Page 49Whine

Right, a plan. The dogs were mostly on the front of the mansion, leaving the back empty. I'd looked on that side and it was climbable, despite the lack of a drainpipe. The roof wasn't very high on that side so I might even be able to jump it. The outside of the house had no cameras that I could see, so I should be safe. Leaving would be the same, simple enough.

Simple plans usually work best, right?

The back of the garden was easy enough to get to, as was waiting for the dogs, three of them, to be at the front. However, as soon as I climbed over the wall they came running at me. A lot faster than I expected. I only made it to the roof just before they would arrive.

But they didn't come.

They stayed in the foliage just a little away, whimpering softly. I wanted them to stay away from me, obviously, but I didn't think they'd follow my desire this literally. I moved away before people came, searching the roof for the satellite dish. When I found it I sat down and got my tools from my backpack.

Still not understanding why.

Until the penny dropped.

Animals are much more instinctive than humans. They feel when someone is stronger and more dangerous than them. The dogs whined gently to let their presence known to me, but stayed at a distance because I wanted to. The 'go away' look or feeling you can get from someone, just stronger. I felt so stupid... Valerie had told me all about this. It's just that I didn't have much interaction with dogs in the city anyway. The only other one up close was when I took blood from that guy who was taking his dog out for a walk.

Both times with him I just ignored the dog itself...

I couldn't believe I forgot about all of that.

What done is done.

Now what needed to be done was the device. It was fairly straightforward, screw the case open, find the connector of the signal and place the device between. There was enough room for it, as long as I kept it fairly simple. Considering the timing, no one should be awake to notice the signal being gone for a second.

And it really was no more than that.

Get the device, have everything unscrewed and ready, unplug the lead, plug it in the device, place the device and from there on out the signal is already back. It only took a minute to close everything up again to be ready to leave. If I'd remembered sooner that guard animals aren't a problem, this would have gone a lot faster. At least no one saw me.

I suppose the irony here is that I do write it as proper as I can, without changing the truth no matter how ashamed I feel right now. But that's part of it all. I'm not a perfect mistress of the night, perfect and shiny like a diamond. I would sooner consider myself a rock in a mildly interesting shape.

Perhaps a funny one.

Anyway, the dogs came towards me again when I left the roof, making my way to the wall. Now that I felt more confident, they stayed further away. It was a lucky treat that there were no other guards walking around the courtyard. One dog almost barked, I heard a louder whine that stopped as soon as I looked in its direction. It was time to vanish from the compound.

As I jumped over the wall I felt quite anti-climactic about the whole thing. I mean, adding the device was fun, but now that it was done, hardly anything happened. And I completely forgot to ask about a reward.

I made my way back into the city, with plenty of time until the night was over, I wanted to have a little distraction. Go out for once. Even though it wasn't the right day for it. I could also explore the waterside again, that would be fun too. Perhaps I would find someone interesting sitting there, staring at the ocean, thoughts that run free...

The phone buzzed.

I went into the nearest alley and answered. "Yes?"

"Is it done?"

"Yes, another six will be send to you."

"Wait, can I ask for something different?"

There was a small pause, no doubt to read a reply from the real Seriph. "Yes?"

"Can you arrange a place for me to stay, a basement will do. Preferably something with few windows." A thought occurred to me. "My own bathroom would be nice though."

Again a short pause, the next words were obviously spoken with a smile. "Alright, I'll get back to you on that." She hung up.

The money made me realize that I now had a way to pay Tyler without losing all of my money. The account should have plenty of money for now, with little going out of it as I didn't need much. But... Going clothes shopping would be fun, possibly with Esmeralda! I never really had that much money to spend for myself and I didn't have to work or worry about the future much. Unlike other people, I could easily sleep underground if I really, really had to. Not to say that I wanted to much.

While I walked back towards Jack, the phone buzzed again.

"Yes?"

"It will be arranged." It was spoken kindly.

I smiled back. "Thank you."

It would probably be a while before it was ready for me. I wanted to see Esmeralda again as well. But a weird thought occurred to me. I would really need something to do outside of the jobs. Now that I no longer worked at Jack anymore, I had a little too much time to spare. And I didn't want to go to bed hours before sunrise.

Something to do...

But what...

Perhaps she wants to take up painting.