Chloe kissed his cheeks with a louder squeak than the hinges. “You are brilliant.”
“The windows have the serious security,” he said modestly. “No one’s dumb enough to try this from inside.”
“Except us,” she said proudly. “I want those passwords.” She rubbed her hands together like a villain in a bad movie.
“If you hear anything, flash a light at us,” Jason whispered, handing me his flashlight. “The office might be bugged.”
It was both boring and surprisingly nerve-racking to be lookout. I was used to being thrown into events without warning, but all this careful listening and excruciating waiting was making my palms sweat. I jumped twice at the sound of my own heartbeat, mistaking it for footsteps. A half hour later, when my back teeth hurt from clenching them so tightly, Chloe practically skipped out of the office. She waved a data stick at me. Her smile was huge and smug as a cat’s. “Got ’em.” She beamed.
The return trip to the dorms wasn’t nearly as smooth.
For one thing, a van of hunters returned just as we were stepping out of the building. Jason didn’t speak, only shoved us back inside. We stumbled against one another just as the spear of headlights swept across the pathway. The van rumbled across the lawn, straight to the infirmary.
Hunter popped out of the bushes beside us, frowning. “That’s not good.”
Chloe yelped and elbowed me in the boob. “Shit, Chloe!” I yelped back.
“Shh,” Hunter added. “Hello? Stealthy, remember?”
“Tell that to my left boob.”
We eased around the building, trying to find a safe spot to hide to get a better look at the van. Jenna dropped out of a tree and Jason clamped a hand over Chloe’s mouth so her startled scream wouldn’t give us away. The van stopped and the headlights went out. Hunter motioned us to the pond but didn’t follow. Instead, she went low, and headed to the van. We dashed away, then crouched in the darkness to watch and wait. We lay in the long grass, our feet tucked against the bank of dark water. The snow seeped into my pants, making me shiver.
Hunter crept along the edge of the gardens, as close to the front door as she could. She stopped halfway up the path, hiding behind a juniper. She tossed something into the bushes and then ran to join us as the van’s front doors opened. She slid into the grass as if she were playing baseball. The swan gave a loud indignant honk. “I hate that bird,” she muttered.
Two hunters stepped out onto the path, wearing their full gear under the cover of winter coats. When Hunter fished a small black surveillance gadget out of her pocket, we could hear the sound of their footsteps as they went around to the back of the van.
“Wireless surveillance amplifier,” she explained with a smile equally as smug as Chloe’s when she’d danced out of Bellwood’s office. “There’s only one bug left inside the infirmary. They keep doing sweeps.”
“Where do you get this stuff?” I asked. “Seriously, do you stockpile it?”
“Kieran stole this for me last week from his uncle’s basement. It’s last year’s model so no one will miss it.”
“I had no idea the boy scout was such a delinquent,” I said, impressed. “He keeps surprising me.” We tucked ourselves deeper into the frostbitten grass as the hunters began to talk. Chloe couldn’t help but inspect the surveillance gadget.
“Another body,” the man said wearily when Theo came out of the infirmary. “She died on the way here.”
Theo shook his head. “Damn it, I feel as if I’m running a morgue instead of an infirmary.”
“Keep her under surveillance,” the female hunter said as she slid the gurney out of the van. “If she doesn’t turn we’ll put her back where we found her and call the authorities.”
“And if she turns?” Theo asked, even though I could tell by the look on his face that he already knew the answer.
“We stake her.”
“She’s not instantly evil,” I whispered furiously. “She’d just be a vampire.” In my indignation, I must have been louder than I’d thought because the hunters reached for their stakes.
“Shit.” Hunter started to scuttle backward. “Into the pond,” she added, sliding under the cold water. We followed as quickly and quietly as we could. The hunter stalked our way as the icy water stole my breath. Even though I wanted to scream at the shock of it, there was no air left in my lungs. It wasn’t as cold here as in the mountains and the snow was still merely decorative, but it was still too damn cold for a swim. Chloe’s head popped up beside mine and we curled into the weeds. Jason’s lips were already blue.
The hunters were getting closer.
Too close.
The woman had a gun at her belt and looked like she was in the mood to shoot first and ask questions later. My fingers cramped with cold as I held onto the bank, trying not to move my legs and create any ripples.
Just as they were crossing into the longer grass, Hunter dove under the water and yanked on the swan’s leg. It squawked and hurled itself into the air, flying so erratically in its surprise that it clipped one of the hunters in the ear. They stumbled, cursing and ducking.
We crawled out of the pond as quickly as we could. The water made my sweater three times as heavy as it had been and filled my boots. My teeth chattered. Even my bones were cold.
“That damn bird still lives here?” the guy muttered as they turned away from the pond and went to push the sheet-covered body up to the double doors. The fluorescent lights were cruel and uncompromising, falling brightly over bloodstains. Theo peered under the sheet and frowned as we huddled close to one another, trying not to die from exposure. Hunter, being Hunter, had the foresight to leave the transmitter in the grass, so we would still hear them talking. She’d even knocked Chloe’s data stick out of her hand, since she was still clutching it like a little girl at her first carnival with her first cotton candy.