As they listened to the men curse about how impossible it was going to be to find the papers in all of this mess, the lights went on again.
“Shit.” Plan B rose up the queue in his head.
Mae hissed, “We can’t get up those stairs without being seen.”
“No shit, smartass.”
“Smartass? That the best you got?”
“Really? You’re going to give me sassnow?” He put a finger to his mouth. “I’m going to create a diversion and you’re going to run like hell up those stairs.”
“What kind of diversion?” She sounded uneasy.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to burn anything.”
The surprise in her pretty eyes gave him pause, made him feel a blip of something.
He’d definitely gone too long. First thing he was going to do when this mission was over would be to find a nice willing woman. He promised himself he wouldn’t be too picky. Maybe adecentwilling woman.
Joe put a reassuring hand on her back as they pushed out from behind a rack of clothing. He leaned in close to her ear, close enough to smell her scent, something expensive but light and airy and vibrant. It was her perfume, but also part her essence, he was sure of it.
“I’m going to move toward the front,” he whispered. “Stay put until you hear something crash, then run like hell up those stairs. Don’t look back and don’t stop. When you get outside, get your sweet ass back around the side to the Rover. It’s unlocked. I’ll meet you there.”
She nodded, eyes wide and scared, but determined and looking like she had some kind of inner strength shaming her on to be brave.
He’d only need twenty to thirty seconds, but he kept plan C ready to deploy. Giving her a thumbs-up, he took off with an odd reluctance.
Joe hugged the wall perpendicular to their position behind the row of clothing and ran. When he got close to the front, he heaved a rack of clothes to the ground. The acoustics in this place filled with clothing muffled the sound to a subdued clatter. He ran at breakneck speed toward the front door as the men shouted and headed in the direction of the downed clothes. There were three of them.
“Someone’s in here,” one guy yelled. “Spread out. Find her. Alive. I want her alive.”