Page 41 of Black Hearts

I nodded. He was right. With anything that happened to go our way in terms of luck, we had to grab onto it and milk it as hard as possible. It might be the only piece of luck we got all evening.

Alex started the car and began to cruise along the fence line, keeping the headlights on high beam. “You’ll have to get down soon,” he muttered as we drew closer to the side of the house.

I could see well-dressed guests arriving and heading inside via the main front entrance. Mostly men, but a few women were within their ranks. There were guards everywhere too, but no one gave a second glance to the car, assuming it was Blaine on patrol. I hunched over just in case.

Alex crossed the end of the driveway a few minutes later, slowly drove along the track that ran parallel to the front fence, then started on the right side. Ten minutes later, he stopped the car about a third of the way up the fence line and dimmed the lights before lifting the radio to his mouth again.

“Another few branches fell over here on the east fence. Don’t think they set anything off, but I’m gonna take them down just in case,” he said to explain why the car was stopped again, in case anyone noticed and wondered.

“Got it,” came the faint voice from the other end. “Christ, this weather.”

Alex and I got out of the car. He grabbed the hiking backpack and slung it onto his back, and we crept toward the back gardens of the mansion. There were plenty of trees along the way for us to duck behind on the off chance any of the guards happened to move and come out here, but none of them did.

Ten minutes later, we were approaching the back of the walled garden. On the other side lay the greenhouse.

“Shit,” Alex suddenly murmured, holding one arm out beside him, across my chest. He gently pushed me behind a thick bush, then ducked down beside me. “Looks like Blaine was either wrong or lying. There’s a guard walking around the wall.”

I squinted out from behind the bush. He was right. A guard must’ve recently been told to come and guard this wall; he’d walked up to the area and was now standing still, looking bored as he gazed around. He hadn’t spotted us or heard our movements, thank god. “What do we do?” I whispered.

Alex put the bag down. “Easy. We get rid of him. No cameras around this part, remember?”

He grabbed a few things from the bag—mostly weapons—and then we crept as close as we could to the back wall of the garden without alerting the guard newly posted there. “Stay here,” Alex murmured as we reached an arborvitae hedge and crouched behind it. We were only a few yards away now.

Alex picked up a rock and tossed it toward the wall, aiming for an area a few feet right of the guard. It landed in the snow with a heavy clump. The guard reflexively whirled round to his left to see what the sound was, and Alex crept up from the other direction.

Before the guard had a chance to register what was happening and call for backup, Alex plunged a sharp blade into the side of his neck and covered his mouth and nose with his free hand. He slumped against the wall, slowly sliding down. The only sound was a grim gurgling as he bled out on the snow.

Alex motioned for me to approach. I dashed toward him. The guard’s eyes were glazed over now; he was dead already.

“Are you ready?” Alex asked, pulling a small hypodermic needle out of his jacket pocket.

I nodded and took it, sliding it in one of my own pants pockets. “Give me a boost?”

“Of course.”

He helped me over the wall, then climbed over himself. Fumbling with Blaine’s keys, he finally located the one for the greenhouse’s back door. Before he opened it, he turned to me. “You remember where to go?”

I nodded. “Security room is by the staircase on the very left, past the library.”

“Good girl.” He squeezed my hand hard. “Sure you can do this?”

“Yes.”

“That’s my girl. If anything happens and I think you’re in trouble, I’ll come in and we’ll improvise something.”

“I’ll be okay,” I whispered. I smoothed down my hair, then nodded toward the door. “I’m ready. I promise.”

Alex gave me a long look. I stared back at him, my eyes wide, and then we both leaned forward at the same time, melting into each other as we kissed. Neither of us said it, but we both wondered if it was our last time. Anything could go wrong, especially for Alex.

“I love you.” My voice was a hoarse whisper as I broke away.

“I love you too.” Alex pushed the door open, and before I stepped inside the greenhouse, I gave him one last look.

Then the door closed behind me, and I haltingly walked through the dim building, heading toward the door on the other end that would take me into the mansion proper.

“Can you hear me?” Alex asked through my earpiece.

“Yes,” I said. “You?”

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