“I’m allowed a bit of fun every once in a while, vae shra’ni.”
The nightstalker snorted. “You find fun everywhere, Weaver.”
“That doesn’t make it any less entertaining.”
Cheyenne watched them walking side by side, just two more FRoE agents in black fatigues and dampening gear. No one in Chateau D’rahl had any clue. At least L’zar’s dialed back on the crazy. Maybe Corian was right and the crazy comes straight from Ambar’ogúl. Not like we’ll get the chance to test that again.
Rhynehart’s access card slapped against the next panel beside the door at the end of the hall. Another buzz, another flash of green light and turn of the handle, and they moved on.
“Maybe I’ll come back for a visit next time,” L’zar mused, casting Cell Block Alpha one final glance over his shoulder.
Corian snorted. “Just don’t expect me to come busting in here to save your ass.”
“I would never, vae shra’ni.”
Bhandi held the door open for the magical behind her. “So, what’s the deal with you two?”
“Deal?” Corian raised his eyebrows and shot her a coy smile. “I’m not quite sure what you’re implying.”
“This guy’s obviously been here before.” She stuck her thumb out at L’zar. “What about you?”
Corian chuckled softly. “No. This is a first for me.”
Tate laughed. “Guess you can rule out that cellmate theory, then.”
“Can it, asshole.”
“What theory is that?” L’zar asked.
“Nothing. Never mind.” Bhandi sneered at Tate and punched him in the shoulder as they waited for Rhynehart to unlock the next door.
Corian turned and cocked his head at Cheyenne. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”
“I stopped trying to figure out what’s in her head after knowing her for an hour.” The halfling shrugged. “Waste of time.”
Yurik laughed and folded his arms. “Always knew you were a smart one, Cheyenne.”
“Uh-huh.”
Rhynehart shoved violently down on the door handle and jerked the door open. “You guys need to cut out all the side talk and pay attention, huh? If a single thing goes wrong in here—”
“Then we’ll move from Plan A to no plan at all, and we’ll be fine.” Corian grabbed the door and held it open. “Please continue.”
Gritting his teeth, Rhynehart stormed down the next hall.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, the hallway ended in corridors branching to the left and right, but the magicals disguised as human FRoE agents headed for the door at the very end. The back wall was made entirely of double-paned glass with the same fell-powered dampening mesh between them. Through the large squares between the mesh, Cheyenne saw two FRoE agents standing behind the security booth in the room beyond.
“That’s them, right?” Bhandi asked.
“Definitely Payton.” Yurik stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded. “I’ve seen that mask before.”
“I hope you’re right. Seriously hope that’s Jamal, too. He looks a lot bigger without all the hair.”
“I think everyone looks bigger without hair.”
L’zar rapped on the glass with his knuckles. The woman, who didn’t wear an eyepatch in her human illusion, looked up from the monitor she’d been staring at, and scowled at him. He wiggled his fingers in greeting, then Rhynehart stepped up beside him with a grunt and pointed at the handle.
“This is why you guys are in there,” he muttered. “Let’s get this circus show on the road.”
The female agent muttered something they couldn’t hear and nodded at the door. The man with a thick brown ponytail stepped around the security booth, eyeing the line of seven presumably unexpected visitors to the security checkpoint right outside what Persh’al had dubbed the Hatch. He stopped on the other side of the glass door, punched in a number on the keypad, and pulled open the door to let them in.
“It’s about fucking time you idiots showed up,” the female agent muttered.
“Oh, yeah.” Yurik snorted. “Definitely Payton.”
“Good to see you too.” Bhandi thumped her fists on the edge of the security booth’s circular counter.
Jamal stood silently while everyone filtered into the final checkpoint and shut the door firmly again before punching in another code. The lock slid back into place with a metallic clink.
“How’s it lookin’ out there?” Rhynehart asked, stopping on Payton’s left to peer over her shoulder at the security monitor.
The masked goblin agent turned her head and her shoulders to face him and scowled.
“Right. Sorry. I’ll stand where you can see me.” He stepped to her other side and shot her a sidelong glance. “Pretty damn hard to remember when you don’t have that thing over your eye.”
“Not hard at all to remember you’re an asshole.”
Rhynehart blinked quickly and shook his head. “Remind me again why we recruited you?”
Yurik stepped toward them, counting on his fingers. “Let’s see. Earthside-born. Can see like a hawk with only one eye. Gets blown up and doesn’t die. Oh, yeah. You had us on clean-up duty for way longer than we should’ve been, and she never complained.”
“Yeah, but you did.”
“Hey, I didn’t sign up for this to play magical maid outside DC. Though that was how I met Cheyenne.” The disguised goblin wiggled his eyebrows and extended a fist toward the halfling.
She eyed his fist. “You make it sound like we both showed up for maid duty.”
“Come on. Don’t leave me hanging.”
Cheyenne rolled her eyes and bumped her fist against his.
“Ow. Shit.” Yurik chuckled and shook out his hand. “You can dial that back any time.”
“Sorry.” She shrugged. “Guess I’m waiting for the minute something goes wrong and I have to use my fist for more than props from you.”
“Aw, come on, Goth drow.” Bhandi turned away from the two monitors mounted on the far wall and angled toward the security booth. “Have faith in us, huh?”
“It has nothing to do with you guys.” Cheyenne shot L’zar a quick glance, but he was standing in front of the clear door they’d just entered, staring out into the hall. “Hey, if we start out with low expectations, we don’t get nearly as disappointed.”
“Yeah. And we end up punching our buddy’s hands off. Christ.” Yurik shook
