When Lexie appeared, grinning broadly at Speck’s pale face, I got to my feet and scooped up the jar of sweets. It wouldn’t be long now. I went back out to the main room, depositing one sweet next to each keyboard.
‘One for you,’ I sang out, ‘and one for you, and one for you.’ I paused at one cubicle laden with Star Wars memorabilia and pursed my lips. ‘You deserve two.’
‘You’re such a geek,’ Brochan told me, appearing silently from behind with the coil of climbing rope.
I winked at him and rattled the now almost empty jar. ‘Want one?’
He patted his flat stomach. ‘Watching my weight.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Are we clear?’
‘As a mountain stream.’
I shot him a look, wondering whether that was a gibe at my upcoming change of career. His expression was innocent but I caught the faintest hint of merriment in the back of his eyes and stuck out my tongue.
‘If the wind changes…’
I waved a hand in the air. ‘Yeah, yeah. We’re not in Sidhe territory, remember.’
‘Well you’re the one who’d know.’
I tossed back my hair and ignored the rejoinder. ‘Come on. Let’s get going.’
Leaving behind the depressing office space, the four of us moved quietly out towards the bank of lifts. We required little in the way of communication by this point; we’d worked together long enough to have an almost telepathic understanding of what was required. Still, out of respect for this being our last mission together, Speck glanced at me and I gave him a nod of acknowledgment. He unscrewed the button panel in the wall, short-circuiting the system and disabling all the elevators in one fell swoop. He jerked his thumb at Brochan who immediately stepped forward and wrenched open the doors to reveal the cavernous drop.
‘First one to the bottom is a rotten egg,’ he smirked.
Speck sighed. ‘Can’t we just take the stairs?’
Lexie tutted, giving him a sharp shove. Speck stumbled through the gap, his curse echoing as it bounced off the walls.
‘We are trying to stay quiet,’ I reminded her with a frown.
She shrugged. ‘No-one’s here, Integrity. We’d be waiting forever for Speck to make a move if I’d not done that.’
I didn’t entirely disagree; I didn’t entirely approve either. ‘There’s no point in taking unnecessary risks.’
‘Your impending retirement is making you boring.’
I folded my arms and gave Lexie a stony glare. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to maintain it for long before a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I can still get to the bottom quicker than you though.’
The other woman grinned. ‘Go on then.’
I took a deep breath and jumped. Although the drop to the bottom should have been lethal, Taylor had cleverly modified all of our jumpsuits so it was a piece of cake. He was a regular Q. Each suit was fitted around the shoulders with a small canopy-style parachute. It was no good for heights of more than eighty metres, as sheer velocity would negate its gliding power. For something like this elevator shaft, though, it was perfect. Less than one floor down and I’d already released it, enjoying the air rushing past my cheeks as I descended with Lexie a heartbeat after me on the other side of the narrow drop. She might have beaten me if Speck hadn’t somehow gotten in her way and forced her into the wall instead of directly on top of the roof of the frozen lift.
‘Oops,’ he said, entirely unrepentant.
‘Idiot!’ Lexie hissed. ‘I’ve been trying to beat Integrity at this for months and you know this was my last chance to do it.’
‘Tell you what, Lexie,’ I said. ‘I promise I’ll meet up with you in a few weeks once I’m settled in Oban and we can have a jumping session then. As many times as you want.’
Brochan joined us, his large feet clanging loudly against the metallic lift. His merman body was better designed for water rather than land, even though he had a profound fear of the sea. Any footwear he ended up with looked like outsized clown shoes. It was a miracle he managed to stay as quiet as he did. ‘Waste of time,’ he dismissed.
‘Why?’ Lexie demanded. ‘You don’t think I’m good enough?’
‘She’s Sidhe. You’re not. You’re a cute pixie but you’re not like her.’
I stiffened. What did that mean? Fortunately I was prevented from asking by Speck’s obvious snigger. ‘She’s Sidhe. That’s funny.’ Brochan looked at him blankly. ‘Sidhe? She? You know. Sidhe is pronounced she and you said she is…’ His voice faltered at Brochan’s expression. ‘Never mind,’ he muttered.
Lexie sniffed. ‘Integrity is not Sidhe. Not like the rest of them are, anyway. She’s better than that.’