TENACITY

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Sunday, October 16, 2016
Trey's House

She moved out of the room she'd finished cleaning to the next one, when she heard the earpiece crackle to life. "Can you hear me?" Ethan asked.

She pushed her cart of items into the room she was headed for and closed it behind her before replying, "Yes."

"We've got approximately a minute until the power goes out. Nicolysse and I are edging our way towards the front of the maze," he whispered. She touched the edge of her face, along her jawline, trying to find the end of the mask. Once she found it, she began pulling it off, listening to Ethan speak.

"We already discussed each other's role in detail, so do your part. Most importantly, don't lose track of time." She was pulling off the long-sleeved dress by then, revealing a fitting long sleeved black top and equally fitting black pants.

"Whatever you need to do to keep your identity hidden, do it. And whatever obstacle you need to overcome for this to be a success, deal with it. Understood?"

"Clearly," she replied as she pulled on the last hand glove. Then she bent forward to take off her shoes.

"Good. We won't communicate anymore till later." There was a pause. "Lights go out in 3, 2,—" Suddenly, everything went dark. "Oops. I timed it wrong. Regardless, all the best. We're counting on you."

When he finally went silent in her ears, she popped her head out of the door to scan the hallway then hurried across when she heard nothing, careful not to make a sound.

She was on the stairs and heading down the second floor when she heard the commotion from the ground floor—her half brother was calming them down.

You should be worrying, she thought to herself.

She made it down the last step and stepped up to the wall, feeling her way down the corridor. She heard a baby cry and stiffened, wondering if it was one of the twins. If it was, their parents would hurry up to come get them and that will put everything in jeopardy.

She forced herself to relax and continued quickly along the wall, breathing a sigh of relief when she got to the room and realized the cry was coming from downstairs. His friend's baby.

Then she thought about how weird the whole thing was.

Why was their friend's baby down there with theirs up here—unprotected too? Well, their mistake, and she mentally thanked them for making her job easy.

She slid her hand down the door till she found the knob and turned it, pushing the door open. The door didn't squeak, but moonlight from the window of the room spilled into the hallway, making it clear the door had been opened.

She slipped in through the small crack and glanced around, surprised to find her half brother's mother, who'd also been cast aside by the insufferable Andrew Robinson, there with the babies who were asleep, sprawled on the bed.

"Who's there?" Ashley asked, and she breathed a sigh of relief that Ashley didn't know who it was yet. She coughed lightly where she stood, then tiptoed slowly to the side, using the shadows as her cover.

Ashley stood from the bed—holding a wicked looking bat—and took the bait, advancing toward the spot she had vacated. "I know how to swing this baby," Ashley muttered confidently, referring to the bat.

The other woman pulled out a new handkerchief from her pocket, as well as the small vial of chloroform she had on her. She made quick work of opening the bottle and pressing it into the hankie, then advanced towards Ashley, once again using the shadows as her cover.