Chapter 146
Rescue Plan
Erin and Zeldana were able to quickly find Durge, working as a bartender. Both ladies were a bit surprised at how skillfully the large orc was able to mix drinks. It seemed like it was something that he was a natural at. Thanks to his skills, there weren’t any unsatisfied customers left in the area, which gave them an opportunity to quickly talk with him and making arrangements to meet up later with all the others.
Arkay was next and even he had been doing a rather good job at his work. Thanks to his polite attitude and personality, a lot of the customers had been left pleased with his work. There were, however, some people that seemed to have taken such a liking to him that Erin was happy Ryle wasn’t with them. Had the blonde seen some of the looks Arkay got, their cover would have been blown immediately due to her unleashing violent rage.
Lastly, Erin and Zeldana had gone to meet up with Ryle and Lexton. After confirming how long it would take them to finish their work, it turned out that they would be able to get to the meeting in time. Erin still told them to take their time in arriving, as she requested that both would go take a shower before arriving. The stench from the baths was not something that she wanted to deal with.
Once their plans for the meeting had been made, Erin and Zeldana proceeded to go and do their work as maids in order to keep up their disguise. For the most part, all they had to do was some cleaning work and serving some of the guests.
There were a couple of unfortunate incidents, where Erin almost blew their cover, as some of the guests had gotten a bit too “handy” with her. The redhead had luckily been able to hold back her anger and thus not cause any issues. However, when the same happened with Zeldana, Erin was shocked to see the elf somewhat play into it, flirting back in response to what had happened to her. To make it worse, she wasn’t sure if the elf was simply acting according to their disguise or if she was being honest.
“Iyaah! Master, please don’t touch me like that!” Zeldana squealed as another guest had put his hands on her. “It makes it so much harder for me to work like this!”
“Oh, don’t be like that! It’s just a little fun!” the perverted guest said with a smile on his face. “You wouldn’t want to leave me unsatisfied, would you?”
The guest’s comment angered Erin. He knew that none of them could ever complain about the mistreatment they faced, as the owner didn’t care about anything than filling her own pockets with money.
“Oh! I would never want anything like that, master! Not at all!” Zeldana quickly said. “It’s just that is a little touch enough amusement for you, when there are far more fun things for us to enjoy?”
“I… What?” the guest struggled to speak. He had been expecting the elf to start crying or something. This turn caught him completely off guard.
“Exactly what I mean, master,” Zeldana replied in a seductive tone, as she leaned on the guest with a coy smile on her face and slipped something into his pocket. “Come see me in the room on the note later. And drink the vial I gave you as well. It will make things more… exciting.”
The guest could only stare at the elf with his face as red as a tomato as he nodded vigorously, before walking away in a blissful daze.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Erin asked angrily. “That’s the third person you’ve done that with! Are you trying to get us into trouble or something!?”
“Trouble? Me? I would never cause such a thing!” Zeldana said in a mock shocked voice. “I’m simply providing the guests here with some extra activities! It will be fun for everyone involved!”
“Yeah… I heard what you said to him,” the redhead grumbled. “Are you actually going to meet with him and all those others? You know, for that “good time” you’ve been promising them?”
“Of course I’m not going to do that! What kind of a woman do you think I am!?” the elf said with a laugh. “All I’ve been doing is make preparations for something a bit special, that’s all!”
“And just what that something special is exactly?” Erin asked. “Also, if you’re not the one taking part in it, then who is?”
“Just a common acquaintance we all have,” Zeldana said with a chuckle. “I’m certain she will come to enjoy it as well.”
The redhead decided not to question the elf’s motives any longer, as it seemed to be futile. While Zeldana was an excellent healer, she had a very twisted sense of humor, something that Erin and the others had to learn through the hard way. It was like the elf got some sick pleasure out of causing pure chaos all around her. Whatever she was planning, the redhead could only hope that it wouldn’t cause issues to her or the others. At the very least she could find comfort in the fact that none of them were the targets this time. As far as she knew that is…
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Erin and Zeldana proceeded towards the place they had decided to meet up with the others. It was a large storage room located at the uppermost floor. This was chosen as the location, because not only would the guests most likely not come close to it, as they were prohibited from entering, but also other employees were unlikely to be found close. This was due to the guests that were at the uppermost floor, Golorath’s people. Because of the fear of what might be done to them at any moment, most of the workers chose to avoid the floor like it was poisoned. This gave their meeting enough privacy in order to make their plans for getting Stacey out of the hotel.
By the time Erin and Zeldana made their way to the storage room, they found out that Durge was already there. Apparently, his work behind the bar had come to an end and he had been asked to handle other tasks. However, due to him being built like a truck made out of muscles, he had made some of the guests a bit uncomfortable and had been allowed to leave early.
Next one to arrive was Arkay. The cat boy seemed to be just fine, except he said that there had been some female guests that had been giving him strange looks. Due to his innocence, Arkay had thought that he had been doing a bad job, which caused him to worry that he could have blown their cover. The others did know what had really been going on and assured him that his fears were for nothing. Erin once again was thankful that Ryle wasn’t around.
Speaking of the blonde, she and Lexton were late, even though they had said that they should be able to get to their meeting in time. At first, the others assumed that the work the two were stuck with had been lengthened due to some unforeseen issues and decided to wait a bit longer. But when the two missing members were over an hour late, they began to get worried.
“...Okay, this isn’t good,” Erin stated. “Those two should have been here by now. Something has got to be wrong.”
“Hang on, Erin. I get that you’re worried, I feel the same way, but don’t you think there might be a simple explanation for this?” Durge asked. “They could have just gotten stuck with more work. From what I heard from the head butler, that bathing area is like a war zone. Besides, we all know just how those two act with each other. They could just be stuck in another one of their arguments.”
“Those two promised us that they would be here on time! At least Lexton should be smart enough to analyze the work they had in order to make such a judgment!” the redhead argued. “And even if those two fight with each other more than they fight with our enemies, I doubt any argument between those two would have gone this long! It’s almost been two hours already!”
“Good point,” the orc said with a frown, worried over their missing friends. “Should we go look for them or something?”
“That’s the plan!” Erin said as she walked to the door. “I’m going to find out just where those two are before-!”
The redhead was cut off as soon as she opened the door, as she came face to face with none other than Ryle. The blonde had a wide-eyed look of surprise on her face at first, which soon turned into a grin of amusement.
“Ryle! You’re here!” Erin said. “Where the hell have you been!? And where is Lexton!?”
“Well, there is a reason as to why I’m late. Sorry about that,” the blonde said as she was starting to snicker, trying her best to hold back her laughter. “As for where Lex is, he is closer than you think.”
“What is that supposed to mean!?” the redhead asked angrily, not in the mood for playing games. “And what the hell is so goddamn funny!?”
In response, Ryle simply pointed at behind the now open door. Erin peered around it and found Lexton laying on the floor, holding his nose that was bleeding.
“Lex! What are you doing there!?” Erin asked. “And what happened to you!? Did one of Golorath’s goons do that to you!?”
“At this point, I’m not sure whether I’d be safer with them than you!” the kobold replied angrily. “Because you opened the door like some maniac, you managed to hit me like a goddamn truck! Are you trying to kill me or something!?”
“Oh… Sorry. I didn’t know you were there,” the redhead apologized, causing Ryle to burst into laughter. She then remembered why she had been in such a hurry in the first place. “Hang on! I’m the one who should be upset here! Where have you two been!? Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been!?”
“Well, there is a rather simple explanation to that!” Lexton stated, before glaring at his blonde companion. “Isn’t there!? Ryle, you asshole!”
“Hey, no snitching!” the blonde said with a hiss, only to realize that she had just basically revealed herself to be at fault.
“...What did you do this time?” Erin asked in a deadpan tone as she stared at Ryle.
“Nothing! I swear!” the blonde tried to argue. “I just… Got a bit distracted! That’s all!”
“A bit, my ass!” Lexton said angrily. “You were supposed to wait for me outside the baths, while I finished my work! When I finally got out, you were nowhere to be seen! Care to take a guess what she was doing, Erin?”
“Just tell me,” the redhead said with a sigh. “I’m already dreading the answer as is.”
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About two hours earlier, Lexton had finished working on the piping of the baths and had even managed to clean himself up. Working with filth wasn’t exactly something that left you smelling like a flowerbed and he didn’t want to go to the meeting with the others while carrying the stench. Mainly he just didn’t want to hear constant comments regarding the smell.
Once he was finished cleaning himself up, the kobold had gotten out of the baths, expecting Ryle to be waiting for him there. Much to his surprise and ire, the blonde was nowhere to be found.
“Oh for the love of… Where the hell is she now!?” Lexton asked. “I know that she isn’t exactly intellectually gifted, but you’d think that simply waiting at a certain spot wouldn’t be hard to understand! I swear, the one time I need her and she’s gone…”
The kobold began to walk around, looking for his missing companion, when he heard a butler and a maid talking with each other. The topic of their conversation quickly caught his interest.
“Are the rumors true? There was an assassin that infiltrated the hotel disguised as a maid?” the maid asked. “And they’ve managed to catch her?”
“Yes, but try not to talk about it too much. At least when you’re around guests. We don’t want them to feel disturbed over such things,” the butler said in a hushed tone. “Apparently, she wasn’t a very bright one, as she herself just admitted to it. Those rebels must be getting desperate, if they’re willing to hire someone like her.”
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“Stupid or not, I still find it kind of scary that such a person was walking among us, pretending to be one of us,” the maid said as she shivered a bit. “Where is she now?”
“She’s currently being held at the basement storage area. Once the police get here, they’ll transport her to the nearest station to be held, until the proper authorities can get to her,” the butler explained. “I doubt she’ll live long after that. I’m pretty sure they’ll just end up executing her sooner than later.”
Hearing this story caused Lexton to start panicking, as he feared he knew what had happened. It was easy to make the connection within his mind and draw the very unfortunate conclusion that Ryle had been discovered and had been taken into custody. After all, they were talking about a female assassin that was apparently very stupid. This description fit Ryle perfectly in the kobold’s opinion.
Knowing that he needed to act fast, Lexton rushed to the nearest elevator and used it to get to the basement floor. Once there, he sneaked around the place, looking for the storage area that Ryle was being held at. The kobold only hoped that he would be able to make it there before the police arrived.
Lexton’s hopes were soon crushed, when he spotted two police cars in the basement and an officer waiting next to them. It seemed like he hadn’t gotten there fast enough. Knowing that he couldn’t allow Ryle to be taken, he started to go through some of the equipment he had hidden in his clothing, already formulating a plan in his head to rescue the blonde. Once he heard footsteps approaching, he grabbed one of his vials and got ready to throw it.
However, just as he was about to throw the vial, he stopped. Upon seeing the person that was being escorted by the police, Lexton’s previous fear and panic were replaced by confusion.
image [https://i.ibb.co/XFV7h4B/Ch-146-Pic-1.jpg]
“I keep telling you, I am NOT a rebel! Okay!?” Zena shouted angrily as she was being dragged towards the cars. “I used to work directly under Lord Golorath himself! I am one of the last people to ever go against him!”
“You’ve already admitted to being guilty!” one of the police officers shouted. “Didn’t you tell one of Lord Golorath’s guards that you are an assassin!?”
“YES! BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT MY JOB WAS IN HIS SERVICE!” the ex-assassin practically screamed. “I thought that he knew me from seeing me at Golorath’s palace or something! That’s why when he asked if I was an assassin, I said yes! Why the hell else would I give myself away like that!?”
“Who the hell knows!? Maybe you’re just an idiot or something!?” another officer asked sarcastically. “All we know is that you’ve admitted multiple times that you’re a hire killer and that there are currently multiple people that are close to Lord Golorath! Why else would you be here, dressed as a maid!?”
“BECAUSE I QUIT BEING AN ASSASSIN! I JUST WORK HERE!” Zena screamed as loudly as she could. “I’m trying to change my career and college is freaking expensive! I’m just trying to earn some money here to cover my goddamn tuition fees!”
“Sure you are! Tell that to the people at the station!” one of the officers said as the ex-assassin was shoved into the back of one of their cars.
“YOU’LL REGRET THIS, YOU ASSHOLES!” the ex-assassin managed to yell, before the door was closed.
As the police drove away with their suspect, Lexton was left baffled. He had been so certain that it was Ryle who had been captured, yet it had just been some random maid due to some weird misunderstanding?
“...Well, that was… odd, to say the least. Also, have I seen that person somewhere before? She looked strangely familiar,” the kobold muttered to himself, before he remembered the issue that he was still dealing with. “Oh crud! I almost forgot that the idiot is still missing! Where the hell is she!?”
Having recalled the cause for his panic earlier, Lexton began to run around the hotel in search of the missing Ryle. However, no matter where he looked, he just couldn’t find the blonde. It was almost like she had vanished completely. He even tried asking some of the other staff if they had seen her, but no one could really help him out. Although, his description of Ryle, which was “a new blonde maid that looks like a complete imbecile and acts like a savage,” probably didn’t help him in his search.
After searching through most of the hotel with no results, Lexton was about to give up, when he heard noises from a nearby closet. And one of them sounded very familiar.
“A-Are you sure that we should be doing this, miss?” a boyish voice said. “If any of the senior staff catch us, we could lose our jobs!”
“No worries! No worries! Not that many employees walk around these parts and I doubt any of the guests would be interested in coming here! Besides, I’ll know well before anyone even comes close here, so we’ll have enough time to hide or pretend like we’re looking for something, so it’s all good!” a voice that Lexton recognized said happily. “And didn’t I tell you guys that you don’t need to call me miss? Just call me Ryle!”
Having heard more than enough, Lexton’s body began to tremble with rage. All the worry, fear and panic he had felt for the sake of a certain blonde idiot had been a complete waste. Not only was she not in danger at all, but she had caused him to go through one of the most stressful moments in his life for nothing more than for her own desires.
The kobold was gritting his teeth as he grasped the handle on the door. He still needed to make sure with his own eyes that it was as he suspected it to be.
Using all of his strength, Lexton flung the door open, catching the occupants by surprise. Just as the kobold had expected, Ryle was there with two young butlers. Judging by the playing cards and different snacks that were on the floor, the blonde had convinced the two butlers to join her in ditching their work and slacking off with her having ulterior motives that Lexton and their other companions were more than aware of.
image [https://i.ibb.co/7QMTGBQ/Ch-146-Pic-2.jpg]
“What the-!? LEX!?” Ryle cried out in surprise. “This isn’t-! I mean-!”
The blonde didn’t get to finish her excuses, as she was grabbed by her hair and pulled down on eye level with the kobold, who had a VERY angry look on his face.
“You lower than amoeba lifeform! Do you have any idea what I’ve just been through thanks to you!?” Lexton asked angrily as he glared at Ryle. “I had to run through this entire goddamn place, searching for you, when all you had to do was stay put! Are your brains so undeveloped that you cannot even comprehend something as simple as that!?”
“OW! OW! Okay! I get it! I get it!” Ryle cried out in pain. “You’re pissed because I went on my own without telling you! I’m sorry, okay!? Aren’t you overreacting a bit, though!?”
“OVERREACTING!?” the kobold shouted. “You dare say something like that!? For a moment, I had thought that you were-!”
Lexton suddenly stopped his rant, as he realized what he almost said. He even let go of the blonde’s hair, who took notice of the sudden change in the kobold’s attitude.
“You thought I was… what?” Ryle asked. “You were in the middle of ranting, when you stopped all of a sudden. What were you about to say?”
“S-SHUT UP!” Lexton shouted with an embarrassed blush on his face before turning around. “Just follow me already! We’re late from meeting the others!”
The blonde simply watched as the kobold stomped away from her, before shrugging and following after him. Soon after that they got to the meeting place and the rest is already known.
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After hearing Lexton’s story, Erin stared at Ryle, who was doing her best to not look at the redhead in the eyes. In fact, the blonde seemed to have taken an interest in the ceiling, as she kept looking up while whistling innocently.
“...Honestly, I’m not even mad,” Erin said with a sigh. “Just disappointed.”
“What!? Is that all you’re going to say!?” Lexton asked angrily. “After everything I went through you’re not even going to reprimand her!?”
“Lex, what good would that do?” the redhead asked. “We both know that whatever we say to her goes in from one ear and out the other anyways! When I think about it, I should almost be reprimanding you for taking your eyes away from her, knowing that she can’t be trusted to follow simple directions…”
“Ha! In your face, scaly!” Ryle said with a smug grin.
“...That wasn’t something you should be taking as a positive, Ryle!” Erin said as she glared at the blonde.
“Wait… But you were putting the blame on him, right? So shouldn’t that make it good for me or was there something that I missed?” Ryle asked. “...I’m confused.”
“Of course you are,” the redhead said as she rolled her eye, before turning her attention to Lexton. “Although, I do have to say what really surprised me was that you were not just worried over Ryle, but willing to risk your life to save her. Care to elaborate on that?”
“What’s there to elaborate? I didn’t want her to die?” the kobold asked sarcastically. “Besides, you’d have been upset with me, if I hadn’t gone so far to rescue her!”
“Sure, I get that. I just never expected you to go so far in order to do so,” Erin said with a small grin. “I guess you don’t hate her as much as you’d like us to believe. Maybe you even… like her?”
“Oh my God! Don’t make say such horrid things without a warning!” Lexton said as acted like he was holding back vomit. “Even the sewage in that bath didn’t make me want to throw up as much as that did!”
“Yeah, Erin! That was super gross!” Ryle complained with a look of disgust on her face. “You know well enough that I would never go for someone like Lex!”
“That’s not what I was implying! I meant that-!” Erin tried to argue back, only to stop herself. “You know what? Forget it. Just forget it! All I wanted to do was try to use this moment to strengthen our friendships, but I was so wrong for doing so! Just another waste of my time!”
The redhead went back to the storage room, leaving her two friends confused.
“What was that about?” Lexton asked.
“Who knows?” Ryle said with a shrug. “Erin’s a total mystery sometimes.”
With the whole group now gathered, they could finally start their meeting concerning the kidnapping of Golorath’s “wife.” Or as Erin liked to think of it as the rescuing of Stacey.
“Alright, so Erin, you’re the one who called this meeting of ours,” Zeldana started. “What have you found out so far that made you do so?”
“I was able to meet up with Golorath’s lady and talk to her,” the redhead explained, which surprised the others. “It seems that this operation is a bit different from what we had imagined.”
“Did something happen?” Arkay asked. “I can only imagine just how terrifying the person who would marry one of the overlords could be.”
“Nothing bad happened, Arnie. In fact, I learned some important about our target,” Erin replied. “Turns out that she isn’t a happily married housewife, but a terrified captive.”
“You mean she’s some sort of a prisoner?” Durge asked with a raised eyebrow. “Then why has she been seen next to Golorath on a few occasions dressed in fine clothing? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I doubt you’re supposed to treat your victims like that.”
“It’s a bit of a… complicated issue,” the redhead said, trying not to let too much information slip that would reveal her past. “Turns out that she has some history with Golorath. Keeping her around as sort of a prize is his way of getting back at her.”
“Holy crap. What could she have done to piss him off that bad?” Ryle wondered. “You’d have to do something really nasty to get me even close to being that upset!”
“You’re forgetting that we aren’t dealing with a normal person here, Ryle. Someone as powerful as him can pretty much do whatever he wants for whatever reason,” Lexton explained. “For all we know, she could have simply looked at him the wrong way to receive such punishment. I doubt she actually did anything bad to really earn his wrath.”
Erin had to bite her lip, as she thought back to her past. While she didn’t agree with what Gabe was doing, she had to admit that Stacey had earned his hatred.
“Anyways, back to the topic at hand. You’re saying that she’s willing to come with us, so there’s no need for an actual kidnapping, correct?” Lexton asked. “That could make things easier, as we won’t have to force her into anything.”
“That’s kind of what I was hoping for,” the redhead said. “However, she seems to be very scared, as she panicked when I tried to simply talk to her. I just hope that she’s able to stay calm when the time comes.”
“We’ll just have to deal with it when it happens, I suppose,” Zeldana said with a shrug. “As for the actual escape itself, anybody got any ideas? I doubt we can simply walk through the front door with her.”
“Maybe we could do that of we dress her up as one of the maids?” Ryle suggested. “Even if it isn’t through the front door, we could just walk outside, claiming that we are going out to get some needed supplies or something? I doubt anybody here has memorized all the faces of the people working here.”
“That might be true, but they have certainly memorized her face,” Durge pointed out. “The whole plan blows apart the second anybody realizes who she is.”
“Can’t we fix that, though?” Arkay asked. “From what I’ve heard, you can change somebody’s looks through makeup and wigs enough to pass them off as another person.”
“That should be doable… I might be able to handle the makeup, so all we need is a wig,” Erin said thoughtfully, before turning her attention towards Lexton. “Lex, do you think you can make her a wig?”
“Erin, after all the things that I’ve made, do you really have any doubts that I could make you a simple wig?” the kobold asked sarcastically. “Honestly, the only thing that could provide a challenge with such a task would be if you asked me to put something else into it.”
“Like what? Laser turrets?” Durge asked.
“Eh. That’s a bit boring, but could work as a start,” Lexton said with a shrug.
“...I’m frightened by the fact that you’re not joking,” Erin said. “But no. Things like laser turrets are not necessary. Just make a convincing normal wig for her and that will be enough.”
“Your loss,” the kobold replied.
“What about the guards? Even if they’re simple brutes, they are still Golorath’s personal elite soldiers,” Arkay pointed out. “They might recognize her even with her disguise. Is there anything we can do to distract them or something?”
“No need to worry about that. I’ve already made preparations for that,” Zeldana said with a grin, surprising the others. “Do you remember those massages I was giving? What I gave them was a treatment that will leave them pretty much useless for the next couple of days. I can promise you that the most they’ll be doing is getting out of bed to eat.”
“That’s… strangely terrifying,” Erin said before she realized something. “Hang on! You mean to tell me that you were giving those special massages to Golorath’s men specifically!?”
“What can I say? I like to put my hands to work as soon as I can,” the elf replied. “However, I didn’t simply give it to Golorath’s people. In order to keep up my disguise, I did give it to some other guests, but I doubt they were too unhappy. I also handed some notes and specifically made potions to a few that I couldn’t massage, so they should be left distracted as well.”
“Woah, you’ve really gotten into your work, haven’t you?” Durge said in amazement. “Although, how did you manage to slip potions to those guys? And what were they?”
“I actually saw how she delivered the drinks and it’s better if you don’t know,” Erin said, thinking back to when Zeldana was flirting with the guests. “But I do want to know what those potions were exactly. Also, what was written on those notes you gave them?”
“Oh, just some special instructions,” the elf said with a giggle. “You’ll see what those were.”
“...Okay, that’s ominous,” the redhead said bluntly. “How many of the guards were you able to get with these special preparations of yours?”
“Quite a few, but not all of them sadly,” Zeldana replied. “While I was able to reduce the security by quite a bit, there are still some guards left. We should be able to sneak past them, though. As you’ve probably seen by now, they’re not exactly the most professional bunch.”
“Alright, that settles it then,” Erin said. “Once Lexton has prepared a wig, I’ll take it along with a spare uniform to her. Once she’s in disguise, we’ll get out of here through the backdoor. Durge and Ryle will secure the exit, while the others will help me with escorting our target. Keep a lookout for possible threats and inform me about them, while also distracting guards and other employees.”
The others nodded in unison, as they had settled on their plan. However, one of them still had something that they needed to cover.
“Hang on. There’s still one thing that I think we need to discuss,” Lexton suddenly said. “In case the backdoor doesn’t work, shouldn’t we have another plan of escape?”
“That would be reassuring,” Erin said. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Yeah. Let’s use the pipes in the baths,” the kobold replied. “Those things lead to the lower parts of Graven Hills. Once there, we can hide within the slums.”
Lexton had a smug look on his face, as he was certain that the others would see the genius of his plan. But instead of the praise that he had been expecting, he only got questionable looks.
“What’s wrong?” the kobold asked.
“Lex, are you seriously telling us to make our escape through sewage pipes?” Erin asked.
“Yes! I know a pipe that is large enough for all of us!” Lexton replied. “We can use it to easily get away from here and escape the guards! What is wrong with that!?”
“Besides the fact that it’s probably filled with all sorts of disgusting crap!?” Ryle asked angrily. “If you want to swim in it, you can go ahead! I had enough of that after all the cleaning I had to do!”
“Oh for the love of-! It’s just a bit of filth! What’s so horrible about that!?” the kobold asked angrily.
“...Anybody in support of Lex’s plan?” Erin asked.
“No!” Ryle, Arkay, Durge and Zeldana replied in unison.
“Bite my ass, all of you!” Lexton shouted. “Don’t come crying to me, when you need a plan B!”
“I sincerely hope it won’t come to that,” Erin said.