by Jody Klaire
They hurried from the corner, past the dorm, and to the garage. She knocked once, so they would know that was her signal and entered. She led them over to the bus and handed them a bottle of water each. “Take a seat, keep low.”
She took the masks.
“Don’t you want some, Miss Worthington?” Ty asked with a blush coloring her cheeks.
Renee tried not to smile. Aeron wasn’t the only one with a fan club. “Thanks, but I have to move.”
She left the water and hurried back into the dust. She checked her watch. Three minutes. She just hoped the rest would be as uneventful.
URSULA DUMPED THE last of the batteries behind the hedge and nodded to Jessie. “Head back to the garage, take on water, take your pump if you need. Then we’ll head to the second floor.”
Jessie gave her the thumbs up and disappeared into the dust. Ursula sprinted across the lawns covering the ground without problem. It felt good to be active.
She reached the gate where two guards were sheltering and pulled out a small dart gun. The wonderful thing about operating in situations where CIG weren’t meant to be spotted, she had some pretty helpful tools.
Ursula took aim and pulled the trigger twice. Two guards were out before they slumped to the floor. A normal person would be out for four hours with the stuff. Plenty of time. They’d be long gone by the time these two resurfaced.
Even so, she took the time to tie them up and strip them of their radios and weapons. She threw the items into one of the hedges outside and turned back toward the main building. Next.
I PEEKED OUT through the curtain as the kids bumbled their way through a terrible rendition of An Ideal Husband. I’d read a lot of Oscar Wilde, so I knew they were a quarter of the way through but at the rate they were going, Smyth might hook them off stage long before that.
I glanced at Smyth but he was chuckling along with the rest of the audience. I didn’t get why. One kid kept forgetting his lines, another kept saying his own and the first line of the next person’s.
I was pretty sure they might have invented a couple of variations on the characters’ names too. Miss Mabel had turned into Miss Marbles but even Owens looked charmed.
It was terrible.
Renee breezed back in and I turned to look at her. She’d looked smart in her stunning pant suit and shirt at the start of the evening. Now, she was wearing an inch of dirt.
“Guess it’s raining, huh?” I mumbled her way as she made a beeline for Ian and Ryan.
“Funny,” she shot back. “How far in?”
“The countess has just told the politician she is blackmailing him.”
Renee raised her eyebrows.
“About a quarter.” I shrugged. “I love Oscar. These guys are the worst actors I’ve ever seen.”
“You go to the theatre a lot, Samson?” Renee asked, handing the masks to the boys and checking how they were doing.
“Hey, I had to watch Nora, Aimee, and Tiz reenact the nativity.”
Renee gave me a look.
“Exactly . . . but these guys are far worse.”
“Hopefully, they will bore them all to sleep and make things easier.”
I handed her a bottle of water. “If you don’t drink it, you’ll get dehydrated and less able to focus. You need to be sharp.”
Renee did as I told her, thanked me, and headed back out with the boys. I glanced at Miranda who looked as nervous as I was. Miroslav seemed cool, calm, and collected.
Glad one of us was.
Chapter 49
RENEE LED THE two boys, Ian and Ryan, down the corridor and helped them with their masks. Ryan had absences and by the distracted look in his eyes, she wasn’t quite sure he was coping with the stress. It also didn’t help that his asthma was playing up. She handed him his pump and waited for him to calm.
Ian met her eyes with a puppy dog look in his. The mask rattled around in his shuddering grip. He had great difficulty with his movement at the best of times. Now, with nerves, he was far worse. These boys would be the slowest. It was important that she keep them calm and moving.
“You’ll be just fine,” she whispered with a smile, helping Ian fix the mask in place. She double checked the filter on Ryan’s mask as precaution. “Just keep next to me, okay?”
Both boys gave a shaky thumbs up.
She glanced at the offices. All in darkness. She slid on her own mask and guided them into the storm. The smaller of the two, Ian, kept tripping. He was always unsteady but not this bad. She stopped them. He pointed to his lace, then shook his head. Renee sighed, dropped to her haunches, and started to tie it up.
She felt a frantic tap on her shoulder.
Ryan pointed to the east corner of the building.
A flashlight beam.
Renee pulled them back, tripping over the hedge separating the fake grass banking from the path. She slid down the grassy banking and yanked them both down to lie flat on their stomachs. Ryan covered Ian as if to protect him. The beam turned the corner and headed to the door.
Had she closed it?
The beam flashed around as it halted, a few feet from the door. Renee put the scope to her eye and just made out a blurry figure.
A figure with a rifle.
She opened her mic. “Urs, it normal for guards to have automatic rifles?”
She heard Frei grunt on the other side. She ducked as the beam shone their way.
“No. The guards on the gate were armed to the teeth too.” She sighed. “They trust the buyers less than us, it seems.”
The beam turned and walked back the way it came. It turned the corner and Renee pulled the boys up.
They hurried up the bank and over the hedge, stopping only to check on the direction of the light. Ian stumbled when they reached the dorms. He lurched and pulled them both into a plant pot as he clattered to the ground. The large stone pot smacked into the wall.
She yanked them up, ran into the garage, and shut out the storm.
She checked her watch.
Ten minutes.
Renee sighed, pulled the masks off the boys, and led them to the bus.
“Sorry,” Ian mumbled over and over, tears in his eyes.
Renee took him by the face. “Don’t be. We’re here. Just get on the bus okay. Take on water.”
“Miss Worthington got us here,” Ryan said, wrapping a protective arm around a shaking Ian. “You did great.” He met Renee’s eyes. “He takes out loads more things normally.”
“Well, then,” she said in her softest tone as Jessie appeared with two bottles. “You were fantastic.”
Ian blushed as Jessie nudged him and exchanged a look with Ryan.
“He and Ty might start fighting over you,” Jessie said, offering her water.
Renee shook her head, flashed a quick smile, and headed back out into the dust. She needed to right that pot.
URSULA WAITED UNTIL the guard returned to his original route and hurried to the overturned pot. Renee joined her a second later.
“Ten minutes. How can we get them out in time?”
Ursula took one side as Renee grabbed the other. “Huber.”
“What?” Renee grunted as they took the strain and hauled the pot upward.
“He is here for the kids. If he thinks it’s in his interest, he’ll delay.”
Renee put her hands on her hips. “We are not—”
“I know. You think I’d do that?”
Renee dropped a hand to her side. “No.”
“Then stop giving me the third degree and move.” Ursula strolled toward the garage. She knocked once, ducked inside, and pulled up her mask to take on water.
Jessie scampered to her as Ty and Leigh-Anne helped Ryan hoist a wobbling Ian onto the bus. Good to see they were a team.
“Ready?”
Jessie nodded and pulled her mask on.
“Good, you got the rope?”
Jessie tapped her back. There was no point reminding Jessie this was the most dangerous part. So she held open the do
or and said a prayer.
They’d need it.
THE PLAY WAS at the halfway mark as I checked from the wings. Owens shot a glare at me when she caught me. I ignored her and tried to ignore the amount of people in the audience. Baby steps. I turned away and focused on backstage. Trails of wires snaked along the walls and floors. Bits of black tape bound them with white markers sprayed or taped in case anyone missed them. The walls bare brick, curtains hanging from metal rods up in the ceiling, chains draping down.
The remaining students huddled in the corner. Jed and Miroslav sat apart but Jones’s and Sawyer’s kids clung together. Frei’s group had left with a brief nod to me. She had a task for them but I couldn’t find the words to offer support. I knew better than to talk. My own nerves would make them think I was worried.
Maybe I should share that I was nervous about being near a lot of folks at once, they might find it funny.
Miranda caught my attention before I moved. She paced up and back over and over. She rubbed her hand, the wrist that was hurting, and stared at her violin.
She couldn’t play but she had to play.
I walked to her as the others glanced at the door and waited for Renee.
“If you try playing, they’ll know.”
She spun around and jumped when she saw me. She’d been lost in her thoughts. “What if they realize?”
“They won’t.” I glanced at Miroslav who gave a warm smile and a thumbs up from his stool. I was glad to see he was sipping water. It was hot and humid backstage.
“But—”
“If Miss Samson says they won’t, they won’t.” Jed’s voice was gentle as he strolled up to her. “I’m sorry you got to cover us but there is no one who can pull it off like you.”
Miranda flung herself into his arms and he held on tight. He met my eyes, concern glinted in his.
I couldn’t make any promises. If either of us made the slightest mistake, we would need some kind of a miracle to get us out in one piece.
Renee hurried in. She had a graze of dirt on her right knee. I went to her and handed her a bottle, leaving Jed to reassure Miranda.
“What happened?”
She touched my hand. A flash of a pot toppling.
“He sucks tying laces,” I muttered.
“Doesn’t matter, I’m behind.” She sipped on the water. “The guard changed his route.”
“And his gun grew,” I added.
Renee handed me back the bottle and motioned to Sawyer’s and Jones’s kids. They took the masks and shoved them on before she could say anything.
“Guess they’re keen,” she mumbled.
“Watch the dorm?” I said, grabbing her hand. “Someone heard that pot hit the deck.”
Renee met my eyes and nodded. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, just don’t get hurt.”
She flashed me a smile and hurried out.
I turned back to see Miranda cuddled into Jed.
I could have done with a hug.
Chapter 50
RENEE CAUGHT UP with the three kids as they got to the door and grabbed them to stop them fleeing into the dust.
“Why are you rushing ahead?”
Sawyer’s kid sighed. “I overheard Mr. Sawyer talking to Ms. Harrison. He felt gala night would be perfect for the visitors to abduct students. He’s on the lookout.”
And that would have been useful information before. “He armed?”
He nodded.
Great.
Renee pulled on her mask, and they headed out into the storm. Her heart pounded in her chest. The kids were light and fast which made it easier. She halted them at the corner. The guard was walking away but Aeron’s warning rang through her mind.
“We’re going to head back around my building and hit the garage that way.”
She realized that the kids didn’t have radios.
Dimwit.
She took hold of the two boys’ hands and got the girl to hold on to her waistband. They hurried down the steps, around the building, and to the back. The guard in the southeast hut was patrolling. His route was near the dorm between where they’d stood in the far southeast corner and where the dining halls were.
She led the kids along the back path, feeling both boys squeeze her hands tighter as the storm intensified. There was no shelter this side.
She headed northeast, taking refuge next to her villa. She glanced back to her left. The boys’ dorm door opened and a flashlight beamed out. Renee ducked around the side and pulled the kids into motion. The light turned back toward the main building.
She made a break for the garage. One knock and she burst inside.
“Five minutes,” she muttered to herself as she pulled off their masks and Ryan handed them some water.
“Sawyer is on the prowl. Cut the lights and stick to flashlights, okay?”
Ryan nodded and ushered the kids toward the bus. She was glad to see he looked more alert.
She smiled at Ty, Ian, Jane, and Leigh-Anne. “Everyone okay?”
They nodded.
Good.
Renee pulled down her mask. She took a deep breath.
Eight kids down.
Another eight to go.
She swallowed the dryness in her throat. It was getting tougher each time.
URSULA NODDED TO the five suited-up kids around her group and Jessie. They needed to work together to pull it off. One by one they skirted up the rope to the second floor of the main building.
The beam of a flashlight rounded the corner. She darted up the rope and reeled it in. The flashlight beam moved closer to where she’d been standing.
No surprise Sawyer was on patrol. She shut the window, cleaning the dust that had come in with them.
“Urs, I need your guys ready.”
Ursula touched her earpiece. “They can make it by themselves. Get Jed. Jessie and I will bring his sister.”
“Roger that.”
As the kids fanned out and crept through Jäger’s quarters, Ursula crept out, down the stairs, and scanned the empty hallway. She hurried around the corner, unlocked, and headed into his office. She pulled the device from where Aeron had planted it and placed it in her pocket. She woke up his computer and inserted a USB drive into it.
The second Jäger knew they’d pulled one over on him, he’d try and cover his tracks.
False trails and some inventive doctoring of newspapers and locations would keep Aeron’s family safe. Alex Riley had never been to Missouri, still, Frei wanted to make sure.
Ursula wiped every file Jäger had and installed new, false ones to cover them. Then she planted a special change to his computer. A safety clause.
She headed back out, locked up behind her, and hurried around the corner. She took a breath and dashed across the hallway and back up the stairs. She slipped into Jäger’s quarters and over to the window. Jessie and the others were waiting for her.
They gave her the thumbs up.
Perfect.
They were all out of the window and on the ground in seconds. “Head to the garage. Good work. Go, get comfortable.” Her kids disappeared from view and she turned to Jessie. “Jed’s sister.”
Jessie nodded and they crept west to the girls’ main dormitory. Jed’s sister’s things were on the bus. She’d been told that her room was being redecorated and that’s why she was in Jessie’s room.
Ursula just hoped Jessie could keep her calm enough to get her to the garage.
Darting kids was risky.
I PEEKED OUT at the stage. The hero was being told to meet his love next to the usual palm tree. There were three kids left with me—Jed, Miroslav, and Miranda. I didn’t know how Renee was going to pull it off but I couldn’t appear anything but calm.
I glanced at Miroslav who made my heartbeat grow heavy and I wandered to him.
“Hands,” I whispered.
He held out his hands. As I suspected, they were a weird blue color.
“Salt, water, now.”
He sm
iled at me. “I was trying to keep it for the performance.”
“Take it now,” I said, squeezing his shoulder. “Better to stall it before it starts.”
The stage door opened and Renee crept in. She resembled a sand sculpture. I headed to her and handed her a towel and once again forced her to drink something.
“Sawyer,” she mumbled. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“That’s my job.” I smiled at her.
“Progress?”
My smile faded. “The usual palm tree.”
Renee closed her eyes for a second. “Oh no. She’ll be telling him that she lied any minute.”
I cocked my head at her.
“You’re not the only one who loves Oscar.” She held out her arm to Jed who still had Miranda attached to him. “You can canoodle on the bus. Move it.”
Jed kissed Miranda and strode over to Renee. He looked all kinds of brave but I could feel how terrified he was for her, his little sister, and himself.
“Keep her safe,” he whispered to me, meeting my eyes.
“Sure thing. It’s easy, right?” I gave my best winning smile. “She just has to look pretty.”
Jed headed off with Renee and I felt a swirl of panic in my stomach. Look pretty . . . Convincing. We had to be real convincing. What a time for a first performance.
Baby steps. Renee had said baby steps.
Chapter 51
THE CLASSROOMS WERE still locked and in darkness. Eerie intermittent flecks of light shimmered and bounced up off the polished floor. Renee handed the mask to Jed at the main door, knowing he was reluctant to leave. One of the oddest things about experiencing Aeron’s gifts for herself was getting a taste of other people’s emotions.
If she hadn’t had respect for Aeron before, she had it in abundance now. Feeling the weight of the nerves, terror, concern and . . . other . . . emotions running through Jed, Renee could hardly find her own feelings.
