Page 58 of Lay It Bare

And without Sevastyan’s will, without the animation of an aware human soul, Ellisandre was going to be truly alone in their domination.

They were going to be walking towards the light, unable to hear his footsteps behind them, like Orpheus and Eurydice. Alone, they were going to try to break open the safe that contained the secret that kept them locked apart.

Hunting Thaddeus Kramer had been a good excuse. Perhaps even a valid one. But an excuse all the same.

They were afraid. Afraid to break him. Afraid to do something unforgivable. Afraid to crack his trust.

Ellisandre

The plane landed on a busy private charter strip. Two rental vehicles waited for them: a moving van with almost no windows and a four-door sedan. Finding out where the agent was—the one who had posted the hit jobs on Sevastyan and Jun— had been easy with the additional information Sevastyan had provided. The agent worked in the city and drove back to his country estate late most evenings. Alice drove the sedan and Ellisandre drove the van. Ash stayed in the van after Ellisandre parked it on a convenient service road half a mile away from their target. Alice picked Ellisandre up in the sedan and they drove away, parking the second car in the trees and walking a mile to the driveway of the agent who’d posted the bounty on Jun’s head. They left several cameras mounted along the road as they went, the feeds going back to the van where Ash was monitoring them. Was it overkill for a mission this simple? Yes. But it was a safe training mission.

Both Ellisandre and Alice wore dark, baggy clothes, masks, and winter hoods. At first glance they blended in with what any sane person would be wearing outside during a cold winter.

Alice shivered a little as they approached the driveway. “So, now what?”

“We disable any cameras that might see us.”

“How? Won’t the cameras see us as we go up to them.”

“Sling shot.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Ellisandre reached into their backpack and pulled one out. “I’m a very good shot.”

“How do you even get to be a good shot with that?

“Lots and lots of anger. And nothing else to do.”

Ellisandre crouched in the bushes beside the road. Alice got down beside them.

“Find the cameras,” Ellisandre directed.

Alice scanned the space. She pointed out the two obvious ones on the gate and gestured towards the agent’s house, which could almost be seen through the trees. The driveway had a tight curve for privacy, putting a heavy stand of pine between itself and the road.

“Don’t worry about those cameras. We won’t show up well enough to matter.”

“Do you think the cameras on the neighbors’ side might see anything?” Alice nodded across the road. Like many rich neighborhoods with large plots of lands, the driveways were staggered so none of them were directly across from each other.

“Probably not, but we should take these two out and then check the angles.” Ellisandre raised the slingshot and pressed a small stone into the leather pocket. One ping, then two, and both cameras were down.

“That’s a lot quieter than a gun,” Alice whispered.

Ellisandre nodded, smirking.

When the cameras were clear, Alice checked in with Ash via her headset. The feeds for the two cameras they’d left behind were up and running, and Ash was utilizing a program that could read the license plates of cars as they passed. With any luck at all, he’d be able to give them one or two minutes’ heads-up.

“You could do this whole thing without us, couldn’t you?” Alice asked, crouched down beside Ellisandre in the dark.

“I could.”

Alice laughed a little. “So this is another training thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Ellisandre turned to look at Alice fully. The young woman’s face was mostly covered, but her eyes were visible and soft with honesty in the moonlight filtering down from above.