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“We’ve heard good things about you.”
“Not from Seth, I’ll bet,” I say as I sit down. “So, who are you?”
He’s so familiar, but I can’t place him.
“Victor Hayes,” he introduces, making me blink.
“Victor Hayes? Are you serious?” I try to match his face to something I’ve read or watched about the infamous mercenary. It must be where I remember him from.
“He’s serious,” Seth tells me. “I invited him along on the off chance that I couldn’t talk you out of this insanity.”
“You’re here to help me?” I ask, shocked that Seth would do something like this.
“I owe Seth a favor or two,” Victor admits. “I also make a habit of taking traffickers out.”
“Permanently,” his friend adds.
“No one’s been able to get close to this guy,” I warn him.
“Well, I’m not making any promises,” Victor starts, making Seth cough dramatically. “But I can promise you this, that guy isn’t expecting Victor Hayes. He won’t know what hit him when we’re through.”
“I’m intrigued,” I admit. “I still need coffee, but I’m listening.”
Seth gets up and goes to the counter.
“So, here’s the deal,” Victor starts. “I’ll be going in before you, setting up cameras and getting a little surprise ready to set off the fire alarms and force everyone to leave the building. At exactly five minutes past twelve, you need to tell everyone you’re going out to lunch, but you actually need to go up to the sixth floor and hide in the men’s bathroom.”
“Why the men’s bathroom on the sixth floor?”
“There are no men on the sixth floor, so no one’s ever in there. You’re just hiding someplace that a fire marshal won’t bother checking while they’re clearing the building.”
Makes sense. I’m on board so far.
“So, as soon as I get the all-clear, I head for the elevator to the top floor?”
He shakes his head. “The elevators stop working when the fire alarms are triggered. There’s a staircase next to the elevator. I’ll pick the locks once the way is clear, and we can take a look around that office together. We’ll have about twenty minutes before they realize it’s a false alarm and start letting everyone back inside the building. We need to be out of that office before then, and preferably out of the building entirely.”
“What if we don’t find the jar?”
He looks at his friend, and back at me.
“We’re here to make sure you get in and out of that building alive. Whether or not we find the evidence you’re looking for is up to fate.”
It’s a real plan, with a guy who’s succeeded in a lot of rescue missions.
I’m safer than I would have been on my own, and I have an extra pair of hands to help me search that office. My day’s off to a better start than I would have guessed when I first saw Seth in the alley.
He puts a coffee down in front of me, and I smile.
“Thanks,” I tell him.
“Just do me a favor and leave the building with Victor when he says it’s time to go, okay?”
“Of course.”
Like I’d ever ignore Victor Hayes when he’s telling me we need to leave.
The guy’s a legend. He knows what he’s doing.
