I subtly peer behind a large blue garbage bin in a back alleyway, silently watching as a police officer breezed past; Malik's hand still covering my mouth. Sighing in relief, we easily assimilate with the throngs of moving people once the man — who boasted a holstered gun — had moved along.
Drawing me close, Malik and I muttered small talk as he subtly checked his GPS. It was small, only the size of the watch face wound around his wrist. It was quite smart, in my opinion, to mimic the look of a timepiece; especially with the proliferation of electronic watches that hooked up to people's phones.
I glance behind me once more, disguising the gesture by fixing my hair and flashing Malik a smile, to see Emilie and Sydney hot on our heels. I give her a slight nod, before looking forward and then subtly slipping into the shadows of yet another alleyway; and, just like that, Malik and I had vanished from the public eye.
Delving further into the alleyway, the rest of the team files in and Regie leads us to an iron manhole cover that was barely discernible in the shadows. "Harry should be down there—" she inhales deeply and grimaces with disgust when she pulls away the cover— "Damn, how does he live down hear?"
"Ladies first," Jonty chuckled, gesturing to the ladder that lead down into a dark, foul-smelling abyss. Rolling her eyes, Regie begins climbing first and immediately gestures for her sister to follow after her. Rose, Emilie, Lucille and Jonty then followed, with the henchmen keeping watch as Charles and I descended.
"Pearl," Ellie hisses, crouching down by the entrance. I merely arch a brow questioningly, almost fainting from trying to hold my breath for as long as possible. "I'm... I'm kind of freaking out."
"It's okay," I smile understandingly, "Just think about why we're doing this. You're smart, you're strong and you've trained for months. You've got this."
Inhaling deeply, Ellie smiles when Malik squeezes her shoulder comfortingly, before carefully climbing down the ladder. Reaching the ground, my feet splash into murky water and I almost vomit — Charles hurriedly grasp my hand. "Come on," Malik beckons to the henchmen. The last of the men soon slid inside; filling the sanitary sewerage system with darkness as he returned the manhole cover.