Page 116 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
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Gideon putthe comm unit down on the center console and Jada was surprised at how clearly she could hear everybody. Two minutes after listening to Simon talk to a woman in the kitchen, she and Gideon saw her scampering out the side door and heading straight to a little sky-blue Honda in the parking lot.
Ryker talked to them quietly as he made his way up the front stairs and tried the handle on the first of the three front bedrooms.
“The knob’s turning,” he whispered. “Must not be anyone—”
His whispering stopped.
“Hello.”
There was the distinct sound of the door closing and Ryker continued to talk. “We have a bit of a situation here. We did some digging on the septic three days ago, and apparently, we stirred up a nest of timber rattlesnakes. We’ve already found one in the parlor, and there’s one blocked off in the master suite, so I was just check—”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” a woman’s voice shrilled. “Howard, come on, let’s go.”
“Susan, hold on a minute and let me get my shoes on.” The man sounded like a long-suffering husband.
Jada was doing everything she had not to bust a gut. “Can they hear us?” she mouthed to Gideon.
“No,” he said.
“Where in the hell does Ryker come up with his bullshit?”
“From a dark well deep inside a twisted psyche.”
“He’s hysterical,” Jada said, still trying to smother her laughter.
As Susan and Howard were vacating the room, they listened as Simon used the same story on the two people in the office. It worked like a charm.
Gideon and Jada saw four more people vacate the bed and breakfast and hit the parking lot at a run.
“Knob’s not turning,” Ryker whispered.
The distinctive sound of knocking came through.
Jada looked over at Gideon when she heard some muffled talking. “Could you understand that?”
Gideon shook his head.
Ryker knocked again.
“I’m sorry, but I really need to speak to you. We have a bit of an emergency on our hands,” Ryker said.
Muffled voices again.
“They’re having an intimate moment,” Ryker said into his mic.
“Was he just diplomatic?” Jada asked Gideon.
Gideon nodded, then put his finger to his lips. He pressed a button on the comm device. “I don’t care if it’s an orgy, get them out of there.”
“Aye, aye.”
“I’m coming upstairs to help,” Simon said.
“Nolan and I are going to cover Kendall’s door in case he hears something and peeks his head out. We’ll just nab him at that point,” Kostya said.
“Good idea,” Gideon agreed.
