Untrained Eye (39 page)

Chapter 48

RENEE COUGHED, SPLUTTERED, and her eyes watered as she bent over
in the hallway. There was no way she could get any of the kids to the garage
without them keeling over. She opened her mic. “Please tell me you have some
way I can breathe out there?”

“Box next to the door. Three masks. Have the kids return them at
the garage.” All said like Renee should know.

“
Where
near the door?” She scanned around, confused.

“
Above
it. Next time, drink less, listen more.” Frei cut
the channel and Renee sighed.

Point taken.

She eyed the box, remembered the position, and hurried to the
theatre.

Backstage, Aeron was tuning the violins. She glanced up and
smiled. She was nervous.

“Mud pack looks good on you.”

Renee sneezed in response.

“You got a better way or should I rename
you
Dusty?” Her
weak joke didn’t hide the wobble in her voice. Renee smiled at her.

“People?”

Aeron nodded. “Guess I’m more Serenity upstairs than I realized.”

“It’s stage nerves. You’ll be great. Performers class them as a
good thing.” She hoped it helped. After so long locked away, Renee would have
been more shocked if Aeron
didn’t
have issues.

“It’s more the people . . . I don’t know why. Just that many folks
freaks me out.”

“Remember the baby steps, okay?” Renee squeezed her arm.
“Concentrate on the process.”

She nodded to the three girls from Aeron’s group, Ty, Jane, and
Leigh-Anne. The order had been arranged by conditions, worst problems first.
All apart from Miroslav.

“Blood sugar?” Renee asked Ty who mumbled
that she was fine.

“How are you feeling?” she asked Leigh-Anne. If she had a fit at
any point on the route, they were in trouble.

“Took my meds. I’m fine.”

Renee turned to Jane who smiled up at her. She understood sight
problems, understood how difficult they made things. “Keep holding onto me,
okay?”

Both Ty and Leigh-Anne held her hands for now but Renee would take
over outside.

Renee touched Aeron on her hand and leaned in. “You can do this, I
believe in you.”

Aeron’s eyes filled with hope. “Glad you’re about,
doc
.”

Renee nodded and took the girls. They headed out into the hallway.

No one around.

They hurried along, the offices still closed, still in darkness.
She stopped them at the door and pulled down the box.

“Put these on. Make sure they’re secure. Dust storm.”

All three did as told. Once checked and Renee had her own mask on,
she opened the door.

They disappeared into the dust in front of her as Renee shut the
door behind her. She caught up to them and took Jane’s hand. They headed along
the same route. There was no need to worry about the windows. She checked her
pistol. She felt a wave of tension. If she had to use it, it was there. That’s
if it worked in the dust.

They hurried from the corner, past the dorm, and to the garage.
She knocked once, so they would know that was her signal and entered. She led
them over to the bus and handed them a bottle of water each. “Take a seat, keep
low.”

She took the masks.

“Don’t you want some, Miss Worthington?” Ty asked with a blush
coloring her cheeks.

Renee tried not to smile. Aeron wasn’t the only one with a fan
club. “Thanks, but I have to move.”

She left the water and hurried back into the dust. She checked her
watch. Three minutes. She just hoped the rest would be as uneventful.

URSULA DUMPED THE last of the batteries behind the hedge and
nodded to Jessie. “Head back to the garage, take on water, take your pump if
you need. Then we’ll head to the second floor.”

Jessie gave her the thumbs up and disappeared into the dust.
Ursula sprinted across the lawns covering the ground without problem. It felt
good to be active.

She reached the gate where two guards were sheltering and pulled
out a small dart gun. The wonderful thing about operating in situations where
CIG weren’t meant to be spotted, she had some pretty helpful tools.

Ursula took aim and pulled the trigger twice. Two guards were out
before they slumped to the floor. A normal person would be out for four hours
with the stuff. Plenty of time. They’d be long gone by the time these two
resurfaced.

Even so, she took the time to tie them up and strip them of their
radios and weapons. She threw the items into one of the hedges outside and
turned back toward the main building. Next.

I PEEKED OUT through the curtain as the kids bumbled their way
through a terrible rendition of
An Ideal Husband
. I’d read a lot of
Oscar Wilde, so I knew they were a quarter of the way through but at the rate
they were going, Smyth might hook them off stage long before that.

I glanced at Smyth but he was chuckling along with the rest of the
audience. I didn’t get why. One kid kept forgetting his lines, another kept
saying his own and the first line of the next person’s.

I was pretty sure they might have invented a couple of variations
on the characters’ names too. Miss Mabel had turned into Miss Marbles but even
Owens looked charmed.

It was terrible.

Renee breezed back in and I turned to look at her. She’d looked
smart in her stunning pant suit and shirt at the start of the evening. Now, she
was wearing an inch of dirt.

“Guess it’s raining, huh?” I mumbled her way as she made a beeline
for Ian and Ryan.

“Funny,” she shot back. “How far in?”

“The countess has just told the politician she is blackmailing
him.”

Renee raised her eyebrows.

“About a quarter.” I shrugged. “I love Oscar. These guys are the
worst actors I’ve ever seen.”

“You go to the theatre a lot,
Samson
?” Renee asked, handing
the masks to the boys and checking how they were doing.

“Hey, I had to watch Nora, Aimee, and Tiz reenact the nativity.”

Renee gave me a look.

“Exactly . . . but these guys are far worse.”

“Hopefully, they will bore them all to sleep and make things
easier.”

I handed her a bottle of water. “If you don’t drink it, you’ll get
dehydrated and less able to focus. You need to be sharp.”

Renee did as I told her, thanked me, and headed back out with the
boys. I glanced at Miranda who looked as nervous as I was. Miroslav seemed
cool, calm, and collected.

Glad one of us was.

Chapter 49

RENEE LED THE two boys, Ian and Ryan, down the corridor and helped
them with their masks. Ryan had absences and by the distracted look in his
eyes, she wasn’t quite sure he was coping with the stress. It also didn’t help
that his asthma was playing up. She handed him his pump and waited for him to
calm.

Ian met her eyes with a puppy dog look in his. The mask rattled
around in his shuddering grip. He had great difficulty with his movement at the
best of times. Now, with nerves, he was far worse. These boys would be the
slowest. It was important that she keep them calm and moving.

“You’ll be just fine,” she whispered with a smile, helping Ian fix
the mask in place. She double checked the filter on Ryan’s mask as precaution.
“Just keep next to me, okay?”

Both boys gave a shaky thumbs up.

She glanced at the offices. All in darkness. She slid on her own
mask and guided them into the storm. The smaller of the two, Ian, kept
tripping. He was always unsteady but not this bad. She stopped them. He pointed
to his lace, then shook his head. Renee sighed, dropped to her haunches, and
started to tie it up.

She felt a frantic tap on her shoulder.

Ryan pointed to the east corner of the building.

A flashlight beam.

Renee pulled them back, tripping over the hedge separating the
fake grass banking from the path. She slid down the grassy banking and yanked
them both down to lie flat on their stomachs. Ryan covered Ian as if to protect
him. The beam turned the corner and headed to the door.

Had she closed it?

The beam flashed around as it halted, a few feet from the door.
Renee put the scope to her eye and just made out a blurry figure.

A figure with a rifle.

She opened her mic. “Urs, it normal for guards to have automatic
rifles?”

She heard Frei grunt on the other side. She ducked as the beam
shone their way.

“No. The guards on the gate were armed to the teeth too.” She
sighed. “They trust the buyers less than us, it seems.”

The beam turned and walked back the way it came. It turned the
corner and Renee pulled the boys up.

They hurried up the bank and over the hedge, stopping only to
check on the direction of the light. Ian stumbled when they reached the dorms.
He lurched and pulled them both into a plant pot as he clattered to the ground.
The large stone pot smacked into the wall.

She yanked them up, ran into the garage, and shut out the storm.

She checked her watch.

Ten minutes.

Renee sighed, pulled the masks off the boys, and led them to the
bus.

“Sorry,” Ian mumbled over and over, tears in his eyes.

Renee took him by the face. “Don’t be. We’re here. Just get on the
bus okay. Take on water.”

“Miss Worthington got us here,” Ryan said, wrapping a protective
arm around a shaking Ian. “You did great.” He met Renee’s eyes. “He takes out
loads more things normally.”

“Well, then,” she said in her softest tone as Jessie appeared with
two bottles. “You were fantastic.”

Ian blushed as Jessie nudged him and exchanged a look with Ryan.

“He and Ty might start fighting over you,” Jessie said, offering
her water.

Renee shook her head, flashed a quick smile, and headed back out
into the dust. She needed to right that pot.

URSULA WAITED UNTIL the guard returned to his original route and
hurried to the overturned pot. Renee joined her a second later.

“Ten minutes. How can we get them out in time?”

Ursula took one side as Renee grabbed the other. “Huber.”

“What?” Renee grunted as they took the strain and hauled the pot
upward.

“He is here for the kids. If he thinks it’s in
his interest, he’ll delay.”

Renee put her hands on her hips. “We are not—”

“I know. You think I’d do that?”

Renee dropped a hand to her side. “No.”

“Then stop giving me the third degree and move.” Ursula strolled
toward the garage. She knocked once, ducked inside, and pulled up her mask to
take on water.

Jessie scampered to her as Ty and Leigh-Anne helped Ryan hoist a
wobbling Ian onto the bus. Good to see they were a team.  

“Ready?”

Jessie nodded and pulled her mask on.

“Good, you got the rope?”

Jessie tapped her back. There was no point reminding Jessie this
was the most dangerous part. So she held open the door and said a prayer.

They’d need it.

THE PLAY WAS at the halfway mark as I checked from the wings.
Owens shot a glare at me when she caught me. I ignored her and tried to ignore
the amount of people in the audience. Baby steps. I turned away and focused on
backstage. Trails of wires snaked along the walls and floors. Bits of black
tape bound them with white markers sprayed or taped in case anyone missed them.
The walls bare brick, curtains hanging from metal rods up in the ceiling,
chains draping down.

The remaining students huddled in the corner. Jed and Miroslav sat
apart but Jones’s and Sawyer’s kids clung together. Frei’s group had left with
a brief nod to me. She had a task for them but I couldn’t find the words to
offer support. I knew better than to talk. My own nerves would make them think
I was worried.

Maybe I should share that I was nervous about being near a lot of
folks at once, they might find it funny.

Miranda caught my attention before I moved. She paced up and back
over and over. She rubbed her hand, the wrist that was hurting, and stared at
her violin.

She couldn’t play but she
had
to play.

I walked to her as the others glanced at the door and waited for
Renee.

“If you try playing, they’ll know.”

She spun around and jumped when she saw me. She’d been lost in her
thoughts. “What if they realize?”

“They won’t.” I glanced at Miroslav who gave a warm smile and a
thumbs up from his stool. I was glad to see he was sipping water. It was hot
and humid backstage.

“But—”

“If Miss Samson says they won’t, they won’t.” Jed’s voice was gentle
as he strolled up to her. “I’m sorry you got to cover us but there is no one
who can pull it off like you.”

Miranda flung herself into his arms and he held on tight. He met
my eyes, concern glinted in his.

I couldn’t make any promises. If either of us made the slightest
mistake, we would need some kind of a miracle to get us out in one piece.

Renee hurried in. She had a graze of dirt on her right knee. I
went to her and handed her a bottle, leaving Jed to reassure Miranda.

“What happened?”

She touched my hand. A flash of a pot toppling.

“He sucks tying laces,” I muttered.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m behind.” She sipped on the water. “The guard
changed his route.”

“And his gun grew,” I added.

Renee handed me back the bottle and motioned to Sawyer’s and
Jones’s kids. They took the masks and shoved them on before she could say
anything.

“Guess they’re keen,” she mumbled.

“Watch the dorm?” I said, grabbing her hand. “Someone heard that
pot hit the deck.”

Renee met my eyes and nodded. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me, just don’t get hurt.”

She flashed me a smile and hurried out.

I turned back to see Miranda cuddled into Jed.

I could have done with a hug.