An Attic filled with Birds [Completed]

23. ...and hit

Felix
This might be an impulsive decision. Scratch that, I know it is. I can't help myself. I got myself all fired up thinking about Bailey and everything he's done and everything he will do if we don't stop him. I don't care right now.

I hope I don't regret this later.

Probably not.

Right?

Anyway, using my phone's navigation I reach Bailey's house. I don't have a plan, but there aren't any guards outside either. Looks like we're both testing our luck tonight. With my mask and cap on I push against the iron gates leading to his front yard. 'Yard'. It could have been a large public park if he wanted it to be.

The gates open without any creaks. I push it a little more, and enter his garden. There have to be cameras, so I keep my head down even if I can't see them. I walk on the gravel, making sound with every step. I walk a little more to the side, and reach a lawn-part of his garden. It's much more quiet to walk on.

I sneak along the hedge around his estate. It leads me to his back door. I squat down, half in a bush, and observe the house for a while.

It's a three story brick house. Not a single window has a lit room behind it. It's very quiet. I see the back door. A lamp above it makes it visible. There's a camera a little higher and more to the right on the wall. Which shouldn't be a problem as long as I keep my head down.

I turn to the bush, and snap off some small, narrow branches. Together with the hotel room key I sharpen the ends. It's an impossible mission but I have to try. It's the least I can do. I can already imagine my dad's face when I show him the notebook.

He would, should, be ecstatic. His son, his second son, stole from his most annoying opponent and secured his plans for the next campaign season. We can prepare, and handle him this time. It'll be the beginning of the end for Bailey.

And that would be all because of me. I helped my dad and did something good for the future of the crown. They'd appreciate me. Perhaps the day I'd come home with it will become a family-holiday.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves too much, though. I don't have the notebook. Yet.

With the sharpened branches in my hand I walk towards the door. I try to open it using the door knob just to be sure. It's indeed locked, so I crouch down. I keep jamming the sticks into the keyhole. Before it has any results, a light turns on on the floor directly above it. While crouching down, I run back to the bush. I wait in it.

A shadow approaches the window. A curtain moves to the left, and the figure becomes clearer. It seems to look outside, then looks back into the house. It walks away. The light turns off. I wait some more.

It's good I did, because within a minute the light behind the window next to the back door turns on, revealing a kitchen. The door gets unlocked, and a figure peers out after opening it. I don't think it's the same figure as the one behind the window. It was broader.

I stay as still as I can. I barely breathe. If Bailey finds the son of his rival in his back yard... I don't want to imagine the extra campaign material he'd get out of that.

'Eddy!'

A voice from inside the house calls for Bailey. The figure in the doorway turns around.

'Yes?' Bailey says.

'Do you see anything?'

'No, hun. I don't. I think you imagined it.'

'I didn't. But it's alright. Come back to bed.'

'Maybe it was an animal. I'll be right there.'

The figure, apparently Bailey himself, closes the door after looking a little while longer. The light turns off. The house goes quiet.