With a black hood and mask over her face, June left a certain residence with Ryder, who was dressed similarly. It was 3:00 a.m. and they were headed for the counselor's house. Rayne followed behind them, though she was completely invisible. If June hadn't known she was there, she would have had no idea. Rayne was skilled enough to not even leave audible footsteps. Whether that was because she walked silently, or because she timed her steps perfectly to June and Ryder's was unclear.
A cold stone of rage burned in June's stomach as they moved quietly through the streets, avoiding cameras where they could. The whole point of the decoy house was to make sure they couldn't be traced, but any thief worth their salt would be avoiding cameras. Not doing so would be suspicious in its own way.
No one said a word as they hurried through the abandoned streets, the lamps just barely enough to see by. As they got closer to their destination, the stone in June's stomach grew heavier. Colder. So cold that it burned.
People like Counselor Shaw deserved to die the most painful death known to humanity.
And boy, would Jase make sure he suffered. June was certain of that. Even if he paid them off, he would be forever haunted by what he'd done and the fear that it would make it to the light of day. She would have preferred to strangle the life out of him herself, but running from his shadow would have to do. A murder of a prominent counselor would destroy everything they'd built.
The counselor's house was on the larger side, one level below the Top in the heart of the city. A prime location. In fact, the house was probably one of the most expensive ones in the entire city. The doors were secured with multiple digital locks, one requiring a fingerprint and the other two requiring passwords. With a nod to Ryder, June took out the tiny wedge from her kit and worked on opening the lock cases.
When the first one was done, she moved on to the second while Ryder worked on tricking the console into thinking they'd entered the correct criteria. The locks were fairly tamper-proof, but Niko had done his research on them before explaining what to do. If Ryder's hands would stop shaking, they'd have this in the bag.
The second case came off, and June quickly moved onto the third. By the time she was done that one, Ryder was still fiddling with the first one.
June kept herself from growling at how inefficient her partner was as she followed Niko's instructions to deactivate the other two locks. Ryder had been in enough stressful situations - he should be able to do this without his hands shaking. Alas, she had to unlock his as well.
When the doors finally opened, June pulled out the old golf club she'd brought with her and walked in, trusting Rayne to do her part of the job. Ryder followed her into the darkness, holding his own golf club. A quick glance around the room showed several valuables. With a grin, June swung the club at a locked case, breaking the glass so she could extract the elaborate hand-crafted sculpture within. She tossed it in her bag, then moved on to the next thing.
Ryder moved away from her, smashing things and collecting his own treasures. Noises from upstairs indicated that their little adventure hadn't gone unnoticed by the residents. Good. They had to buy time for Rayne to do her thing, and Jase had told them to make it flashy. When things got dicey, she and Ryder would drop their loot and run.
Footsteps thudded down the stairs, and June decided to smash a delicately-painted vase just for funsies. Not that this bastard deserved any kindness from her. It would be nice if she could just break everything in the house, but she had her orders. Make it look like a random robbery.
"Stop right there!" June and Ryder both looked up as the counselor stomped into the room, cell phone in hand.
The two thieves looked at each other, then grabbed one or two more things as they started running.
"Stop! I mean it! The military's on the way, and you won't get away with this!"
Moron. Military coming just meant it was time to get out while the getting was good. Even Ryder knew that much. Hopefully Rayne had enough time to grab what she needed.
June and Ryder split up as they left the house, dropping the golf clubs on the way out. They didn't have any incriminating evidence on them - they'd just been pulled out of some rich idiot's recycle bin.
It would be nice if they could keep the stolen goods, not only because it would better sell their ruse. Some of that stuff could probably be turned into good money if they sat on it for a while and played their cards right.
Except then everything went sideways.
A pair of thin chains lashed across June's path, tripping her and sending her rolling along the ground. The bag she was holding slipped away from her as the sounds of stuff breaking came out of it.
When June flipped to her feet, she almost cussed.
"Not sure what you're hoping to accomplish there, but you'd better give it up now." Jacob stepped out of the shadow, several chains crawling around him like serpents. Three more shot out to try and grab June, but she jumped out of the way and slid under them.
Why was he here? She shouldn't even use her Miracle. If she did, it would be as good as declaring her identity in a loud voice right then and there. Best to stay silent and try to get away. Once she was out of sight of everything - cameras included - she could maybe use her Miracle to slip away.
But that was if she got that far.
"Persistent, aren't you? I'm not sure which one you are, but you're good. Good enough that I'm sure our dear Angel would love to have you herself under different circumstances."
June held back a retort. She'd never work for someone like Angela. And Angela herself had hurt Jase. That alone meant June would never help her. Instead, she slid through a few more chains, trying to find an opening she could escape through.
Jacob was good, though. No openings presented themselves. They were locked in a deadly dance, where neither showed any weakness.
If only June had kept her golf club.
