To Be A Leader

Chapter 46: Drop It Like It's Hot

"Shit. Shit. Shit," I mutter, my tone growing increasingly more frantic the longer I hold the beeping briefcase in my hand. Nicole is looking around the office, searching for anything that might be the passcode to deactivate this stupid thing.

"There's nothing here!" She yells, before looking desperately at Valmont. "Does your AI friend have any idea what this passcode could possibly be? A guess? A clue? Something?"

"Even if she did, it wouldn't be a good idea to risk it. Putting in the wrong code could trigger it to go off instantly instead of in," He checks his watch, "twenty-seven minutes, thirteen seconds."

"Well, we have to do something! That general could come back in any minute," I say in a panicked tone. "Plus, this thing is going to explode, and we need to see these plans!"

"I have an idea," Sam says. "Can't we just-get this-take the plans out of the briefcase and leave the case here? Run home with the plan. Job done."

"If we let this case be discovered here, they'll come looking for whoever tripped the security," Valmont says with a frown. "Did you use counter-surveillance techniques getting here?"

"Um... we might have been accompanied by a salty Scottish woman on a custom bike. There could have been a flock of sheep involved."

I can see him restraining from facepalming. "Right... and for this to be useful, you need Sigrid to think you haven't seen the plans yet, don't you?"

"I mean, yeah," Sam scoffs. "But look, if we take it away, won't they know we-well, you know-took it away."

"They'll definitely know if we leave it here. Anyway, we can't let this thing go off while we're in the neighborhood. Or at least, I can't. I have a reputation to maintain."

"Wow," I say. "This is the first time I can actually believe you were married to Amelia."

"Legs, you flatterer," Valmont says with a grin.

"Right," Nicole says, her lips pinched. "And I'm guessing the uh, AI-"

"A.N.N.I.E."

"Yes, A.N.N.I.E. I'm presuming she's come up with a plan?"

"Partial one. Still working out the kinks."

She lets out a breath. "Better than nothing. Where does it start?"

"Me, you and Legs need to be down in the village square by the oompah band before they finish their next song. We'll go across the roof and then climb down. Come on, run."

He heads back for the attic. Nicole and I follow, with the briefcase in my hand. It's still beeping, but I'm sure the sounds from outside will muffle it. Nicole looks at Valmont, who's very chipper for someone who could be dead within a half hour, and then back at me with a raised brow.

"You really do have a lot of nicknames, don't you?"

I shrug. "Legs is better than Speedy Gonzales, which is what he originally called me."

"Oh, that reminds me." Valmont pulls the ladder from the attic down, climbing up and ignoring how the wood bends under his weight. "I haven't given you a nickname yet, Katelyn."

"Call me Nicole. Everyone else does."

He frowns when we get up to the attic and climb out the window. "No, no. It's too normal." He looks at her over his shoulder as we start going from roof to roof of the buildings. "I could call you Bean Pole, since you're rather thin."

"Please don't."

Valmont looks at me. "What do you think, Legs? You knew her before. She have any nicknames back then?"