Page 96 of Secrets of the Six

"Come on." I wave them to follow me up the staircase. "Pillar said we had one hour. We better make the most of it."

Careful to avoid any dips in the steps that might echo a squeal alerting slumbering servants of our trespassing, we finally make it to the third door on the left. I take a deep breath. I don't want to step back inside Severo's office and lay eyes on General Kane's wings, but I certainly don't want Remus to see them. Regardless of my churning stomach, I twist the knob and fling the door open for Remus and Olli to scurry inside.

I perch my arm against the doorframe to take my position as look out, leaving the door open a crack. When no one immediately speaks, I glance across the office at Remus, and my heart sinks. He's not at the window to signal Cassius we made it inside. No, he's standing behind Severo's desk staring at his father's wings nailed to the wall. Olli stands beside him, taking in the horrific sight, tears already streaming down his freckled face. Remus isn't crying alongside him though. He remains motionless and void of words. I fear he's going to have a panic attack or worse, burn Severo's house to the ground in a fit of rage, but instead he does something that shatters my soul. He raises his hand, and although he hesitates a moment, he presses his palm against his father's wings.

Disobeying orders of remaining at my post, I push off the wall and slide up beside Remus. He doesn't give any sign he's noticed my arrival, and he still doesn't show any emotion as to what's running through his mind. I'd rather him scream or cry or walk out than remain completely silent. It's eerie and I'm not sure what to do to break the hold the wings have on him. The sight will surely haunt him the rest of his days, but we have a job to do and we're quickly running out of time to do it.

Tentatively, I raise my hand and place it on top of Remus', finally drawing his glossed over gaze. "Remus," I whisper, my voice cracking, pleading for him to come back to us and help finish what we started. That one gesture seems to sober him, and a hardness settles in his face.

"Olli, get to work," he orders.

The redhead wipes his tears with the back of his sleeve before flinging his leather satchel onto the desk. Void of emotion, he grabs his sketchbook and pencil and gets to work rummaging through Severo's drawers.

While he fingers through files to find the ones we need, Remus heads to the window, opens it, and whistles sharply three times letting Cassius know all three dogs are down. He follows that up with three lower whistles, so Cassius knows we're all inside and working. We wait a few seconds before we hear Cas whistle one long note meaning he's safe and on patrol.

I reclaim my position at the door and peek into the hallway. No disturbances and no signs of the dogs waking prematurely. I stare at the clock hanging in the study, making note we have about forty minutes to find what we need and get out before the dogs wake up or one of the Murrietas come home.

It seems like a small eternity before Olli hisses in triumph and pulls out a file and begins to jot down everything he's finding. I watch him intently. I know he can't read it out loud to us right now, but my curiosity is stirring and I'm eager to know what the Soberano and his right-hand henchman are plotting.

Remus fidgets with his hands and I can't blame him. He's more entitled to know what's in those files than anyone else and he too has to wait until we get out of here to find out who is going to be executed in a few weeks. If I've learned anything about Remus the couple months we've known one another is no matter whose name is in that paperwork, what atrocities or crimes we discover, he will use all of it to derail this government and free his people.

I check the clock again, the constant ticking irking my frazzled nerves. When I burglarized houses in the Golden District, I was in and out within minutes. Sitting here, helplessly waiting for Olli to copy everything we need, is torture. I'm not the only one antsy.

"How much longer, Olli?" Remus asks in a hushed, gravelly tone.

"Almost done." Olli bites his lip, concentrating. "I've figured out where the prison in the mountain Ines mentioned is – "

"What about who is going to be executed?" Remus cuts him off, clearly not interested in the prison at present.

"I'm working as fast as I can," Olli doesn't look up at him, but continues to flip through page after page, scanning each line as fast as he can.

Suddenly, a high-pitched whistle sounds across the grounds, and we tense, all listening to decipher Cas' code. If it's one long whistle, it means Severo is home early. If it's two short whistles, it means Rogelio is back. Three melodic whistles and we need to get the hell out of here because the Black Guard is onto us.

Two short whistles. Rogelio is home.

Out of all those potential threats, Rogelio is the least of my concerns. He can either be reasoned with or dealt with. His father and the Black Guard on the other hand, won't be so easily dissuaded from arresting us.

Remus issues one quick whistle to acknowledge Cassius' alert before telling Olli, "You've got a couple minutes to find a name."

Olli doesn't argue, he just dives back into the paperwork and combs through, eyes darting from one side to the other, before flipping to the next paper. Typically hard to read, I can sense Olli's anxiety level spike. Remus doesn't give him a second thought. He's already in motion to enact our escape plan which is out one of the windows and down the drainpipe.

I crack the office door open enough for me to slide through, ignoring Remus' whispered commands to stay put, and drop to my stomach to crawl to the edge of the staircase. Rogelio throws the front door open, and I press my body flush against the floor.

"Narcissa? Beto? Socorro?" Rogelio's voice rings out, truly unaware of the trespassers one level above him. "Dogs?"

Shit. If he finds the dogs knocked out, his suspicions will be aroused, and he might alert the Black Guard. My mind spins, attempting to come up with a plan but suddenly Rogelio laughs and pats his thighs.

"There you are, I was beginning to worry something happened to you."

The three war dogs groggily approach their master for loving pats, stretching their legs and licking his face when he crouches to their level.

"Did I wake you?" He kisses Beto on his enormous head, whilst rubbing Narcissa's ear, and scratching Socorros' exposed belly. "I know, I'm tired too. What do you say we grab a late-night snack and go upstairs to bed?"

He rises from his crouched position and trots past the foyer to the back of the house where the kitchen is, the three dogs dutifully waddling behind him, either unaware of our presence or too interested in snacks to remember why they fell asleep in the first place. I'll take all the luck we can get at this point.

Once they're out of sight, I slowly stand and crouch back to the office and shut the door.

"Rogelio is home," I confirm. Remus and Olli exchange a loaded look before the latter begins to stuff the papers back into their folder. He has a few pages left to scour, but I'm afraid we might not have enough time to escape before the hounds realize we're in here.