Don’t let it be a headshot or directly to the heart.
He also hoped she didn’t start considering him more trouble than he was worth and leave him to die or rot in a cell.
You get one phone call. The Alliance will bail you out.
See, there’s always a bright side to possible future felonies; he decided as they started toward the blue house with its overflowing window boxes and cheery exterior.
He hated how happy it looked.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
“What if noone’s home and I have to go in there?” Asher asked as they walked through the woods toward the back of the house. “What are you going to do? Hang around outside and wait for me to come back?”
“I don’t know,” Brie said as she studied their surroundings.
The woods were still thick where they were, but they would soon be spotted if someone was looking out their back window. She hated how exposed they were. If she stayed behind the house while Asher went in, someone could see her, but if she retreated to the woods, she’d draw attention that way too.
“All the kids are still in the cul-de-sac, and three moms are speed walking down the road,” she said.
Asher had already spotted the moms with their arms swinging as they talked and walked. Somewhere down the street, a truck beeped as it backed up, but the day remained peaceful for the most part.
He still didn’t like this. He glanced over at Brie as protective instincts told him to get her out of here before it all blew up in their faces. There were far too many opportunities for the humans to see them.
They should leave now and figure out a better plan, but he didn’t know what it could be. If the humans had an alarm system, it would be armed if they came back tonight.
“They won’t be able to see us if we position ourselves behind the house,” Brie said. “If we can get up against the house, we’ll be good if no one’s home. And if someone is home….”
“We’ll be better positioned to get inside and get the stone.”
“Yes.”
Brie glanced nervously around. Shehatedthis place and all the possibilities. There were too many windows facing them, too many possible eyes watching as they approached the houses, too much uncertainty.
The windows in both houses facing them were dark, but she imagined eyes brushing against her skin, watching her every move, and whispers gathering as panic grew within the homes. And those were only the human eyes; what about the lenses that would soon pick them up?
Shaking herself free of her overactive imagination, she studied the homes but saw no movement in them. It was so subdued that it felt like they were in an entirely different world from when they drove down the busy street.
“What if someone sees us approaching and calls the cops before we get to the house?” he asked.
“That’s a chance we’re going to have to take. We can’t come back tonight when they’ll most likely have an alarm set and be more prepared to activate it when someone knocks on their door.”
“They could have an alarm set now.”
“Maybe,” Brie murmured as she bit her bottom lip and contemplated this. “But I doubt it when all their kids are running around. They wouldn’t expect them to keep setting and resetting it. The kids would forget to turn it off, and they’d have the cops here ten times a day.”
“Probably,” Asher agreed, but he was still fighting with himself not to drag her away. She would never allow it to happen, and the two of them fighting would only attract more attention. Plus, he was trying to earn her trust, but he didnotlike this. “But what if they don’t have a kid?”
Brie stopped walking and planted her hands on her hips to glare at him. “Do you have any better suggestions?”
“No, I’m telling you all the different possibilities. This could all go really bad, and we should be prepared for it.”
“I’m prepared.”
Asher stopped when they arrived at the back of the blue house. “So, what do you think? Just stroll on up there like we own the place?”
“I can’t think of any better way to approach it,” Brie said. “Maybe if a neighbor sees us, they’ll think we’re workers or something.”
Asher glanced down at his ruined clothes before looking at her and her nice, clean outfit. “So… I’m the handyman, and you’re the saleswoman? Is there a hammer in your duffel bag?”
