“Trouble,” Sky said. “Straggler just ducked behind the building. Did you pick him up, Finn?”
“No, I don’t see him. You get an ID?”
“Negative. Pretty sure it’s a dude, but never got a look at the face. Some kind of hood or something.”
“I’m not seeing him,” Finn said.
“You’ve got eyes on the back door?” Wick asked.
“Of course,” Finn said. “But if the first time I see him is when he’s at the door, that’s bad things, man.”
“Sky, you agree he’s hostile?” said Wick. He was looking for confirmation, to OK the kill if necessary.
“Can’t say for sure. But he’s definitely shady.”
“Alright, hang tight, bro,” Wick said to his brother. “I’ll swing around.”
“Hold there, Wick,” Finn said. “I’ll loop Able, get him to come out.”
“I’m already street level,” Wick answered, and Sky could hear the movement in his voice. “And I’m almost there anyway.”
From his elevated position, Sky saw Wick effortlessly flow across the street like a wisp of smoke. They were all highly trained professionals, but nobody really moved like Wick. He vanished around the same corner where the straggler had gone less than a minute before.
There was a long silence. Sky kept careful watch of the approaches towards Mister Sun’s, but his eyes kept drifting back to that corner, wondering what was going on down there. What was taking so long? As he looked back up at the far end of the street, three figures came into view, and Sky cursed to himself.
“Patrol inbound; front side, three men, fifty meters,” he said.
“Check,” Finn said.
Wick didn’t answer. Forty meters. There was a sudden sharp noise from the alley, quickly muffled. But not quickly enough. Sky saw the guards in the street react, their posture stiffening. Alerted. They fanned out slightly and started prowling towards the building.
“Wick, you alright?” Finn asked. No response. Thirty meters. “Wick!” Finn said again, more forcefully.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered in a whisper. “How close is that patrol?”
“Twenty meters,” Sky reported. “One’s splitting off.” One of the guards was now moving to an adjacent alley, circling around towards the back of Mister Sun’s house.
“I gotta to take Straggler in.”
“Swoop’ll be pissed,” Finn said.
“Doesn’t matter, they’re too close. Tell him we’re comin’ in the back.”
“Alright, check.”
Sky heard the subtle click in the channel as Finn cycled it and looped Swoop in. “Swoop, Finn.”
A moment later, Swoop answered, “Yeah, go.”
“Problem. Wick’s gotta bring a guest in through the back door.”
Sky watched as the two remaining guards spread their position, one keeping to the front of the building, while the other cautiously tried to get an angle on the alley where Wick and Straggler had gone.
“And we’ve got a patrol sniffing around outside,” Finn added.
There was a pause. There was almost always a pause with Swoop. “Check,” he finally said.
The guards looked at each other, and one nodded to the other. The first entered the alley.
“Keep your head down back there, Finn,” Sky said.
Cass heard a commotion on the stairs, someone descending in a hurry.
“There’s someone outside!” Painter called as he came down, but Swoop was already in motion and just pointed for him to get back upstairs.
Cass barely had time to process what Painter had said, before she heard Wick come bursting through the back door. He appeared in the central room a few seconds later, forcing a hooded figure ahead of him. Painter finally seemed to realize what Swoop had meant, and quickly retreated up the stairs again.
“Sorry,” Wick said. “Patrol’s right outside. I told him to keep his eyes closed, his head down, and his mouth shut.” He leaned in and put his mouth nearly against the side of Hood’s head when he said the last part, for emphasis. Hood shrank away from Wick slightly, but the tilt of his head made it seem more from annoyance than fear. Wick forced Hood into a chair near the back of the room and stood in front of him, gripping his shoulder.
Swoop moved in next to Wick, and started asking questions in a low voice, in his steady tone. Somehow the lack of emotion made Swoop more frightening.
Able took a place about midway between Cass and Hood, positioning himself as an additional shield. Gamble kept her spot at the front of the room, but slid off the table to her feet, and casually rested one hand on the grip of her holstered jittergun. She caught Cass’s eye, held a finger up to her lips, and then pointed to Mister Sun’s side room. Cass nodded, and she quietly got up from the table and signaled for North to follow her. But before she reached the other room–