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The bad news was the door had a keypad lock, with nothing for me to pick. The good news was, that kind of thing was a snap for Henner. He just passed his hand over the numbers, and the door clicked open for us.
I didn’t have time to tell him just how swell I thought he was. We dove inside, and Henner eased the door shut just as the far door down at the end of the hall opened and two fellas stepped out.
The room we were now in was dark, except for the faint light of a computer’s screen saver. Some kind of office, if you could call it that. More like a closet with a desk wedged into it. Henner and I barely fit, all squished between the edge of the desk and the door. We huddled there, pressed against the door, straining to listen as the footsteps approached. I didn’t even dare to breathe, and my lungs started to ache from the pressure.
The people passing didn’t seem to be in any kind of a hurry, and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Maybe it was good, because I figured they’d be running if they thought someone had snuck in. But maybe it was bad, because they knew they had us trapped, that there was no way out of the little room we were in, and they had all the time in the world to mosey on up to us, letting every footstep ring out like a nail on the proverbial coffin.
My head was pressed against Henner’s chest, and the thump of his heart was the only thing keeping me from panicking. Cain hovered nearby, opening and closing his fists like he was going to take a swing at anyone who came through the door, which would have been sweet if he didn’t need my fists to do it.
I closed my eyes, trying to think up some kind of story that would convince whoever was out there that we were harmless. Maybe I could pull Henner’s head down and smooch him—make it look like we were just two eager lovers trying to find us a bit of privacy. That always seemed to do it in the movies. Or maybe Henner could make it seem like the door malfunctioned and locked us in while we were looking for the lady’s room.
I tossed idea after idea into my mental trash can as the footsteps pulled even with the door. How long was the stupid hallway, anyway? How could it take so long for two mooks to walk down it when it had seemed so short before? A drop of sweat beaded and ran down the back of my neck, feeling like someone dragging an ice cube over my skin.
My heart raced, my lungs begged for air, and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the beeps of the code being entered—waiting for the sounds that meant we were sunk. I gripped my heels a little too tight, wondering if I’d be able to clobber anyone coming through the door with three-inch open-toed shoes.
The footsteps kept going, though. Just passed us right on by. Somewhere, I heard a door open and close, and everything was quiet again.
I could hardly believe it. One eye squinted open, and I lifted my head off Henner’s chest to turn and watch the door like it was a snake that might still bite me.
Cain stuck his head through the door, his form wavering like a heat mirage in the desert.It’s clear. You can stop hugging now.
I jumped back, embarrassed. I wasn’t the kind of dame to hide behind a fella like that, clinging to him like some dumb Dora. It did make me feel better that Henner had been holding me just as tight as I’d been hanging onto him. And he hadn’t pushed me away. In fact, even after I stepped back, it took a second for his hand to slide away from my waist.
The sheer cloth of my top turned the touch into an almost all over caress, and I had to get a grip on myself.
Pressed up in the dark against a gorgeous fella, with imminent danger outside and the threat of getting caught. Who wouldn’t be a little warm and tingly after that? Being alive again, well, the truth was that I was eager to touch and be touched. Sometimes I felt like I was starving for it.
Still, time and place, and this was sadly neither. Though I did let my hands slide down Henner’s chest a little before I straightened my clothes out. By the flash of his teeth, I caught in the dark as he grinned, he didn’t mind all that much.
Cain pointedly cleared his throat, and I shot him a look as I eased the door open. But he was as good as his word, and the hallway was clear.
Reluctantly, I slipped out the door with Henner on my heels. We crept down the hallway as quickly and quietly as we could manage, and made it to the big swinging double doors of the storage room. And that was when everything all turned into horse feathers.
Cain nipped through the door, returning almost as fast with a curse that should have peeled the paint right off the walls.There are four guards in there. All of them are armed, and they don’t look like they’re going anywhere any time soon.
Well, shoot.Is there any way around them? Another door?
Panic tinged my words. We couldn’t just stand out in the hallway forever. Someone would come soon, even if just to start grabbing stuff for the auction. We were sitting ducks out in the open, and I still hadn’t come up with a good excuse for us to be hanging around back here.
Cain shook his head, his expression grim.There’s a loading door, but you’d have to boost yourself up four feet outside even to reach it. Not to mention it probably sounds like a dozen paint cans going down the stairs when you open it. And there are some things in there other than the crates with the stuff for the auction, but there aren’t good for hiding behind. No way you’re getting in there without being spotted.
I bit my thumb, trying to think. We had to move fast. The longer we stood around, the more likely it was we’d get caught. Cain could come and go as he pleased, but he couldn’t get the idol for us. He wasn’t a poltergeist, and without the rage that goes with it, there wasn’t much he could do to affect the material world.
Not that I ever wanted Cain to go poltergeist on me. Seeing what Frank could do was enough for me. Poltergeists were, in a word, terrifying.
Henner had his back pressed against the wall, and he chewed on his lip as he scrolled through his phone. “I could set off the fire alarm? That would clear people out.”
“It would,” I agreed. “But they might take the stuff with them, or go out the back door with it. And when they didn’t find any fire, they’d know for sure that something was up. They might cancel the whole deal.”
Okay, think, Darla. There had to be a way to still pull this off. There were a lot of people counting on me. I couldn’t let the Erepto Clan fall to infighting, and I didn’t want to lose my job. To potentially lose Cain. He might be a grump and a wet blanket, but I was used to having him around. And I didn’t want him to go on to the wherever world. I wanted him to stay right where he was—with me.
“Alright, here’s the plan,” I said, as Cain and Henner leaned in to listen.
“Henner’s going to pop the alarm. Some of the guards will have to help get all the people out. Can’t have them running all over and getting into things, right? Meanwhile, we go in. Cain, you try to overshadow one of the guards. I know, it’s not copacetic, but we’re in trouble here.”
Cain closed his mouth on whatever protest he was about to make, but was still clearly not happy.
“That will even up the odds a bit.” I glanced between them. “Then we bail out the back and make for the car. No theatrics. This is a smash and grab.”
