“This is part of the deal, baby. We won’t be too long.”
He lets me get up, and I shrug into my long sleeve black shirt. Bending at the waist, I pull my hair into a high ponytail.
“Get up. I want to talk to everyone before we leave.”
I grab my combat boots and jog from the room. Sorina and Agent Morris are sitting at the breakfast bar with Teresa. Everyone else is filing into the living room as I blur past heading for the tech office. Sammi comes rushing out and we almost collide. She hands me a piece of paper.
“Thanks, Boa.”
“Be careful, mate.”
Smiling, I clasp her shoulder. “Always am. Come on.”
We head back to the living room just as Blake comes out of the bedroom.
“Lily, let’s go,” Dresden’s voice is agitated.
He drops two huge duffel bags on the living room floor and unzips them.
“Everyone sit down, please.”
He and I are transitioning into a mode we’ve become all to accustom to— assassin mode. I kneel and strap my .22 to my right ankle and three bans of knives to my thigh. Quickly switching to the other knee, I attach a hunting knife to my other ankle and a .50 cal to my other thigh.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
“Uncle Dres and I have an assignment. Vlad, cover Blake until I get back.”
“We got it, Lily. How long will you be gone?”
“A few hours. Did you all still want to know what we did while we were gone?” I strap a multi-hooked belt around my waist. Attached are two whips, one on either side, two .45’s around the back, two flash-bang grenades, and two grenades with sleeping gas.
“Of course,” Blake says forcefully, taking a seat next to Sorina.
“Good.” I grab a small black box, transmitter, speaker, and cable.
I click one end of the cable into a port on the living room television, the other into the back of the box. As I connect the box to the transmitter and speaker, Dresden clips another portable transmitter to the back of my belt then reaches around me and runs a small microphone up the inside of my shirt, clipping it around my collar.
“Thank you,” I mutter turning to face him. “Give me yours and turn around.”
I fix his the same way as mine, before returning to the duffel bag. Slinging a strap holding my shotgun to my back, I turn the TV on. Images of the inside of the duffle bag pop up on the screen.
“What the hell is this?” Agent Johanson’s voice makes my blood boil.
“Closed-circuit monitoring,” Dresden hisses. “Now, shut up.”
I slide on my shoulder holsters followed by my black leather jacket. Turning to the group, Dresden pulls out two pairs of yellow-tinted sunglasses, each with a very small camera attached to the right eyepiece. We slide them on, and the team is reflected on the TV.
“Lily?” Blake stands and moves quickly to stand in front of me. He cups the side of my face and kisses me hard. Resting my hand on his chest, he sighs and rests his forehead against mine.
“I love you,” he whispers.
The hum of a helicopter vibrates the house.
“I love you, too. You’ll be able to see and hear us the entire time. Everything we see, you’ll see. You won’t like it, I promise you. But you wanted to know.”
“Be careful.”
I kiss him lightly again, smiling. “I always am.”