“I can’t hear a damn thing,” Farrow called even as she came stalking out of the bathroom, frowning at the malfunctioning earpiece.
Evan walked over to her, taking the device in his talented hands. “Hum…” he mused.
“Ev, can you get it to work? We have no time.” Creed had an eerie calm about him. Meg had seen him like this before, but it was always unnerving to watch someone she cared about switch off their humanity and function in soldier-mode.
“Oh, sure. I can fix it en route.” Evan grabbed a small box of tools to take with him.
“Excellent.” To the room Creed said, “Load up.”
All the metahumans walked with purpose toward the door. They had already said their goodbyes to Margo, but just as Meg was about to step across the threshold, Maze let out an ear piercing howl. She turned to see him bolting toward her, full speed.
“Maze!” She knelt to catch him in open arms. “Calm down, big boy. It’s gonna be okay. I’ll be back real soon, and then we’ll have a great game of fetch.” Maze licked her face like she’d been smothered in peanut butter.
“We have to go, Meg.” The strength the girl sensed emanating from Creed’s aura actually made her shiver. He was standing right behind her. She gave Maze one more big hug then ordered him to “sit” and “stay.” Her coyote whined painfully, but obeyed, inching a little closer even as he stayed on his haunches, desperate to follow.
Talk about déjà vu.
“I love you,” Meg said to her mother and Maze as she pulled the door closed. Wiping the tears from her face, she ran to join the others in the van.
Creed hurried to the driver’s door.
They drove in silence the seven blocks to the building that housed Zuverl?ssiger Transport, parked a block away and walked on silent feet toward the loading lot. It was a medium-sized distribution building. A couple dozen white vans sporting the company’s red stripe were parked neatly in the lot. Two vans were being loaded by burly, bearded men who were laughing and talking casually with one another.
Too bad they’re speaking German, I thought. Meg couldn’t understand a word they were saying. The metas all ducked behind the nearest van except Farrow.
She sauntered up to the men. She was the only one not dressed for battle. Farrow was wearing a form fitting black dress and high heels. She’d slathered on deep-red lipstick, too. The workers gawked as she made her sultry way toward them and in perfect German explained that her car broke down a block away and would any of them be able to please come look at it for her. She batted her lashes innocently. All four men ogled openly at her.
Meg glanced at Alik and saw daggers in his eyes.
Farrow led them back toward the van and rounded the corner. As she did, Alik, Creed, Gavil and Slider each grabbed one of the guys and held a cloth to their noses and mouths until they hung unconscious in their arms. Evan and Meg opened the back doors of the van and helped put the four bodies in the back, leaving the cloths draped across their faces.
“You sure that won’t kill them?” Meg whispered to her littlest brother as they ran to the van the men had been loading.
Evan grinned adorably. “I created it just for tonight. It has all the anesthetizing effects of chloroform without the risk of toxicity. I could tell you the chemical compounds I used, if you like.”
“That’s okay, Ev.” Meg climbed into the back of the van they were using as their way into the compound and plopped down next to a box of what looked like dry noodles. “I’ll just call it your ‘Sleepy Solvent’.”
Evan shrugged, his eyes glistening with excitement.
This time, Alik drove with Evan sitting shotgun. They didn’t want to risk their video cameras catching sight of Creed, Gavil or Slider, in case they were recognized by the guards.
Farrow was busy pulling on black jeans and yanking the dress over her head, unashamed of the tight black athletic bra she exposed as she dug through her bag for her long-sleeved black shirt.
Meg noticed the boys watching her out of the corners of their eyes. All except Creed, who kept his head down and focused on the .45 caliber in his lap. He reached into his bag and grabbed what looked like a metal tube. As she watched, he screwed it onto the barrel of his gun. A silencer.
“Hey Farrow, here’s your comm piece,” Evan said passing her the small device he’d just fished out of one of his pockets. “Try it now.”
Farrow put it right to her ear and turned her head away from everyone to muffle her voice. “Farrow, here. Can you hear me now?”
“I can hear you,” Alik’s voice echoed. Farrow smiled and gave Evan a thumbs-up.
Alik kept talking, “You were a natural back there, getting those meat heads to pay attention to you.”
Meg saw Farrow frown. “That was the plan.”
Alik was quiet. Everyone waited for his response with awkward curiosity. Meg couldn’t stand it anymore. “Okay Alik. Next time, you get to wear the dress, heels and lipstick.”