Page 40 of Black Hearts

13

Celeste

I stareddown at the dark blood trickling onto the snow, lit by the dim moon peering out from behind a storm cloud. I felt nothing for Blaine.

He got what he deserved.

Alex stripped him of his thick belt and beanie before putting them on himself and sliding the keys, radio, and gun into the belt. He was already wearing black pants, shoes and jacket, so from a distance and with the beanie pulled down low, anyone would think he was just another guard when he reached the house.

“Get in,” he said, nodding toward the car.

I did as he commanded, sitting on the passenger side. I watched him toss the stepladder back over the fence and dump his backpack in the back seat. Then he joined me in the front.

I slid out of my long jacket to reveal the long-sleeved white silk shirt and black pants I wore beneath it. Around my neck was a thick black plastic collar. We bought this one because it looked similar to the ones the maids and kids in the mansion wore.

In the same place where the flashing light was on the other collars, Alex had stuck a minuscule GoPro camera to it and rigged it so that it was linked with the internet connection he had on his phone. That way I would be transmitting constant video footage to him.

When the tiny camera was working, it flashed with a yellow light at the bottom, so at first glance it would just look like I was wearing the same tracking collar as anyone else.

Alex looked down at his phone. “Seems to be working,” he said softly. “Let’s get the earpiece in.”

He tucked the blonde wig back on my left side and put a tiny black wireless bud in my ear. With the hair down, no one would see it. “That should stay in pretty firmly,” he said. “And we already know this works.”

He gestured to the inside of the collar, behind the camera. There was a tiny mic there, smaller than my little fingernail. We’d tested it back at the motel the other day. I would have to be careful when and where I did it, but if I spoke loudly enough, Alex would be able to pick up whatever I said from his own earbud, which communicated with my device via Bluetooth. The only thing that would stop it from working was if we moved too far out of each other’s range.

“Is my makeup okay?” I asked.

He nodded. “You look like a different girl. The purple shadow was a good touch.”

“Thanks.” In order to look more like a beaten-down mansion maid, I’d brushed on some dark shadows under my eyes after learning the technique from an online stage makeup tutorial. A sick lesson, but one which was necessary.

The radio suddenly chirped. “Hey, Blaine. You sort the fence out?”

Alex cleared his throat. “Yeah, just got the branch down,” he said, affecting a slightly higher tone to sound like the now-dead guard. “I’m about to get back on route now.”

“Good. Could’ve caught fire and damaged the fence at some point after the rain.”

“That’s what I… figured would... so I….” Alex ground out a broken sentence, pressing the radio button on and off multiple times as he spoke.

“You’re breaking up, man.”

“It’s these goddamn radios,” Alex said. “Can you hear me now?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve been having issues on all the channels. And not just me. Some of the other guys couldn’t contact each other for a while earlier. I think it’s this fucking weather messing up the signal.”

“Probably. You do sound a bit weird, even when you aren’t breaking up.”

“You should let everyone else know about the issues, so they don’t panic in case they can’t immediately reach someone. I would, but I gotta get back to my patrol.”

“Sure, man, I’ll do that. Talk later.”

Alex put the radio back in his belt and stuck the key in the ignition.

“Good idea,” I said admiringly. “Now when they can’t reach other while you’re going around sniping them, they won’t immediately realize something is happening. They’ll think it’s just the crappy weather.”

He winked. “Exactly. It wasn’t supposed to rain tonight, but it is, so we may as well use it to our advantage.”

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