Holly took a deep breath and braced herself. After their Gilbert showed them the footage of where the vials were, they waited until night and were parked several blocks away from the Water purification plant.

  “You sure you want to do this alone?” Higgins asked.

  Holly nodded. She respected his mind and keen attention to detail, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings. After all the time they had spent together, Higgins didn’t strike her as someone who knew how to remain quiet.

  Instead of outright stating that he was a clumsy mess, she rolled her shoulders and said, “I’m sure. If something happens then I need you on the outside so you can relay that i’m in trouble.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Higgins said, gripping his steering wheel tighter, “Just be careful okay. I know it’s not the right time, but I-“

  Holly waited but the words seemed caught in Higgins throat. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the longing, yet worried expression on his face.

  “Just be careful okay?” Higgins finished lamely.

  Holly felt a little disappointed, but she decided that she wouldn’t let it stay there, “I’ll be safe like I promised. When I prove it, you owe me dinner.”

  Higgins’ face lit up, “Yeah.”

  “And none of that stupid car food or backwater restaurants. You’re gonna dress up and take me somewhere nice.”

  If the grin on Higgins’ face grew any bigger, his ears would start splitting. He seemed lost for words but managed to say, “You’ve got yourself a deal, Holly.”

  Holly got out of the car to hide her own stupid grin. That was something to look forward to, but right now, her focus needed to be the mission in front of her.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  She wore a plain black jump-suit over a uniform that she and Higgins put together that looked like a typical water plant worker. She made short work of jogging the few blocks to the outside compound of the water plant then ditched the jump suit behind one of the silos.

  It made more sense to sneak in using the typical looking uniform. If she was spotted in all black, that would be like screaming that she was not supposed to be there.

  Holly made it into the water plant easily and made it to Gilbert’s office with little trouble. She took her time, but nothing got in the way. There was one small complication. Gilbert was still in his office when she looked through the door’s window. He sat there in his chair, staring at the wall with vacant eyes.

  Holly backed around the corner in the blind spot of the hall canera and let out the breath she’d been holding. The footage showed him leaving earlier, when did he come back?

  There was no telling how long he would sit there, so Holly decided she needed a diversion to keep his attention.

  She texted Higgins, ‘Gilbert’s here, I need you to distract him.’

  ‘On it,’ Higgins texted back.

  Holly kept out of sight, but close enough to Gilbert’s office that she could hear him leave.

  A large crash startled Holly and she jumped, but managed not to cry out. What the hell did Higgins do? Whatever it was, it did the trick.

  Golbert rished out of his office and in his haste, left the door unlocked.

  Holly wasted no time and slipped into the office without a sound. She rushed to the painting, removed it and entered the code Gilbert wrote down into the safe.

  The safe door didn’t unlock.

  Holly’s stomach dropped and she worriedly looked over her shoulder, but before she let panic set in, she tried the code again.

  Thankfully, the light turned green and the safe door opened.

  Holly robbed the safe of all its contents, not just the vials and she darted out of the room and out of the water plant without looking back. Once outside, she ducked behind the same place where she stashed the black jumper and put it back on.

  She texted Higgins saying, ‘All clear,’ twice in a row as their agreed upon secret signal. Just in case someone trued using her phone the same way as Kristy’s.

  It took about twenty minutes for Higgins to text back twice that he was on his way back to the spot, Holly managed to beat him there.

  When Higgins drove up, the front bumper of the car was smashed in.

  “What the hell did you do?” Holly asked.

  “Well, you needed a diversion, so I exchanged insurance information with the front of the building.” Highins said with a sheepish grin.

  Holly shook her head and reaffirmed to herself that this man didn’t have a stealthy bone in his body.