Chapter Seventeen – Kim

“Here are your IDs. You work for Clean Start, a local cleaning agency. They advertise a discreet service for affluent customers. Clean and not heard is their motto, so you are going to have to be careful how you work this. I also need you on your guard, since we don’t know if or when our virologist, Petrov Kinesin, is arriving.”

“Can we bug the house, if he doesn’t come today?” Kim asked.

Guy shook his head. “That is tricky. To get in you will be searched.” Guy put his hand up to stop Jay before he had a chance to protest. “It’s a sensor wand, to pick up any electrical devices. So no phones.” Kim, the only one with a cell phone, handed hers over.

Wyatt stepped forward. “What about the walls? Can you get something over the walls that we can pick up once we’re inside?”

“Any suspicious behavior may blow your cover,” Jay continued. “We can’t tell how many guards are sweeping the grounds. If they find anything, they may clear out the building of anyone other than their security team.”

“Getting you in there at all might be impossible,” Guy said. “There isn’t a team scheduled for today.”

“We’ve got an idea,” Kim said. “So let’s try.”

Jay caught her eye and winked, he wasn’t going to show any affection toward her, they’d discussed it last night. They were both safer if no one else knew they were mates except Tiberius and Wyatt.

“Here are the keys.” Guy held them up and Kim took them.

“Since you both are used to living on a mountain, maybe I should drive.”

“Suits me.” Wyatt went around to the passenger’s side and got in.

“Good luck,” Guy told them, then he turned to Jay. “Is your tail going to give me a ride, too, or do I have to walk?”

Jay laughed, more relaxed around Guy. “You picked up on him. He needs training.”

“Right. We should go.” Kim got into the truck, her hand brushing Jay’s, and his fingers closed around hers for a split second, before they parted. She was on her own. Without the man who called her mate once more, heading into goodness knows what danger.

“It’ll be all right,” Wyatt assured her as they drove down the road, the GPS on the dashboard guiding her toward the dragon’s den.

“It has to be, I have a man and a little boy waiting for me after this is done.” Kim glanced across to Tiberius. “Tell me how this spell works.”

“I need a strand of Quentin’s hair, or something with his DNA on it. Then I make the potion and we get him to drink it.” Tiberius shrugged at Kim’s wide-eyed look. “We make him tea, or coffee.”

“And Jay thought getting into the house was going to be the hard part.” Kim turned down a wide tree-lined street. The houses on both sides were spread out, their grounds huge, with high walls surrounding them, and electronic security gates standing sentry. Her nerve began to falter, the task before them was impossible. Yet there was no choice, they had to succeed.

“And what happens after he drinks the potion?” Wyatt asked.

“He goes into a deep sleep on his treasure,” Kim said.

“It gets a little trickier than that.” Tiberius’s voice was apologetic, but confident.

“The getting inside and making a dragon shifter drink tea isn’t the tricky part?” Kim asked, not wanting to hear Tiberius’s response.

“Those parts are tricky. But since we believe Quentin’s dragon woke up because his treasure called him…”

“Are we going to have to carry a dragon halfway across the world?” Wyatt asked, rolling his eyes. “We should just kill him.”

“We could if we knew where the treasure was. Which is the tricky part. I’ve tinkered with the spell.” Tiberius looked pleased with himself as Kim drew up in front of the gate at the address Guy had entered into the GPS. “I just don’t know if it will work.”

“Great!” Kim shook her head, this was all going to fall apart unless they got lucky. “What did you do?”

“The incantation I use will add the desire to go to his treasure to sleep. The impulse is so strong, he won’t be able to resist.”

“What happens if he flies through the sky in broad daylight as a dragon?” Wyatt asked.

“We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Tiberius returned their shocked looks. “I couldn’t think of everything. But we’re resourceful, we’ll figure it out.”

“Crap,” Kim said under her breath as the electronic speaker next to the van window crackled into life. For a moment she forgot what the cleaning firm was called, and stuttered, then she composed herself, and said, “Clean Start. We’re here to clean the house.”

Silence, followed by static. “I don’t see you listed for today.”

“I apologize, we were rostered to come here on Monday. But…” Kim looked at Tiberius’s ID. “Benjamin here is taking his wife away for the weekend. Knowing how Mr. Harrod is very particular about who cleans his bathroom, our boss sent us today.” This all sounded much better when they discussed it in the back of the van.

“We’ve got a busy day today…”

“Well, your boss could speak to my boss. Or we could come in and clean, you won’t know we’re here. They don’t call us clean and not heard for nothing.” Kim’s voice was light and friendly. “Please. None of us want trouble from our bosses.”

“Okay. But park around the back out of view, and I don’t want to see you, let alone hear you.”

“You have my word.” Kim gave her passengers a thumbs up and drove through the gates as they opened. Following the driveway up to the house, she then took a left and went around the back to what must be a tradesmen’s entrance. There, a security guard was waiting.

“IDs.” He looked bored as Kim and Wyatt showed their IDs and then waited for Tiberius to bring the cleaning products, all neatly stored in a carry box. “I need to look inside.”

Tiberius lifted the lid and the guard rummaged through the cleaning solvents and cloths. He was thorough, taking his job seriously. They all stood watching and Kim concentrated on keeping her breathing even, not wanting to alert the guard to her guilt. And she did feel guilty about the lies they were telling, even if it was for the right reason.

Clearing her mind, she thought of Jay and how he became another person when he worked undercover, taking on another persona.

“Are we done?” Tiberius asked when the guard stepped back.

“Step inside, I need to sweep you for electronic devices.” The guard, all six-foot of hard toned muscles, with a buzz cut and a suit that stretched too tight across his chest, opened the door leading inside.

They followed, finding themselves in a small hallway. The door shut behind them and clicked ominously. Taking a quick look over her shoulder, Kim noted the keypad next to the door. If this went wrong, getting out was going to be difficult.

“First.” The security guard barked his order at Tiberius, who stepped forward. “Hands up.”

In one fluid motion, the guard swept the wand around Tiberius, and then cocked his head toward the hallway beyond.

“I’m done?” Tiberius asked, then turned around and went to pick up the box of cleaning stuff.

“Wait.” The guard swept the box with his wand and grunted as he completed his sweep.

Tiberius moved to pick up the box, but Wyatt beat him to it. “Here, don’t want you to hurt your back before you take your wife on your vacation.”

Kim watched as Wyatt’s hand touched Tiberius’s. He was passing something to him. What if the guard saw?

“Me next?” Kim said brightly, stepping forward.

The guard sighed and began his sweep, oblivious to the contraband now in Tiberius’s possession. Whatever it was, she hoped it was important enough for Wyatt to have risked the whole mission for. If the guard had seen it… But he hadn’t, so she let it go.

With a quick sweep over Wyatt, the guard let them continue on. “Remember, be quick and be discreet.”

“As always.” Kim nodded to him and followed Tiberius and Wyatt down the hallway. “Where to?”

“Upstairs, we have to locate Quentin’s room,” Tiberius said.

“Pity we don’t have a floor plan,” Kim replied as she stared at the large ornate staircase that rose up from a hallway that was as big as the house she grew up in. “Wow. And they say crime doesn’t pay.”

“It doesn’t.” Wyatt hooked his hand under her arm and propelled her forward. “This place gives me the creeps. Let’s get the job done and get out of here.”

They climbed the staircase, and stopped at the top to allow Wyatt a chance to use his enhanced shifter senses to locate any other people in close proximity. “Anything?” Kim whispered.

“No one close by.” He sniffed the air. “But I do smell dragon.”

“Up here?” Tiberius, cleaning equipment in one hand, took up a defensive pose.

“Not up here. But I can smell him. You need his DNA, so follow me.” Before their eyes, Wyatt shifted.

“He’s a wolf?” Tiberius said as a large gray wolf stood before them, his tongue lolling out to the side in a lopsided grin.

“If he could speak, he'd be saying obviously,” Kim told Tiberius as they followed the wolf along the corridor, past closed door after closed door, trusting that the wolf knew where he was going.

He stopped outside a door that looked like all the rest. Solid carved wood, with heavy iron hinges. Pressing his nose to the ground he snuffled, and then looked up at Tiberius and Kim and nodded his head.

“This is it. Let’s get in and out and then go and find someplace quiet for you to make your potion.” Kim placed her hand on the door latch, it was like something out of a Gothic movie. Lifting it slowly, she freed it, and then pushed the door open, expecting it to creak. The house gave off a haunted house vibe, but as the hinges proved, this wasn’t some half-abandoned building, it was a well-maintained residence, with plush carpets and all the modern conveniences a rich man could buy.

“Wow!” Tiberius said as she entered the room. “Is that a TV? Where’s the rest of it?” He looked behind the flat-screen.

“Yes, sixty-five inches or more,” Kim said, going to stand in front of it. “Maybe it’s to make up for him lacking in other areas.” Her joke went over the heads of both Tiberius and Wyatt, who had shifted back into his human form.

“Let’s get this DNA and get out of here.” Wyatt headed to a door leading off the room. “Bathroom.”

“Great.” Tiberius followed, while Kim stayed out in the bedroom, keeping watch for anyone who might come and disturb them.

As she paced the room, she looked out of the window. There was movement below, and she ducked back, not wanting to be seen. Slowly, she inched forward, so that just she could see out of the window, and looked down at three black cars threading their way along the driveway.

“Wyatt,” she hissed, and beckoned him over as he appeared out of the bathroom. “Something is happening.”

Wyatt joined her at the window and looked down, watching in silence as the cars came to a halt in front of the mansion. The doors opened and five men got out. Four looked like the guard they had met downstairs, the other was a leaner man, unshaven, disheveled, and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

“That’s got to be Petrov Kinesin.” Wyatt ducked back from the window. “We need to move fast.”

“I have what I need,” Tiberius said, coming out of the bathroom with a small plastic bag that contained loose hair. “Now, I just have to make the potion.”

Kim nodded. “Okay, you two do your thing, and I’ll go down to the kitchen and make some tea.”

“We should stick together,” Wyatt said.

“What if we are too late?” Kim asked.

Wyatt held out his hand to Tiberius. “Give it to me.”

Tiberius fished the small electronic gadget Wyatt had smuggled past the guard. “What is it?”

“We need a distraction.” Wyatt separated the device, and placed one part in his ear and then switched on the other part, which looked like a microphone. “Up in flames is a go. I repeat, up in flames is a go.”

“What the hell is up in flames?” Kim asked, but a loud bang in the distance told her she was about to find out.