The Gadget: The Rondon Chronicles Book One by V. Timlin (speed reading book .TXT) 📕

Madam Valeria will have her men keeping an eye on the place. And then there are Stalo’s men,” Fitzwil said, his brows furrowing.

“I know a secret entrance into the house,” Nat said. “But Madam Valeria always has a trusted man guarding it.”

Fitzwil leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You, my son, need a diversion. Something that will keep the staff busy while you two are sneaking in.”

“I know.” Nat rubbed his chin. “Any ideas? We could always throw smoke bombs and knock out gas to create chaos, but Stalo would use it too and slip out of our hands.”

“What about asking Chief Constable Loka for help?” Anouk asked. The three bounty hunters looked at her like she had just announced herself by having marked their caravan dog fashion. She spread her hands. “There are only two of us, Nat. It’d be suicide trying to infiltrate a brothel that is now practically a fort since ‘Lord De Massive Arse’ is there surrounded by his throat cutters. Plus, we’d be assured of getting the reward.”

Nat was shaking his head before Anouk finished. “We don’t get paid if the constabulary takes Stalo into custody. And let’s not forget, we have to eat.” He shifted and gazed out into the night. “Besides, it’s not really about money. I…”

“I know, I know.” Anouk patted the air with her hands. “You want to arrest him yourself and get justice for your family.” As soon as the words came out, she wanted to take them back.

Nat gave her a dark look. She winced. “I’m sorry, Nat, I didn’t mean to…” Her voice trailed off and she winced again. She was too afraid of blurting another gigantic frog from her mouth.

“Anouk is right,” offered Vari. Nat whipped the dark look at her. “You need backup. This is too big when there’s only two of you. Besides, you’re letting your emotions cloud your judgement, Nat. You know that is dangerous.”

“I’m not letting Chief Constable Loka and his army of incompetent enforcers take credit for arresting Stalo,” Nat growled. “Even if they could manage to do that.”

“No one was talking about getting Royal Enforcers involved, at least not right away.” Vari’s delivery was calming. She turned to look at her husband and they stared at each other in silence. Anouk looked back and forth between the couple. What was going on?

“No, you are retired,” Nat said with a firm tone.

Anouk swallowed. As much as she would appreciate their help… “I agree with Nat. You’ve done quite enough. This isn’t your mission.”

A smile spread on Fitzwil’s leathery face and he winked at his wife. “The young ones here seem to think we aren’t up to a bit of fun anymore. Isn’t that so, my love?”

Vari grinned. “Absolutely. But they’re mistaken, as usual.”

“But…” Nat started.

“Now, now, my son.” Fitzwil wagged his thick forefinger at Nat. “We might be retired, but it doesn’t mean we should sit back, knitting and smoking a pipe all day long, does it?”

Anouk frowned. She wouldn’t call the night’s mission fun—going into an amusement park was fun, not infiltrating a brothel full of sadistic killers.

Nat snorted. “Neither of you knit.”

“That wasn’t the point.” Vari waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “You know what we mean. Besides, we’ll only be the support team. You two would still carry out the main action.”

“And if something goes wrong, you’ll need professionals to handle your rescue,” Fitzwil added.

Anouk turned to look at Nat’s ever darkening expression. She grimaced. Oh, he was going to love what she was about to say. “Vari and Fitzwil are right. Especially since you refuse to get help from the enforcers.” She paused when Nat narrowed his eyes into slits. “I would feel slightly less scared if they’d be our back-up team. I mean, we’re walking into a potential death trap.”

She chewed her lower lip, meeting Nat’s blank face. Damn, that man pulled that mask over his face every time she wanted to read his thoughts. She had learned during the past week that the mask often meant Nat was dealing with something he didn’t like, didn’t want to talk about or otherwise didn’t want to show his thoughts and emotions. Anouk bet in this case it was the first.

“You’re in a minority, Nat,” Anouk said. “This is a democratic ruling.”

Nat’s eyebrow twitched. “A democratic ruling?”

“You know, when more people are in favour of one thing than the other, the majority wins.”

Nat gave a snort of a laugh. “Ah, that kind of democracy. What I’ve seen is the one where guns set the rules.”

Anouk almost missed the flicker of pain passing across Nat’s face. This mission must be one of his hardest. She could well believe his old wounds were being torn open again and again. She wanted to lean in and give him a hug, but he shrugged and addressed his foster-parents. “Very well, but you stay firmly in the role of support team and only if things get out of hand will you step in.”

“That was the plan,” Fitzwil said.

“Good,” Nat grunted. “Alright, we have little time, so we need to come up with a plan now. Goes without saying, Anouk and I need to be able to sneak in unnoticed. As we know, the place will be busy. Madam Valeria has men keeping watch, especially in the gambling room.”

“How well do you know the brothel? Where could we enter without being noticed?” Anouk shifted in her seat. “It looks like a fortress. Doors and windows are out of the question. Neither could we devise a costume that allowed us to walk in unrecognised; we simply don’t have time for that.”

“True. It’s not an easy building to break in to. The roof is the best and only option.”

Anouk winced. Their escape through Flower Estate’s rooftops had been bad enough. She wasn’t looking forward to climbing again, especially if the only way into the brothel proved to be crawling down chimneys. “Wish we had time to talk more with Lila and see if she’d