32
“Do you see them up there?” he whispered from the shadow.
“No, d’you?”
“Nope. What time’s he supposed to do it?”
“Five til, itn’t?”
“Well then he’s got thirty seconds to figure it out.”
“He’ll be there,” she assured.
The subterfuge kicked the party off on schedule, and once the two under cover were adequately mesmerized by the light show, they figured the opposition would be too.
“Told you he could do it,” she reminded.
“Yeah yeah, save it for the jury.”
“You ready for this?”
“Not really.”
“Alright, s’go den.”
Silhouettes crept from the trees to the fence, the giant spotlights had yet to be moved to the newest dig site, the infant moon kept their secret. There was probably night vision on the hill, hopefully not thermal, but this was a safe gated community and there was an alien invasion underway, should work, right?
He clipped the chain link and they slipped through, breadcrumb trail back to their only escape hatch, knowing that this was their one shot, with tomorrow bringing reinforcement of both barrier and patrol.
The first rig was parked at an angle that provided its own cover. She started picking the lock on the fuel door as he climbed aboard with a wad of epoxy putty. If these had been a few years newer, then everything would have been keyless, but he’d done his research and knew that a stuck ignition would really piss some people off. She’d been a locksmith in a previous lifetime, and still wouldn’t know how to get the hard-as-steel blob out of the keyhole, probably have to replace it, her forgotten skillset made short work of the gas tank though.
She thought it had been an alright job, as far as jobs go. No office hours, though she was always on call, but she was free to live her life how she pleased, with the occasional side mission across town of breaking into someone else’s bad day. It was kinda like she existed inside a game of GTA, plus she figured it was a good talent to have for the apocalypse, and now like most Water Protector backstories, hers seemed to have perfectly prepared her for active duty as an ecological terra-ist.
She was already pouring in the fuel additive when he ducked beside her, made sure to add enough for a heavy load, replaced the cap and they were ready to move on. The whole procedure took less than three minutes, on the easiest one at least, the rest would be a little more exposed to the elements, hope Miles can keep it up.
He could see the slightest hint of movement down below, but only because he knew to look, it was darker than the inside of a buffalo, but their double tapped red light signaled Miles to land the UFOs, his job was done for tonight.