Page 82 of The Devil We Know

“Yeah,” Dare says. “I want my last thought to be some variation of ‘well, fuck’.”

“I think no matter which way we cut it, that’s pretty likely.”

Tony says lightly, “But we had fun, didn’t we?”

I smile. “We sure did.”

35

A Criminal Strategy

Jessica

Matt is going tobe pissed when he realizes I came back.

They all tried to dissuade me; for a moment, they even tried to forbid it, but when I used the argument that I have just as much right to be here as they do, they were kind of left without anything left to say.

It’s slightly confusing to have most people looking like someone else, but then to have a new person looking like Antoinette is a mindfuck. It is amazingly creepy how similar shemanaged to make herself. And then how easily she’s picked up her mannerisms and speech pattern is just outright insane.

I also kind of want her to do me next, but that’s a whole different story.

It’s surprisingly easy to gain access to the facility. Given what’s happened the last few days, I would think they would’ve doubled up on security. Since there’s a small chance this oversight was intentional and we’re walking into a trap, we have Camilla go in first, using Antoinette’s face as a decoy to draw attention from our actual mission.

Kaian had returned to the facility the day before, and we managed to locate him per the instructions he had left with us.

This time, Antoinette, Carolina, and Lilith have all been given new faces. We decided to have me remain as myself since I can be a distraction if somebody comes upon us before we want them to.

Camilla goes in under the guise of Antoinette sheerly for the purpose of potentially fucking with people, which she truly enjoys.

And again, Matt is going to be pissed.

Lilith recruited Agatha, Anton, and their crew of miscreants to handle the explosives with strict instructions to eliminate anyone and everyone they come across in the process.

We have somewhat of a wide window between our entry into the building and when it’s going to go up, but we know we have no time to waste.

Kaian leads us through the maze of hallways until we’re standing outside a large door. He points at it with his thumb and says, “This is where they’re being held. They’re each being kept separately in a locked metal cage. One of the assholes in there will have the key on him, but I’m not sure who.”

Antoinette presses her ear against the door, then turns back to Kaian and says, “It sounds like there’s a lot of people in there?”

“Yes,” he replies. “I had no way to figure out the exact timing, and our timing right now is not good.”

A loud curse sounds through the door, and Antoinette frowns. Her hand comes out, and she rests her palm against it as she says, “That sounds like Tony.”

“They’re probably playing with them,” Lilith replies blandly.

Kaian nods and says, “Yeah, I think Matt’s next.”

Carolina huffs, “I am not at all used to this flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants shit. Zero out of ten. Do not recommend.”

Lilith shrugs and replies, “By the time you reach my age, you realize that you spend half your time making plans that are not going to work out and then the other half of the time figuring out how you’re going to make flying by the seat of your pants work for you.”

Antoinette smiles as she replies, “That’s why we brought all these guns.”

Footsteps sound on both ends of the hallway, and we freeze. A group of men comes around the corner, and Kaian steps into me, wrapping a hand around my throat and pushing me up against the wall, saying, “Where the fuck have you been?”

My first instinct is to attempt to knee him in the balls, but I do my best to control myself, knowing this was part of the plan if we were caught. A blond man who was leading the other group of men takes another step forward as he says, “That Killeen’s daughter?”

Kaian turns his eyes to him and nods. “Sure the fuck is. Can’t imagine what she thinks she’s doing.”

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