Cheyenne swatted her father’s hand aside. “L’zar, don’t.”
“My patience seems to have run dry.”
“It’s almost—”
The light on the panel finally flashed green, the lock clicked, and the door popped open with a soft hiss.
“Lovely.”
“Get out or get fucked,” Payton growled. “They’re coming.”
L’zar, Corian, Cheyenne, and Rhynehart had enough time to slip through the heavy metal door into the chamber beyond. Cursing, Tate, Yurik, and Bhandi ducked behind the security panel as the metal door shut behind the others. The real FRoE guards passed in front of the checkpoint two seconds later. The closest one gazed around the room and spent an unusually long time studying Payton.
She stared back at him, both of her human-looking eyes moving together as she looked him up and down. “I got somethin’ on my face, or what?”
Whether or not he could hear her, the guard jerked his chin at her, then frowned at Jamal and his long human ponytail before both guards kept walking down the hall and disappeared from view.
“I don’t get it.” Payton pressed her knuckles down on the booth’s counter. “I have one goddamn eye, everybody stares. I wear a mask with two of the fuckers working like normal, as far as anyone can tell, and everybody stares. This is bullshit.”
“Human, right?” Yurik asked from where he huddled under the counter. “Maybe he was into you.”
“You want me to kick you in the mouth, or what?”
“Hey, I wouldn’t mind watching that.” Bhandi stood from beneath the other side of the circular booth and dusted off her hands.
“Kick the troll, Payton.” Yurik chuckled and offered Tate a hand up to pull him out from under the counter. “Both of ‘em, if you want.”
Jamal stared at the monitors in front of them and grunted. “You three are stuck in here with us now.”
“Yeah, thanks but no thanks, Jamal.” Bhandi headed to the metal door and grabbed the handle.
The handle jammed when she tried to turn it, and she jiggled it up and down before snatching her hand away with a snort of disgust.
“Because the only magicals with fake security clearance are on the other side of the door. Awesome.”
“They’ll be fine.” Yurik waved her off and sat in one of the hard, ridiculously uncomfortable plastic chairs against the wall. “Guess we get a laid-back day on the job, huh?”
Tate folded his arms and stared at the dented metal door, chewing the inside of his bottom lip. “We better be getting paid for this.”
Chapter Seventy-Four
The second the door closed behind them, Cheyenne leaned her head on the metal door and listened. No shouting. No running. No alarms. “I think we’re good.”
“Unless someone does something stupid out there.” Rhynehart scowled up at the four security cameras mounted high on the walls around the massive circular room. They’d all turned off the second Persh’al’s manufactured security clearance passed through the lock panel and opened the door. “Which they might, knowing Bhandi.”
“She’s not as crazy in the field as she is in a tavern.”
He snorted. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Yeah, well, I do. They’ll just have to deal with it and improvise.” Cheyenne turned away from the door and examined the huge chamber in front of them. “So, this is the Hatch, huh?”
“The dunk tank.” Rhynehart folded his arms. “And we were supposed to have three more agents in here. Not exactly running smoothly.”
L’zar strolled casually around the mesh walkway on the upper level. He stared over the narrow railing at a gigantic metal drum that took up the entire level below them and left only three feet of walking space around the perimeter. “You should relax.”
“Oh, yeah?” Rhynehart gestured at Corian. “’Cause your furry friend over there just told me straight up there isn’t a Plan B.”
“Your agents are here as backup and support, Mr. Rhynehart. They aren’t required for this part of Plan A.”
The FRoE agent shivered. “Drop the Mr. part, huh? It’s like none of you get it when someone tells you their name.”
Cheyenne and Corian exchanged glances across the circular walkway.
L’zar stopped opposite the door they’d entered, where the walkway opened to a narrow, steep set of mesh stairs, and wrapped his long, slender fingers around the rail on either side of him. “You’re not required for this part either, Rhynehart.”
“Yeah, well, I’m here. And I really don’t wanna be, so let’s get a move on.” The agent glanced nervously up at the security cameras aimed down at the giant metal vat with a heavy, hinged lid sealed tightly around the top.
L’zar took one step down the stairs, his gaze never leaving the thick steel wheel lock on top of the lid. “No codes or security clearance for this part, correct?”
The agent scratched his head and watched L’zar warily. “As far as I know, not needed.”
“That looks manual to me,” Corian added.
“Indeed it does. Let’s go get our inmate, hmm?” L’zar headed slowly down the stairs, studying the giant metal vat. His shoes hardly made a sound on the metal mesh of the stairs.
“Wait.” Cheyenne stepped to the rail around the circular walkway and looked straight down at the sealed lid of the metal tank. “They’re keeping Venga in that?”
L’zar chuckled. “Honestly, if I were responsible for keeping him locked up, I’d put him in here too. This will be fun.”
Cheyenne looked at Corian in confusion, and the nightstalker shook his head.
The drow thief reached the bottom level and skirted around the metal drum until he found the narrow metal ladder on the side and climbed up to the top. He moved like a spider up that ladder, easily reaching the lid and moving carefully around the narrow walkway encircling the top. He paused briefly and looked up at Corian with a secretive smile. “We didn’t have a specific time limit on this endeavor today, did we?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Corian muttered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all.” L’zar’s shoes clicked softly across the top of the tank’s lid as he headed for the wheel lock at its
