Page 58 of Deserving Cora
“I’m thinking that’s better than skulking around the grounds and risking a trespassing charge,” Stone said with a shrug.
“I’m okay with it, but you aren’t going by yourself,” Pipe said.
Cora looked over at him and realized he was extremely tense. They were sitting in the back seat, while Stone and Owl sat up front. The latter had his attention on the house, taking pictures from the passenger seat as they waited for…something to happen.
“I might have a better chance of talking with Lara if I’m by myself,” Cora argued. “You guys aren’t exactly nonthreatening.”
“And Michaels could decide to grab you too,” Pipe countered. “If Stone or Owl is with you, that won’t happen.”
Cora tilted her head as she studied Pipe. “Why them? Why not you?”
Pipe snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“No, seriously, why not?”
“Look at me, love. A rich bloke like Ridge Michaels isn’t going to let someone like me into his home. He’ll take one look at me and know something’s up.”
Cora frowned, not happy at the way he disparaged himself. “Or maybe he’ll take one look at you and realize he messed up. He’ll poop his pants and let us have Lara without any fuss.”
Pipe’s lips twitched.
“This isn’t funny!” Cora argued.
“Poop his pants?” Pipe asked.
Cora tried not to smile, but she was so worked up, so full of nervous energy, that she couldn’t stop herself. “Yeah, well, cussing hasn’t exactly made me any friends, so I’m trying to tone it down.”
“We don’t give a shit if you cuss,” Owl said from the front seat.
“Nope,” Stone agreed. “We aren’t exactly non-cussers ourselves.”
“And, for the record, I agree with Cora,” Owl added. “Michaels will see you with her and know she’s got reinforcements. There’s no guarantee he’ll hand over his girlfriend, but—”
“She’snothis girlfriend,” Cora growled.
“Right, sorry.”
“Still don’t think this is a good idea, but all right. I’m not letting you go up there by yourself. But you should all be forewarned, if this Michaels guy tries anything, if he touches Cora, I can’t promise I’ll hold my temper.”
“Noted,” Stone said.
“Cool,” Owl added.
“So, what’s the plan?” Cora asked. “Do we have a cover story?”
“Cover story? Cora, he knows who you are, that you live in DC, and the fact that you’re suddenly on his doorstep, wanting to see Lara, shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Not with how close the two of you are. We don’t need a cover story.”
“Right. Sorry, I’m just nervous.”
Pipe reached out and took her hand in his. “I’ll be right there.”
Taking a deep breath, Cora nodded. “I know. And I appreciate it.”
“Owl, is there anything you can see that we didn’t get from the satellite pics Tex sent us?”
“Yeah, you know that large, flat space we saw that we thought were tennis courts?” Owl said as he stared through a pair of binoculars toward the house. There weren’t a lot of trees in the fancy neighborhood to block their view of the house. The perimeter was surrounded by a low brick wall, easy enough to see over and scale, if need be. There were cacti sprinkled around the entire neighborhood, and the house they were surveilling had a gate across the driveway.
“Yeah? What about it?” Pipe asked.
