As soon as they were in, he closed the door and slapped the roof.
“Get them out of here, E,” he ordered as if she needed to be told.
It was hard to drive away when all she wanted to do was be there in the middle of the fight.
Elizabeth resisted the urge to hammer a fist against the wheel but eased the transport away from the curb and down the alley that ran behind the house. When they were free and clear with no sign of the assassins, she accelerated.
It didn’t take all that long to get them to the hotel, where Lisa and Elle were waiting.
“Some folk have all the fun.” Lisa pouted as Elizabeth made swift introductions and bid them farewell.
“Trust me. This won’t be fun,” she retorted as Elle led Todd’s parents to the living room, “and you have the most important job. You get to keep these guys safe while we go squash the roaches.”
“Hmmph. Well, don’t let me keep you,” the woman snapped and added in a softer tone. “And look after yourself.”
E gave her a sharp nod. “You know what to do if we’re not back here in two hours, right?”
“We’ll get them to Steph,” Lisa promised. “The big boss is on stand-by.”
“Good to hear.” She didn’t stop for any more goodbyes. There was no need. She jogged to the car and returned to Todd’s home.
Once she’d parked four blocks from the address, she moved quickly and quietly through the neighborhood and hoped she didn’t get there too late to help. She thanked the god of vengeance and retribution when she saw four dark figures creep silently into the yard.
Two took the rear, and two the front…and they were impressive.
The two who approached the street entrance were suited like government agents, their dress screaming Federation Navy right down to the cheap suits and identification badges pinned to their lapels. They didn’t go with subtle and simply marched up to the door and knocked.
Elizabeth watched from the dark and silent street. The porchlight above the assassins showed little more than two generic government employees. They exchanged glances when the door went unanswered and tried the handle.
To the untrained eye, they pushed the door open and greeted whoever was on the other side, but she knew what to look for. The brief jiggle of the handle and the way they stood hid the universal lockpick that took swift care of the lock, and the greeting was fake.
It looked legit from the outside, though. The brief smile, nod, and hand extended as though to shake another in greeting, all happened as they transitioned inside. When the door closed behind them, who was to say it wasn’t one of his parents who’d closed it?
“Smooth,” she muttered. “Very smooth.”
No one replied over the comms, and she resumed her approach, banking on the need for a quick getaway to mean the front door was still unlocked. She eased up the single step and was across the porch and inside without a sound.
When she caught sight of one of the intruders as they disappeared up the stairs, she decided against warning her team. If she wasn’t mistaken, they were already in place and taking care of it. A slight sound from the lounge caught her attention and she glanced toward it.
Matthias beckoned for her to join him as something jiggled the lock on the back door. The team coming from the rear had been slower but not by much. She hurried to where he waited at the kitchen door.
He gave her a brief thumbs-up and passed her a carving knife. Elizabeth took it and smiled slightly that he should have thought to have one set aside for her. She was still smiling when she took a position on the other side of the doorway and wondered where Arne was.
That question was answered moments later when she counted a third figure coming into the kitchen. Matthias made a brief signal with his hand and moved forward as Arne swung a skillet at the head of the rearmost assassin.
The work that followed was brutal but short. Matthias proved surprisingly efficient with the unconventional use of a carving knife, and Elizabeth made a note to look through the files Amy and Earth-BURT had dug up on him because the damned man was still keeping secrets.
Her blade skidded across body armor but it sliced deeply into an exposed bicep and she hacked at that again.
“Heads-up.” Matthias spoke quietly over the comms, and she looked up in time to see the saucepan spinning toward her.
With a grin, she snatched it out of its flight by the handle and used it as a makeshift hammer on the assassin’s exposed skull. She wasn’t entirely surprised when Arne helped her finish the job faster by using his skillet in alternating strokes.
“That won’t be too hard to believe, will it?” he asked, breathing as fast as she was when they looked at the dead assassin.
“Ours are down too,” Amy told them over the comms. “Irons make really handy clubs.”
“Crap!” Elizabeth looked at her blood-spattered body armor. “Remind me to never plan something in a last-minute rush again.”
Matthias snorted. “Like you had much of a choice.”
“What did we miss?” her security head asked as she descended the stairs.
“I checked the windows,” Bunny told them over the comms. “It looks like none of the neighbors heard a thing.”
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be without checking the police bands.”
“You are clear,” Earth-BURT interrupted. “I have access to the emergency channels and your activities have gone unreported.”
“But not unnoticed?”
“As far as I can tell from monitoring civilian communications in this area, you remain undetected thus far.”
Elizabeth turned devastated eyes to Matthias. “I forgot the blood spatter. We should have worn—”
She stopped as she registered the shirt he had thrown over his body armor—and the trousers he wore instead of his body armor.
“When did you…”
He grinned at her. “You were somewhat preoccupied, E.”
“Yup. She still is,” Amy agreed and drew her attention. “This is what you get when you ask her to play nice with civilians.”
E paused for a moment when she noticed the slippers and dressing gown the woman had thrown over her combat gear.
“That’s…” she began and sputtered into laughter. “I wish I’d brought a c—”
She stopped and began to laugh anew.
Matthias stared at her. “Elizabeth, are you okay?”
The question brought abrupt sobriety and she straightened and waved a hand at Arne.
“I’m sorry. I never expected this.”
The ex-Marine continued to use his tablet to scan the scene and paid particular attention to Amy in her borrowed robe and Matthias in his trousers and shirt. “You know it’ll be difficult to convince them to put those on, don’t you?”
Elizabeth grimaced. “What if we had them call from a laundromat where they were already dressed in something else and washing these?”
The two men exchanged glances.
“You know, that would be a very dumbass civilian thing to do,” Arne mused.
Matthias shrugged and nodded. “Sure. You guys need to get out of here while Amy and I deal with footprints and printless smears at the appropriate locations.”
“Sure.” Elizabeth agreed and nodded at Bunny. “You’re with Arne and me. We’ll bring the car around for Matt and Amy.”