I've never felt so ridiculous walking into a zoo as I did that night. The animals give you the strangest looks when you come busting in commando style with too many guns and very little plan. Still it's good to be into it and we were all certainly into it. Citing time as a concern Max refused to call for permission to be in the zoo, hence the sneaking in.
Still I figured some sort of alarm would go off when Scud strong armed his way into the swan house, if there was an alarm it was a silent one. We hurried in quickly and shut the door softly behind us, giving our eyes time to adjust to the dim red light thrown off by the exit signs. Even with the darkness and the smell of swan shit it was nice being inside the controlled climate and out of the winter wonderland.
Max waved us forward, all with guns ready as we stalked deeper into the room. I saw Scud flinch as a swan warbled a warning and had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing. Slowly we made our way down the hall into the wide open room where only a small fence separated us from seven beautiful swans. At this time of the night they were all tucked in cozily on the bank, aside from one which was giving us the most annoyed look possible for a goose.
"No sign of Faire," Max whispered. "Janet duck in and see if you can find the next envelope, she may have already been through here."
"Don't you mean swan in?" Scud asked with a smirk, both Amy and I groaned while Max and Dom just rolled their eyes.
"Just go look," Max ordered.
We watched silently as Janet stepped carefully over the fence and searched all around the display for any envelope, careful not to step too close to the one swan who was watching her carefully.
"Nothing," she called quietly as she stepped carefully back over. "What now?"
"Now we wait," Max answered, looking around the room.
"You expect us to spend the night here?" Dominique looked horrified at the very idea.
"Do I expect you to stop whining and do your job? Yeah I do," Max answered.
"Up there," Amy pointed to a walkway that circled the room about ten feet up. "There has to be a way up somehow."
We wandered around the room looking for a way up, quickly Scud called from the far side of the room, shining his flashlight upwards. "Here we go." A few feet above Scud's head was the bottom rung of a ladder. "It looks like," he mused then handed Janet his flashlight. Scud bent his knees and leapt at the ladder; catching the bottom rung, instead of hanging there the ladder dropped and Scud only barely managed to get his footing and not fall on his ass.
"Good job," Max nodded. "Scud you hold the bottom for the rest of us then follow up."
"Aye aye captain," Scud saluted and stood at attention holding onto the ladder as one by one we climbed past him.
Finally he followed up, the ladder sliding slowly upwards once he was off it, till it was no more obvious then before. Following Max's example we all lay on our stomachs, making ourselves as invisible as possible as we watched for Faire.
"This is going to be another long night isn't it?" I asked Amy.
"Shh," Max glared.
"What?" I asked annoyed. "She's not here."
"And she won't come if your yapping scares her off," Max hissed.
"Will both of you just stop," Amy snapped and turned her attention back to the floor. I shared one more glare with Max before settling in to watch.
It didn't take as long as I had feared. After only a half hour we heard the distinct creak of a door opening, then a flashlight beam began to wobble in from a different hallway then the one we had come through. I half expected it to be a security guard, but there below us strode out Faire her pale blonde hair and pasty skin making her appear ghostlike in the dim light.
Before anyone else could react Max was up, gun trained on the woman's head, watching as she bent to leave the envelope near the swans.
"That good right there, don't you move a muscle now, or I'll shoot," Max warned harshly. Faire stopped still, then slowly turned her head to see Max.
"Max Brewer," Faire smiled, standing and slowly raising her hands over her head. "Nice to see you again. I do appreciate that they keep the same girls on my case all the time, it's like having a real family again."
"Cut the shit and get down on your knees," Max ordered. "Janet go cuff her."
As the rest of us kept our guns trained on Faire Janet climbed slowly down and then hurried over to Faire, pulling out a pair of hand cuffs as we went. Faire only continued to smile up at Max, a look that was only ridiculously creepy on her face. Just when Janet was within her reach Faire snapped into action, in one fluid motion she grabbed Janet, pulled her to her and pressed the barrel of a handgun against her temple.
"Now I think I'm just going to be going," Faire spoke in a sing song voice. "Or who knows how well this little ones brains are going to splatter."
"Let her go," Max ordered coldly. "We have you outnumbered, you know that."
"Yes, but you all are so moral and would hate to let your friend die, I know that much about you all. Now she'll be fine as long as you stay where you are."
Slowly Faire began backing away the way she had come down into the dark hallway again. We watched helplessly until we heard the door open again.
"Oh and Max," Faire called, her voice echoing through the hall. "Game's over. Seven maids in the city will each have a number; the eighth will let you know how to make the right phone number from the seven. If you manage to call me we'll try to work out a deal."
There was a loud thump and a moan from Janet before the door slammed. We all rushed back down hurrying down the hall to Janet. She was in a crumpled heap on the floor holding her head in both hands. Scud slid down next to her moving her hands gently away and investigating her head. At the back of her skull blood flowed freely and she winced as he gently touched it.
"I don't think it's too bad," he assured her. "Just a head wound bleeds a lot."
"Let's get her to medical," Max ordered and Scud helped Janet slowly up, supporting her as we made our way back out.
"Tomorrow we scour the city for those damn maids," Max said with a shake of her head. I want this over with."
