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“The convenience store had two ways in that I could see,” I continued. “There was the front entrance and then a back alley. The back alley came to a dead end behind the store, so there’s only one way in and out of the alley: a side road right next to the store.”
“So if we sit in front, we should be able to see anyone who goes in and out of the place, because even those going to the back alley have to drive basically to the front of the store,” Aria deduced.
“Exactly,” I said, grateful in more ways than one to have Aria back. I might have felt protective of her, but I also knew she’d do her job well. She’d trained nearly half her life for this. Plus she was smart. The combination of brains and training made her essential to our team.
“We’re just a few streets away now,” I said for Ella’s and Aria’s benefit, since they hadn’t been with us the first time.
“So are the streets as busy there as they are here?” Aria asked, examining the car-lined streets and sidewalks full of people.
Shoot. She was right. She didn’t even have to voice her concern. How was a car full of women supposed to go unnoticed? It was one thing for us to hang out in some suburban neighborhood with just a nosy neighbor or two to worry about, but here we’d be passed by hundreds if not more people, depending on how long we had to wait for Mr. Detraux.
“We’ll have to do our best to blend in. Surely it’s normal for a group of women to be waiting on someone,” Ella said as she also scanned the busy streets. “And with the weather being cooler today, people won’t be hanging out near us. They’ll be huddled up inside and if they do pass us they’ll be moving quickly. They won’t be standing around, wondering why we aren’t moving from our spot.”
She was right about that.
“I think it’s fine for us to be noticed. We just don’t want to be remembered. So no sticking out. Maybe put a bag over your head, Nadia. You have the kind of face people remember,” Ella continued, a smile on her lips.
“Ha ha. But you’re right. I’m way too attractive to be hanging out with you all. I’ll make sure to keep my face down most of the time,” Nadia teased right back.
The car erupted in laughter. I freaking loved these women.
“Should we park in the alleyway?” Aria asked as the convenience store came into view.Joe’s Convenience Mart.Pretty sure that name took all of ten seconds to come up with. Except, who was Joe? Maybe the name was more clever than it seemed.
“I think we’ll stick out more if we’re the only ones parked there and Mr. Detraux does come by,” I said.
Aria nodded and I assumed the girls in the back did the same since I didn’t hear any contradiction.
I pulled into the one open spot along the street. It was actually a pretty good position: it was out of the direct view of the store windows but gave us a pretty good line of sight to the door. The one downside was that it was a little hard to see who was going in and out of the alleyway. I had a feeling Detraux would take the back way in, so I would want to move up a spot or two if one opened.
“We should do a quick surveillance inside, just to make sure Detraux isn’t here yet and to get a look around the store. We need to be prepared in case we have to go in to confront Detraux,” Aria said, unbuckling her belt.
Oh no she didn’t.
“Right. And I should do that,” I said, snapping open my own belt. “I’ve been here before.”
“Meaning you might get made. I can snap a few pictures just as well as you can, Shai. And I really doubt prior knowledge of a convenience store’s layout is necessary,” Aria said, raising a brow in challenge. She was right and she knew it.
“I’ll go with her,” Ella said before I could insist on accompanying Aria. She had to know it was what I wanted to do, but she also knew my face could potentially put both of us in danger. I doubted Jasper would remember me, but who knew? Ella was right. She should be Aria’s second, even though it killed me just to sit there.
“Fine, but . . . ” I bit back my next words. They knew to be careful.
“I’m taking a few pictures. Even tweens manage to do that all the time,” Aria said with a wink and then they were gone.
Nadia had stayed uncharacteristically quiet for the entirety of that conversation.
I turned to look at the last member of the team.
“I did the right thing, didn’t I?” I asked, chewing my lip.
“It was the only thing you could do. We had to let Aria back out there. And this seems as tame a job as any,” Nadia said as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket.
She was right. They were all right. And yet it didn’t sit well with me.
My leg bounced as I waited.
“If you keep doing that we’ll draw the exact kind of attention we’re trying to avoid,” Nadia warned. “You’re making the whole car shake.” She didn’t even look up from her phone as she spoke to me.
My face flushed. I was usually so much better at my job than this. Aria, Nadia, and Ella all seemed to go right back to normal. I could, too.
