Page 29 of Love Bomb

“This is what they must have felt like on that first attempt to get to the south pole,” she complained. “No wonder they all died.”

Some of them by choice, which Rona was beginning to understand a whole lot better after spending an hour outside, in subzero weather, in the middle of nowhere Scotland.

“I’m going outside,” she muttered. “I may be some time.”

Then just in case God was listening, she added, “Please don’t let me freeze to death out here!”

It took three tries to get the lock picks out of her jeans before she eventually gave in and took off her mittens to do it. Picks in hand, she was just about to start unlocking the door when she remembered the alarm.

“Argh!” she shouted because there was no one to hear her. “Forgot about the bloody alarm.”

She took the small wire cutters out of her coat pocket and surveyed the shed. After researching alarms online, she’d figured out that she had to cut the phone wire to ensure that when it went off, it wouldn’t be able to alert Bain to the break in. Or worse, the police.

The only problem was, there were a lot of wires attached to the shed. And they all looked the same. Her shoulders slumped. There was nothing for it but to cut them all. With a sigh, she started with the nearest one.

“Why is she cutting the power to the camera when she just painted the lens?” Conall asked.

Bain rubbed the back of his neck. If this wasn’t so funny, it’d be agony to watch. “I’m pretty sure she thinks she’s disabling the alarm.”

His brothers laughed so hard there were tears running down their faces.

“Hasn’t she heard of wireless connection?” Darach managed to get out.

“I’m more confused about how she hasn’t noticed the doorbell camera,” Conall said, sounding a little strangled.

“Well, to be fair,” Kade said, “we only put it up to spy on people who came knocking.” He grinned at Bain. “We totally hit pay-dirt with that idea.” He got distracted by the screen and pointed. “She’s cutting the wire to the fairy lights we strung up last Christmas and forgot about. Quick, switch to the camera at the back of the shed. I want to see what she does next.”

The view changed in time to see Rona stomp around the corner. She still had the stupid ski mask covering her face, but there was no mistaking her demeanor—she was pissed off.

“She hasn’t even checked for other cameras,” Darach said. “Did she think we were only watching the front?”

“Doesn’t really matter,” Bain said. “She’s about to cut the wire to that camera too.”

Sure enough, the screen went dark.

Darach switched to the camera in the tree, facing the front of the shed, and they watched as she came back around to stand outside its door. She pulled her coat up to get the lock picks from her jeans pocket, revealing the same sweater they’d all seen her wear the day before.

Master of disguise, she was not.

Even if she hadn’t shown her face, her height, combined with the sweater and purple boots, would have given her away. With much cursing, she set about unlocking the shed. It didn’t take her long to get the door open, and Bain couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at the sight. He’d taught her well.

Strangely, instead of pushing the door wide open and stalking inside, she only cracked it an inch before producing yet another item from her Tardis-like pockets.

“Is that a compact mirror?” Kade said, leaning into the screen. “What the hell is she doing?”

Rona poked the mirror through the crack in the door and studied it for a good couple of minutes.

“Good,” she said at last. “No booby traps.”

The brothers fell about laughing.

Rona wouldn’t have been surprised if Bain had rigged the door to blow. That’s what all the bombers on TV did. Not that she thought he’d deliberately hurt someone, but she wouldn’t have put it past him to have set up a harmless explosion to scare the crap out of anyone who dared open the door.

“Nearly there,” she muttered. “Just one last thing to check.”

She dug the can of hairspray out of her pocket and sprayed it through the wide-open door. Then she peered inside, intently searching for laser sensors. There was nothing. She repeated the process, just in case, coughing as the perfume-rich spray hit her throat.

Still nothing.