Linked by deception, p.24
Linked by Deception, page 24
Rabbit worked his phone, digging up floor plans, security permits, and anything that could help us piece together what we faced in getting Amalia away from Zane. Although Rabbit’s tracking program put her in Zane’s house, it still left us with some serious square footage to hunt through.
Like hunting a mole in a mansion. I choked back a snort of hysterical amusement. Okay, maybe I’m still a little on edge.
Rabbit looked up from his screen and shot me a quizzical look. “You okay?”
Not about to unlock my lips in case my hyena imitation broke free, I waved a hand between us and nodded. Since I was no longer worried about escaping a pissed-off egomaniac, my coursing adrenaline left me a little shaky. Get your shit together, girl, and focus.
Rabbit held my gaze, worry moving through his eyes. With a couple of deep breaths, I managed to curb my crazy. “I’m good.”
It took a few beats for him to believe me and resume his search. We were closing in on the neighborhood when Rabbit said, “Looks like we might have a small break.”
In the front passenger seat, Wolf turned so he could see us. “How small?”
Rabbit continued to work on his phone. “There’s this neighborhood app where people share all sorts of shit—sales, suspicious activity, complaints about barking dogs. Looks like there’s a house a couple doors down from Zane’s that’s been recently reacquired by the bank, thanks to a nasty divorce. It’s got some of the neighbors worried it’ll be picked up by investors looking to flip the property.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “They’re worried about the flip dropping property values.”
“Sure sounds like it,” Rabbit answered.
I caught Ricochet’s grimace as he slowed to turn right. “No price tag is worth nosy neighbors.”
“Based on the property lines in the city’s planning office, it backs onto Zane’s property.” Rabbit kept working, the screen flickering so fast I didn’t even bother to try to follow along. “It’s a damn good in if we don’t want to invite unwanted attention.” He looked at me. “What do you think? Can you get us in?”
Since using the code Zane had given us to get through the neighborhood gate was out, I knew he meant something more devious. “You want me to convince the guard at the gate we’re just a bunch of interested investors?”
He nodded. “Looks like the property is set to go to auction next week, which gives weight to potential bidders doing drive-bys.”
I thought it through. Working with four faces and the car would be tricky, but limiting the illusion to a single individual, especially one who was bored with the monotony of the job, might work in our favor. Crafting the illusion wouldn’t be hard. The challenge would be finding the initial thread to weave the illusion into the guard’s perception so that he believed it.
“I can do it, but whether or not the guard buys it…” I shrugged. “If he’s hypervigilant, it’ll make getting past his natural wariness tricky.”
“What if we work together?” That unexpected question came from Wolf.
I shifted so I could see his face, not surprised to find there wasn’t much to read. As a telepath, Wolf had some serious personal lines about using his ability to manipulate others. His lines were harder and closer than mine, but the fact that he’d asked meant he, too, felt the urgency of the situation.
“You sure you’re up for that?” I asked.
He regarded me with his sea-green eyes. “Do we have any other option that doesn’t have us storming the gates?”
We both turned to Rabbit, who shook his head. “If we had more time, maybe, but with the limited information and window of opportunity, this is our best bet.”
Wolf ran a hand over the back of his neck then looked back at me. “Then yeah, I’m sure. If you run into pushback, I can step in.”
I didn’t miss the reluctance in his voice and decided that if I could pull this off without him, I would. I got the whole anything-for-the-mission mentality, but I wasn’t keen on hurting my family. Asking this of Wolf would be doing just that. “How about I’ll signal if I think it’s not working?”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and the guard will be on lunch,” Ricochet said.
I wished I shared his optimism, but considering how things were going, that was difficult. “How far out are we?”
Ricochet glanced at the phone on the dash. “ETA is three minutes, thirty.”
“You do the talking,” I told Ricochet because I wanted to make sure the illusion didn’t waver.
Building the image wasn’t hard. Working with Ricochet, Wolf, and Rabbit to turn them into the expected casual businessmen and contractors was easy. I, on the other hand, required a little more work, thanks to my ragged appearance, but by the time the car turned into the neighborhood, I had the image set.
Using my ability created a buzz in my head that only I could hear. If I had to try to describe it, I would say it was like being a virtual filmmaker, but instead of actual film, I used ribbons of images. The funny thing about the human brain was that it wasn’t a fan of inconsistencies. Once I threaded one of my ribbons through someone’s mind and created the illusion’s basic framework, the person’s memories and perceptions would rush in to fill in the details. Luckily for me, the brain provided the finer details, stitching each illusionary ribbon into a cohesive fabric, adding depth and believability until it resembled a true memory. The only way I knew an illusion had taken root was the sudden disappearance of the buzzing sound.
Ricochet slowed as we approached the gate. The guard stepped out of his shack, and we came to a stop next to him. I sat in the back seat, keeping my face averted as I carefully unfurled the first illusionary ribbon. I wound it around the guard, letting it settle over him like a blanket, soft and barely there. I found my psychic way in when the guard studied the car, slowly shifting his perception of our vehicle from an average dusty rental to a dark-colored luxury sedan with tinted windows.
The guard stepped closer, and Ricochet’s window went down. “Morning,” Ricochet said casually.
“Morning, sir.” The guard kept his distance, but his attention moved to the car’s occupants.
I spun another ribbon as the guard nodded at Wolf and Ricochet, completely ignoring Rabbit and me in the back seat. I kept up the psychic pressure until the guard saw Ricochet as a lean Hispanic man in a collared shirt and Wolf as a beefy contractor. As the weave settled, I could feel the instinctive click as the illusion caught and became the guard’s reality.
I lifted my lashes and made a short negative motion with my head, letting Wolf know his help wasn’t necessary. The guard wasn’t expecting trouble, and when Ricochet explained that they were there to check out the house going up for auction, the man bought it. He stepped back into his shack and began to make notes on his clipboard. As we drove through, I held the illusion in place, subtly keeping his attention on his paperwork and not on the car passing through.
Only after Ricochet went around the curve and out of the guard’s sight did I release my hold on the illusion. I took a couple of deep breaths as the low level of tension eased from my head. A touch on my fist brought me back. I found myself staring into Rabbit’s eyes.
“Jinx?”
I licked my lip, wincing when my tongue hit the sore cut from Alders’s fist. “I’m good.”
He squeezed my hand then gave Ricochet directions to the empty house. There was another locked gate barring the driveway, but Rabbit bypassed the lock in a handful of seconds. Once through, we headed up a drive that ended in a four-car garage. Rabbit slipped out and did his magic, and we drove into the large, well-lit bay.
The door rolled down as Rabbit walked toward us. We exited the car and followed Rabbit to the side door. In less than a minute, the alarm system was disabled, and we were inside. Because the house was set back from the road and the windows were veiled with custom blinds and shutters, we had free range of the interior.
We didn’t go far. We stopped at the oversized island in the kitchen and got to work. First up was figuring out how to find Amalia without clueing Zane or his security in to the fact that we were there. Wolf offered his ability as a solution, volunteering to scan Zane’s house for mental signatures.
“You sure it’s not too far?” Ricochet asked.
“It’s a stretch but should be doable.” Wolf went to the expanse of windows at the back of the house, which looked out on a yard that stretched into a mock forest that blocked any view of Zane’s house. Without turning around, he asked, “You have any idea what kind of staff he has on hand?”
“My impression was it was just Zane and his buddy, John.” I looked to Rabbit for his take.
“Same,” he agreed.
“Right, then. So if I pick up a female, chances are it’s her.” Wolf didn’t wait for a response but settled on the tile floor, legs folded Indian style, as he closed his eyes and did his thing.
Ricochet, Rabbit, and I kept our voices low and continued to plan as Wolf worked his angle. Zane’s security system was complex and challenging, even for Rabbit. Rabbit confirmed that what was listed on file did not match what he could sense.
“Any way to hack our way into his security feed?” I asked. We needed eyes on the interior, but the security was a closed system, which meant Rabbit would have to get up close and personal with it on-site.
“Not until we’re inside.” Rabbit pulled up another screen, a frown creasing his forehead. “Paranoid bastard doesn’t even do remote backups.”
“Can you override it?” Ricochet asked.
“Yeah,” Rabbit muttered. “But again, I’d have to be inside, and I’ve got a feeling it’s trickier than it appears.”
“Got her.” Wolf’s raspy voice cut through our discussion.
We all turned to see him still sitting on the floor. His head was cocked as if he was listening to something. We waited, knowing there would be more.
“She’s on the south side of the house. I think Zane’s got her locked down.” His jaw tightened, and his hand on his thigh curled into a fist. “I keep losing her.”
There were reasons a telepath wouldn’t be able to connect. One of those was because the person he was trying to reach wasn’t conscious. I tried not to think about what that might mean.
I shared a look with Ricochet and Rabbit. “I guess Zane decided not to trust Amalia.”
Rabbit’s face darkened, and he went back to his phone, flipping through screens until he found what he wanted. He set the phone between us. Floor plans stretched across the screen. “South side of the house.” He turned to Wolf. “Upstairs or down?”
Wolf was silent, but the muscles along his neck were visibly tight. “No windows. She thinks basement level.”
Rabbit shifted the image on the phone. “Basement’s showing a theater room, nothing else.”
I used my phone to pull up the initial floor plans Rabbit had found, trying to compare them to whatever set he was looking at. I set my phone next to his. We all bent over the two phones.
It was Ricochet who saw the discrepancies first. “Measurements don’t match here.” He shifted Rabbit’s phone, pointing out the differences between the theater room and what was labeled as workspace. “I take it these”—he tapped Rabbit’s phone—“are from a recent renovation.”
Rabbit nodded as he studied the layouts. “Safe room?”
“Most likely,” I agreed. “Especially since they’d make sure not to note that on the plans.”
“It would make the perfect spot to hold someone without raising suspicions,” Ricochet added.
Maybe, but it would require specific materials, and those would have to leave a trail of some sort. “That kind of specialized construction is hard to keep off the record,” I said.
Wolf cut into the conversation. “Amalia says the door’s thick, probably metal, and heavy.” Lines of strain were spreading across his face.
My hand fisted on the counter. Based on Wolf’s strained expression, we were about to lose our inside connection to Amalia. I turned and met Rabbit’s gaze, seeing the same realization in his expression. The clocking was ticking.
Rabbit rubbed a hand over his neck. “We don’ have time to run down the details.”
“And it’s not the only possibility we have.” I went back to the property map. “Amalia said no windows, and I’m counting at least two more possibilities here.” I zoomed in on one of the two exterior structures behind the house. “Looks like a pool house and maybe a guest house? Either way, she might be in one of those.”
“We’ll have to split up,” Wolf said, joining us at the island.
I gave him a questioning look, which he answered with a short headshake. My gut tightened. He’d lost his connection with Amalia. Maybe it was the distance, or maybe it was her losing consciousness. Either way, it sucked.
“Two teams of two,” Ricochet said. “Rabbit and Jinx, you’ve been inside before—you take the house. Start at the basement and make your way up. We’ll join you as soon as we clear the other structures.”
After a round of nods, we did a weapons and ammunition check. The results weren’t pretty, but it was better than nothing. When we were all ready, Ricochet stood with his hand on the knob, looked over his shoulder, and said, “Quiet and quick.”
With that, we slipped out the back door and made our way across the expansive backyard. It didn’t take us long to cross onto Zane’s property. Despite the terrain’s wild appearance, we made our way through it quickly. Rabbit held up his hand, signaling us to hold, his focus on the house.
We stopped just inside the shaded area of the tree line, taking in the immaculate landscaping that left Zane’s backyard fairly exposed. Green grass rolled between clusters of flowering shrubs and majestic trees. Hefty but elegant deck furniture sat around the pool that stretched between the two structures that Ricochet and Wolf would have to clear. What was left was an obstacle course of planters and greenery for Rabbit and me to navigate before getting into the house.
We waited for Rabbit’s assessment. A minute ticked by. Then he had us move back into the coverage of the trees. We huddled together, and Rabbit shared a quick recap of the security. Cameras were strategically placed around the exterior, and even more electronic signals echoed from the interior. It was a decent setup, but the cameras were nowhere near as prevalent as expected, which left me uneasy.
Something in my expression must have revealed my worry, because Rabbit asked me, “What?”
I managed an uncomfortable shrug. “Considering what happens inside those walls, that kind of setup seems a little simplistic.”
He grimaced. “Sometimes simple is better. The more complex a system is, the easier it is to exploit.”
That idea didn’t offer much by way of reassurance, but then again, nothing in this situation would. If we hadn’t needed to get Amalia free and clear of Zane, none of us would have even considered taking this risk.
We spent a few more minutes finalizing our strategy before splitting apart to start the search. Rabbit and I waited until Wolf and Ricochet disappeared behind the building on the left before making our approach to the house. I followed Rabbit around the back and along the side of the house. Our goal was a little-used access door hidden behind a thick climbing shrub. With Rabbit keeping a psychic finger on the exterior cameras, we made our approach in short bursts of movement to coincide with the brief blind spots he was able to create.
In the protective screen of the hedge, I crouched by the door, a pick set in hand, while Rabbit stood guard and interfered with the camera feed. At his signal, I got to work mentally counting down the twenty seconds we had to get inside. My lock-picking skills were a little rusty, but I heard the last snick of a tumbler falling into place at the sixteen-second mark.
I tucked Ricochet’s pick set back into the lone zippered pocket of my yoga pants and reached up to grasp the doorknob. I touched Rabbit’s leg, got his nod, then twisted the handle and inched the door open. When there was enough space, I rose and slipped inside with Rabbit on my ass. He carefully closed the door, locking us inside, out of camera range. My nose twitched at the overpowering scents of laundry soap and softener. I pinched the bridge of my nose and successfully fought back the urge to sneeze. It didn’t keep my eyes from watering, though.
Rabbit moved around me, taking the lead. After wiping my eyes clear, I followed at his six, ears trained, eyes constantly scanning for threats. As we made our way through the quiet house, a thread of unease wove through me, leaving me on edge. The interior hush wasn’t an easy quiet. A tension rode the air—one that might be more in my mind than in reality, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. I tried to take comfort in the fact that if we were being watched, Rabbit would know. Since he kept moving forward, it had to just be me.
We made it to a set of stairs hidden on the back side of the kitchen without incident. Rabbit slowly opened the door, and I sent up a prayer that it wouldn’t squeak and give away our presence. It swung open without a peep, and we slipped inside to huddle at the top landing as Rabbit carefully pulled the door closed behind us. The landing wasn’t dark but dim. Natural light from below drifted up.
Staring down the stairs, unease riding my spine, I tapped Rabbit’s shoulder, getting his attention. When he turned to me, I mouthed, “Eyes?”
He frowned and shook his head. Normally his reassurance would be enough to settle me, but not this time. He closed what little distance existed between us, his body brushing against mine, triggering a reaction so inappropriate to our situation that I shivered with a mix of adrenaline and apprehension.
He put his lips next to my ear. “What’s wrong?”
His breath fell down my neck as I turned, feeling my temple brush his jaw, and kept my voice equally quiet. “Not sure. Got an itch.”
He drew back, his eyes searching mine, worried. Yeah, he would know that if I felt the need to share, something might be up. “Stay alert.”
I gave him a nod. He led the way down the stairs and paused at the foot. He raised a hand and cocked his head. Standing so close to him, I couldn’t miss the hair-raising wave of energy seeping from him as he began manipulating the interior security, looping its signal and blinding any possible cameras to our movements.
