I murmured. I held out the basil. “I was supposed to get this for the kitchen, but someone accidentally locked the door
behind me. I’ve been knocking for ages.”
He narrowed his eyes, coolly assessing me. Then he picked up one of the basil leaves and sniffed it before putting it back in my hand. My heart felt like it was going to explode. “I don’t remember that,” he finally said. “And I don’t remember seeing you before, either.”
I licked my lips nervously. “I don’t know what you mean. I see you all the time,” I said softly, lowering my eyes to his shoes. “I’ve been here for eight years.”
“Hm. Right. I think I remember you now.” He tilted his head to the side. “Anna, right? You had red hair before?”
I was opening my mouth for a fast response—Yes, that’s me, I’m a natural redhead but they made me dye it recently—but something in the guard’s expression made me stiffen and hesitate. It was the cock of his head, the glint in his calm, unblinking eyes. Something was wrong; he still wasn’t sure that I belonged here. The questions had to be traps.
I shook my head. “No, it’s Jessica, and my hair used to be brown. They made me change it a few months ago. William said he was sick of all the brunettes and wanted more blondes around the place.”
The guard chuckled. Apparently I’d passed his little test. “Sounds like old Bill, all right,” he said. He finally stepped aside to let me past.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
Before I could take a step forward, he stopped me. “Hold on. Show me your mark,” he said, regarding me with suspicion again. His left hand hovered just above his two-way radio.
I swallowed hard, terror dropping straight through me like a cold black stone. The hardwood floor felt like it was turning to water beneath me.
I knew I might encounter an overzealous guard while I tried to infiltrate the mansion, and so I’d been prepared to think on my feet, but I hadn’t expected any of them to be so fanatical that they’d demand to see my circle carving.
I didn’t have one, obviously. The second I lifted my shirt to show him my smooth, unscarred abdomen, it would be over. Shit, shit, shit. I was barely even in the house, and already I’d been burned.
“Fuck. I’m coming in,” Alex muttered, softly enough that the guard wouldn’t hear the voice coming from my earpiece.
I silently willed him to wait just five more seconds as something occurred to me. A possible way out.
“I….” I lowered my gaze shamefully and bit my lip. “My circle isn’t on my stomach.”
“Huh?” The guard’s brows furrowed.
“I was bad when I arrived. They couldn’t control me. So… so they decided to teach me an extra lesson by carving it somewhere… else.” I slipped the basil back in my pants pocket, then delicately fingered the zipper. “If you have to see it, I’ll show you.”
I undid the black button above the zipper and made a show of slowly unzipping the pants.
The guard thankfully fell for my bluff, turning up his nose in a disgusted expression and slapping my arm away from my crotch. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “No, I don’t want to see that, for fuck’s sake. Forget it. Just go back to the kitchen, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
He stalked away, and finally, I felt like I could breathe again. I zipped my pants back up, and Alex murmured in my ear. “Good save. I was about to come in and shoot the prick, but I suppose that would ruin all our plans, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I used Lina’s story,” I whispered as I hurried down the hall.
“Don’t be sorry. You have to do whatever it takes. Take a few deep breaths, okay? I’m right here.”
I reached the staircase at the end of the hall. As Blaine had told me earlier, there was a door just off to the right with a little black sign on it. Security.
I knocked, feeling a lot braver now that I’d fooled one suspicious guard.
“It’s unlocked,” a deep male voice called out to me.
I slipped inside, leaving the wooden door ajar. There was a blond man sitting on a black swivel chair, his feet up on a desk as he watched an array of CCTV screens. He cast a vaguely mistrustful glance in my direction, but luckily, he didn’t seem anywhere near as bad as the patrol guard. “What is it?” he asked.
“I was told to come and offer you a snack while you worked.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “Already ate dinner.”
I pointedly closed the door behind me and took a step forward. The guard’s sparse brows rose, and a slow grin spread across his face. “Oh, I get it. You’re the snack.”
I nodded and undid one blouse button, letting a hint of cleavage catch his eye. He glanced at the screens, then shrugged. “Nothing happening, anyway. Get over here, whore.”
I slowly stepped toward him. He grinned and took the radio, gun, and keys off his thick belt, placing them down on the desk. Then he unbuckled the belt and lowered his pants. “I haven’t had you before, but you look like you love choking on cock,” he said in a low voice, eyes gleaming with lust.
“I thought you might like a lap dance first,” I murmured. “They told me to make this worth your while as a thank you for all your hard work.”
“Hey, I won’t say no to that.” His grin grew wider. “Whatever gets you revved up, little girl.”
Bile and acid scratched at my throat, and I swallowed hard. I lowered myself onto his lap and began to grind myself around in my best impression of a lap dance, undoing more blouse buttons as I gyrated back and forth. The guard’s pink cock was out, grazing my left thigh, and I smiled to mask the fact I wanted to vomit on him.
I leaned back, balancing on my knees on his lap. Then I began to feign undoing my pants, just like I’d done only moments ago with the patrol guard. The man groaned. “Yeah, show me your pussy. Stop teasing me.”
“But I like to tease,” I whispered, playfully sweeping a hand across his eyes. “No peeking just yet.”
He didn’t move my hand, taking it all as part of the tease. “God, they teach you little sluts better and better every year,” he grunted, his cock growing stiffer by the second.
With my free hand, I reached into my right pocket and grabbed the small hypodermic needle Alex gave me earlier. I leaned farther forward, pretending as if I were going to kiss or nibble the guard’s earlobe, and then I quickly uncapped the needle and jabbed it into his neck, pressing down hard on the end.
It was the same animal tranquilizer Alex used on all his victims. The same one he used on me when he first took me. I knew exactly how effective it could be.
I clamped a hand over the guard’s mouth as he tried to let out a shout. One hand shot out and thrashed around on the desk, searching for his radio, but the drug took effect almost immediately, and he slumped back in his seat only seconds later, completely unconscious.
“Good girl,” Alex told me. “You’re a natural. Lock the door, then look at the screens and tell me what you see. I can barely see them on my phone.”
I did as he said and scanned the CCTV images. The kids were all in rooms on the second and third floors. Some were reading, but most were lying listlessly in bed.
Six maids were carrying trays of food and champagne out of the kitchen, heading for the ballroom. One remained in the kitchen; it looked like she was making cocktails. Three more were in what appeared to be a coatroom, organizing coats and scarves from the party guests. The few others were doing other mundane tasks like cleaning toilets and dusting skirting boards.
I focused my attention on the guards next.
“Looks like Blaine was right about everything apart from that one guard behind the wall,” I said. “There are two in the ballroom watching the guests, one patrolling around the rest of the house—that’s the really nasty one I ran into—and the others are outside. Not counting this guy.”
I looked at the unconscious guard next to me. I could kill him, but there was no point. He’d be long-dead from other factors by the time the drugs ever had a chance to wear off, so it would just be a waste of time.
“Where exactly are the outside ones?” Alex asked.
&nb
sp; I squinted. “Looks like there are six scattered throughout the parking lot, I guess to stop anyone from leaving just yet. Then there’s four along the front of the house, two on either side, and another four along the back.”
“Okay. Hang tight, angel. I’ll do the parking lot first. Seems easiest.”
Now that there was no one around to watch for suspicious activity on the CCTV screens and alert the others, Alex could sneak around and dispose of the outside guards. It wouldn’t exactly be easy by most sane people’s definition, but as long as he was quiet, it was possible. The parking lot and exterior of the house were big enough that one guard probably wouldn’t see or hear the closest one to him crumpling to the ground, seeing as they were still yards and yards apart.
Still, I was scared for Alex. All it took was one extra-vigilant guard noticing something to set everyone else off. Then the Circle party inside would be warned and manage to escape before we had the chance to do anything to them.
Fear whiplashed through me as I watched Alex finally appear on a screen. He was in the parking lot, sneaking up behind the guard right at the end, between two cars. My heart was in my throat as he snapped his neck and dragged his body behind the cars, dumping him in the snow. I could hear his breathing through my earpiece, harsh and heavy.
“Anything?” he asked in a low murmur a few seconds later.
I glanced at the other guards on the various screens. “No,” I said, my pulse still racing. “Doesn’t look like any of them saw or heard a thing.”
I watched with twisting knots in my stomach as he took out the rest of the parking lot guards, one by one. The last guard at the front of the lot seemed to get suspicious when he took a few steps forward and poked his head out, obviously wondering where the hell all his colleagues had disappeared to. He went to grab his radio, but Alex was faster. He sliced his throat and knocked him down, leaving him to bleed out on the cold stones of the lot.
