Pandora sticks her tongue out, as if Asch can see her. “Just keep ‘em distracted. Tell Blaze he can be even more douchey.”
He’s already been pretty douchey, but that’s not a surprise. It’s the only way to survive in a life like this; being a wilting flower would’ve gotten him into a hell of a lot of trouble.
“C’mon,” I tell her, ignoring the comment as I get out of the car. I close the door carefully, scanning our surroundings. There are going to be cameras, of course, but there’s only so much we can do about them.
“In and out, super fast.” Pandora squeezes my arm, then sticks both of her hands into her black hoodie pocket.
She’s wearing all black today, not a single snake design in sight. Her pretty face is covered by the black face mask. She looks so different from usual.
I guess she is taking this alittlebit seriously.
I’m in a similar getup: black hoodie, black jeans, a cap to hide my head and a scarf around my neck to cover at least some of my face.
“Just like when we snuck into Rachel’s place,” Pandora says as she walks toward the back door of the building.
“A little different,” I retort. Because that was easy, and if we’d been caught, we’d only have had the police to contend with. This time, we have the fucking Bouchard syndicate to worry about.
The sooner this is over, the happier I’ll be.
“203,” I remind her. There are no outside stairs leading up to the second floor, which means we’re going to have to go inside and work our way up. Blaze and Asch should be working on some sort of distraction, which means we should be able to get in and out.
I hope.
Pandora stops to pick up a mid-sized rock. She points at the camera by the back door.
“My aim’s better than yours, right?” Pandora says cheekily.
“Be my guest,” I say even though I’m not sure her aim is better at all. Then again, this is Pandora, and there’s no telling what kinds of skills she’s picked up in her lifetime. “We also have the spray paint.”
Pandora throws the rock. I half expect the rock to crash against the brick wall, but she manages to clip the camera and make it tilt to one side. That means we can approach it from the other, and once we’re under it, I use the spray paint to cover the lens.
“So, five to ten minutes for somebody to come investigate?” Pandora suggests. She presses the device Anastasia gave her against the electronic lock. I have no idea how it works, but after a few seconds, the door beeps and clicks.
I push it open quickly before it can re-lock—and before somebody does come out to investigate.
“Probably so,” I say. “And if we keep covering the cameras, they won’t know where to start to look.”
My heart hammers in my chest, anxiety making everything seem more immediate, and I let Pandora step inside ahead of me before carefully closing the door behind me. I glance in the direction of the stairwell, gesturing to it.
“There,” I murmur almost inaudibly, starting in that direction.
Pandora nods and starts climbing stairs, two at a time.
“Hold on, Samantha. We’re coming,” Pandora whispers under her breath, audible only to us with the ear pieces.
I’m on Pandora’s heels, making sure she doesn’t get too far ahead of me. There’s one camera in the stairwell, and eventhough it doesn’t help to cover it once we’ve already gotten so close, it’ll help shroud when we get out.
I take the second to paint over it, then we’re at the top of the stairs.
Again, Pandora uses that device to override the electronic lock, and I follow her into the hallway. My mouth is dry, and I wordlessly guide her in the direction of the room we know Samantha is in.
We must be on the complete opposite side of the building as Blaze and Asch, because I’m staring at room 235.
“Oh, I heard good things about Asian chicks. Do you have any of those?” Blaze asks, quieter than when he’d been wearing the ear piece himself.
Pandora’s shoulders visibly tense. “Really, Blaze? Really?”
I shake my head. “Not right now,” I murmur. We’ve already figured out that he can’t hear us anyway; he had to have given his earpiece to Samantha. Which means she’s listening to every single asshole thing Blaze is saying, and she’s getting more and more information about this whole thing.
