by Amy Hopkins
"Can you calm down? You're making me nervous." Penny fidgeted with Boots' tail. The serpent butted her hand with irritation. "Sorry, Boots. Blame Crenel."
Boots tossed her head dismissively.
Crenel came to an abrupt halt, turning to face Penny and Boots. "If you want to call this off, we can. We don't know if Sam is working alone. For all we know, half the staff here is in on this operation. If backup falls through, it’ll be the just five of us against who knows how many people. We don't know if they have weapons, backup, or an escape plan." Boots hissed at Agent Crenel, and he quickly corrected himself. "Six of us. Regardless, going it alone is a terrible idea."
"This whole thing was your idea," Penny reminded him. "We can't back down now. That bastard almost fooled me into trusting him! I can’t let him get away with trafficking someone like Boots. If I bail now, Sam will know something is up. We might not get another chance."
"And if you lose Boots?" Crenel dropped his cigarette just outside the tent, stepping out to grind it into the ground.
"You know I won't let that happen." Penny's hand reflexively tightened around her friend. "Not ever."
The conversation continued to go in circles, Crenel cursing the FBI and their Australian contacts and insisting Penny drop the case, and Penny refusing. She had to see this through.
"You're right." Crenel pulled out another cigarette and lit it. "We can't back out. It's too late, and we won't get another chance."
"That's exactly what I've been saying for the last two and a half hours. It's not like you to agree with me, Agent Crenel." Penny narrowed her eyes, suspicion blossoming. "Did you just try to reverse-psychology me?"
"Damn. It didn't work." Crenel dodged the rolled-up sock Penny pegged at his head. "Look, I don't like waiting, okay? My nerves aren't what they used to be. This desk job has made me soft."
"It's not the desk job that made you soft, Agent." Penny's grin was triumphant. "You just don't want to admit you give a damn about us. You've come to care for us meddling kids."
"Never!" Crenel barked. His eyes, however, held a twinkle of mirth.
Finally, Amelia returned to the room with Red and Cisco. It was quickly established that all three were on board to continue with the mission, even in the absence of any official backup from the FBI or any of the local agencies. Crenel’s contact had assured them a team was already there and in place, but the total radio silence from their supposed allies suggested otherwise.
"Red will wait here. Amelia here, Cisco there, and I’ll keep watch from there." Crenel's finger stabbed various places on the crude tourist map. "Is your audio set up and ready to go?"
"Aye, aye, Captain." Red saluted the agent, and Penny lifted her shirt so Crenel could examine the wire taped to her torso.
Crenel nodded approval. "Not bad, not bad. Cisco, how are you doing over there?"
"We're not exactly armed for a firefight, but I think it'll do." Cisco pointed at four sets of various weapons laid out on one of the beds. "I've given Penny the small basic kit in case she needs to get out of a bind. Pliers, lock picks, scissors, rope—you know, the usual things. In addition, she has a garrote, two knives, and a Glock. Red is farthest away, so he’ll get —"
Crenel held up a hand for silence while he answered his phone. "What do you mean, they’re here? We haven’t heard a goddamn peep from them. I'm trying to run a complicated operation here. No, that's not good enough. I've got four kids running a bust on an international smuggling ring, and their backup is nowhere to be seen. Does that sound okay to you? No, they’re in their twenties." Crenel squinted at Penny. "They look like kids to me. Look, just make it happen. The last thing we need is a team of Australian feds crashing our sting."
He stabbed his phone screen to end the call, looking like he'd rather slam it down instead. "The office keeps trying to tell me there’s already a local team here. They’re in the area and they know where we are, but they’re dark. We can't count on them for backup. Last chance to back out, kids."
"No way, Grandpa." Penny winked at Boots, who chuckled. "Are we ready, Princess?"
Boots bounced her head up and down, then slithered over to the bed. She lifted her head and nosed the handgun.
Cisco snatched it out of her reach when she tried to pick it up. "No, Boots!” he scolded. “That is not cool. You don't get to handle one of those until you've been trained how to use it."
Boots hissed angrily, then chuckled again.
"She's having way too much fun," Amelia pointed out. "If we're not careful, our next operation will be led by the snake."
"Behave, you." Penny lifted a warning finger at Boots. "I'm serious. If you give me any reason to think you're not going into this with a suitable level of caution, you will stay here. I don't care if I have to go into this trade with a rubber snake from the gift shop."
Once Boots looked suitably chastened, Penny began to secret the weapons away. She tucked the gun in the back of her waistband, slid a knife down her boot, and strapped another to her forearm.
"You're gonna look strange going out with long sleeves in this heat," Crenel pointed out.
Penny shook her head. "Have you seen the size of the mosquitoes out there? Any Australian worth their salt knows that a bit of sweaty humidity is no match for a horde of bloodsucking monsters."
Soon, there was nothing left to prepare. The minutes ticked by, and finally, it was time.
Penny crouched in front of Boots and held out a small glass bottle. It had once held whiskey and was now filled with sparkling clean water. "In you go."
Boots lifted up and flickered her tongue at Penny's cheek. Then she dove, her body twisting and narrowing as it slipped into the tiny bottle. Penny screwed the cap on and then held it up to the light. "You're so tiny!" She tapped the side of the bottle. Boots gave a dramatic wiggle and buried her head amongst the coils of her body.
Penny tucked the bottle into her back pocket. "Let's do this." She touched each of her weapons, ensuring each one was secure, then stepped out of the tent. "Give me a ten-minute head start," she said. Sam would likely have eyes on her as she arrived at the meeting place, and she didn't want to risk the others being seen.
Penny jogged through the compound, the minor exertion beading her forehead with sweat. The metal of the gun had been cool when she first slipped against her skin, but it was now warm. I wonder how much you have to sweat to disable a weapon?
She slowed as she approached the meeting place, her senses alert, and the hair on the back of her neck prickling with anticipation.
Sam waited for her outside a small brick building. The white paint was old and flaking, and the light that shone through the barred window flickered yellow. Penny swallowed hard and walked up to him, mindful of the crunch of gravel under her feet.
"Did you bring the serpent?" Sam asked, his voice cold.
The hardness in his face was enough to make Penny take a step back. She glanced around, suddenly aware that their meeting place was surrounded by thick rainforest. Of course, she had known that from her reconnaissance beforehand. Now, she could only hope her friends were the only ones hiding in it.
She held up the small bottle and nodded. Sam reached out, but she snatched it back. "Did you bring the cash?" Penny knew an arrest wouldn’t stick without the exchange.
Sam smirked. "You don't accept bank transfer?"
Penny shook her head firmly. Any smuggler worth his salt would know that a transaction like this would be cash only. True to her suspicions, Sam nodded at a suitcase propped up against the building.
"Open it." Penny cursed the high pitch of her voice. It wouldn't do to show this scum how nervous she was.
Sam regarded her for a moment, then nodded. He sauntered over to the suitcase and picked it up. When he walked back to her, he balanced it on one hand and snapped open the clips. He drew out two fat envelopes. "You want me to open them for you, too?"
Penny nodded.
Sam slipped a finger under the envelope flap and pulled it open.
Before he showed her the contents, he nodded at the jar. "She's a bit small. You told me she was bigger than the one we already have."
Penny pursed her lips and unscrewed the lid. Boots slithered out, taking the opportunity to play up the startling shift into a full-sized serpent. She coiled her body into loops, sitting patiently next to Penny.
"You're not worried she'll run away?" Sam asked, holding the envelopes full of cash in a white-knuckle grip.
"She'll do what I tell her. The money?" Penny clamped down on her impatience. She couldn't risk this deal going sideways, as much as she wanted it over and done with.
Sam thumbed the envelope open and showed her. Penny nodded at the neatly stacked fifty dollar notes inside. When he showed her the second wad of money, her stomach unclenched a little. They were almost done.
"Back in the jar, snake." Penny held out the bottle, and Boots obediently slunk into it. This time, Penny made sure the lid was only screwed on loosely. If something went wrong, she wanted to be sure Boots would be able to get it off.
Penny held out the jar. Sam held out the money. Penny grabbed the envelopes, tugging them out of his grip as she reluctantly let go of her friend. It was done.
Chaos erupted. Bright light flooded the area and a dozen people stepped out of the trees, their bodies cloaked in heavily padded vests and tactical helmets. "Get down, get down! On the ground!"
Crenel's backup. The thought flashed through Penny's mind just as something hard slammed between her shoulder blades, throwing her onto the ground. "In the trees! We've got company. Freeze!"
Penny sucked a breath into her stunned lungs. "Boots!" She screamed again as her hands were yanked behind her back and cold metal bit into her wrists as she was handcuffed.
"She’s armed!” a voice bellowed in her ear. “You're under arrest. Don't even think about trying to buy your way out of this one, you scumbag poacher."
It took Penny a moment to realize the voice was talking to her. "What? I’m under arrest?"
Somewhere to her left, she could hear a muffled yell. "FBI! FBI, stand down, you sons of bitches!"
"FBI? You got no jurisdiction here, arsehole. Who the fuck are you, anyway?" It felt like the whole clearing paused, waiting with bated breath as the leader of the Australian team stormed toward Crenel. "Jesus Christ. Stand down."
Penny's hands were jerked up again, and the handcuffs fell away. The officer who yanked her to her feet was less than gentle, and Penny had to resist snapping at him. She whirled around, spotting Sam in the chaos. "Where the fuck is Boots? What the hell is going on?"
"Who the hell is Boots?" The confusion on Sam's face shifted to realization, and he drew out the jar. He looked at Penny, looked at the shrunken snake, and unscrewed the lid. "Come on, beautiful. Looks like you've been the subject of a major misunderstanding tonight."
Boots erupted from the jar, landing at Sam's feet with a splash. She shot toward Penny and examined her for injury, prodding at Penny's wrists with her nose.
"It's okay, love." Penny kept her voice low. "Just a little bruised."
Crenel stormed over to a man with a phone against his ear. "You want to tell me why the fuck you arrested my people instead of our perp?"
"Your people?" The federal policeman interrupted his phone call, his voice rising with incredulity. "We didn't even know you were here. Sam called this in because he was offered smuggled goods. You've got no goddamn business setting up a sting here without going through the proper channels. You almost got your people shot."
"Proper channels?" Crenel seethed. "I've been on the phone trying to pull resources for this all day. It was your department that told us to go ahead and promised their team in the area was informed and present."
The officer gaped, shook his head, and turned his back on the agent. A minute later, he wheeled around and yelled into his phone. "What do you fucking mean, you knew this was going down? No, I'm on a fucking job, I didn't check my goddamn emails. I'm working, not on a goddamn holiday."
"Is your wrist okay?" Sam asked Penny.
She realized she had been rubbing it. "Just a little bruised. When those guys take someone down, they mean it."
Sam hesitated, then held his hand out. Penny let him examine the damage.
"It's bruised, with some skin abrasion." He let it go. "You're really with the FBI?" Penny nodded, and he screwed his face up in confusion. "Then what's all this? Why set me up if you came to help?"
It was Penny's turn to feel confused. "Help? We thought you were running a smuggling ring. We came to bust you, not help."
Sam's shoulders slumped, and a look of defeat passed over his face. "I should have known. It's because of my family ties, isn't it?"
Penny didn't see any reason to hide the truth from him. “You’re Silas, aren’t you? Silas Nevins.”
Sam hesitated, then nodded. “I haven’t gone by that name for a long time, but yeah. That’s me.”
"What's going on?” Penny asked him. “I mean, if you pulled in the feds because you thought a smuggling deal was going down, I'm guessing you’re not smuggling anything yourself. Right? But if they’re on your side, why do you need the FBI's help?"
"Someone has been stealing our animals." Sam bit out the words, an undercurrent of anger flowing through each one. "At least, that's what it started with. We lost a couple of rare birds, a dingo, and an old Bengal tiger we had rescued from a circus down in Tassie, so we got some Mythers in. Some are more sentient than others. They agreed to hang around and keep an eye on things. They turned out to be a bigger draw than the native animals, and as much as I hate to say it, we need the funding the tourists bring in to keep going."
"So you converted your animal sanctuary into a refuge for hunted Mythers?" Penny's respect for the man was growing by the minute. "And then your thief started targeting them."
Sam nodded. "I tried to get the feds involved the first time, but they couldn’t help. I mean, we don’t keep anything in captivity here. All the Mythers are free to come and go as they wish.”
“How do you know they were stolen, then?” Penny asked.
Sam blew out a slow breath. “I just…know. Crazy, right? But when a Myther shows up at the same time of day, every day, for months, then suddenly vanishes?” He crossed his arms and looked at the ground. “The feds and I have a pretty good relationship. They told me to file a police report each time it happened, but unless I could show some kind of proof...”
"Do you even have local cops out here?" Penny asked in disbelief.
Shaking his head, Sam told her that technically they were under the jurisdiction of the nearest town. "They came out and took a report. When I say ‘they,’ I mean ‘he.’ One cop. One guy working every crime in a one-hundred-klick radius. What was he gonna do?"
Penny bit her lip. "You don't think… I mean, your family?"
"That they're the ones stealing from me?" Sam gave a sardonic chuckle. "It wouldn't surprise me, the bastards. I haven't been in contact with them for years, though. I'm not even sure if they know where I am these days."
"What are you going to do now?" Penny fought the urge to offer her assistance. She might have the credentials—or she would when she graduated—but not the jurisdiction.
Sam mustered up a brave smile. "I'll figure it out. Maybe now that the AFP are here, they'll offer a helping hand."
"I'll do what I can to make sure that happens." Penny put her hand out to shake Sam's. "I'm sorry for thinking you were a dirty poacher."
"And I'm sorry for thinking you were a filthy smuggler." Sam grinned. "You know, the outback experience officially ends tomorrow morning. The staff doesn't ship out until the following day, though. If you wanted to hang around, I could offer you a behind-the-scenes tour?"
"That's a definite yes." Penny looked over to where Agent Crenel and the Australian federal officer were still griping over the lack of communication between the organizations. "I don't think I'm gonna get to go to bed anytime soon, though. I don't suppose there’s a coffee bar
that’s still open?"
Chapter Seventeen
As Penny had anticipated, her head didn't touch her pillow until daybreak. Her alarm blared an hour later and she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Go away." Amelia flung a pillow at Penny's phone but missed it. "Go away!"
"If I have to get up, so do you." Penny tossed Amelia's pillow back to her. "Debriefing is in twenty minutes."
"That was Crenel's idea, wasn't it? I never realized dinosaurs don't need sleep to survive." Despite her protests, Amelia rolled out of bed. She looked down at her rumpled clothes. "That'll do. If he wants me to look nice, he can let me have at least three hours of sleep."
"Have you ever known Crenel to complain that someone was underdressed?" Penny swung her legs off her bed, dropping her feet straight into her unlaced boots. "He won't even notice that we are still wearing yesterday's clothes."
Amelia stretched and yawned. "It's a shame we couldn't stay longer and help Sam. Surely there's something we can do?"
Penny shrugged. The same thought had weighed on her all night. "Maybe we can. It would mean we will miss our final exams, though. Do you think Dean March would give us an extension?"
Amelia slapped a palm against her forehead. "I can't believe I forgot about those. I haven't cracked a textbook since the train ride. I'm not ready!"
"All the more reason to ask if we can stay." Penny hoisted herself to her feet. "But I'm not doing a damn thing until I've eaten. I think staying up all night screwed with my metabolism. I am starving!"
The debriefing session was held in the dining room, much to Penny's joy. Agent Crenel talked while she tucked into a plateful of fake bacon, baked beans, mushrooms, and sourdough toast.
"We’re still not sure where the breakdown in communication occurred, but at the very least, our documentation is in place." Crenel shuffled some papers. "We are still trying to reconcile the tip-off that we got that Nevins, the other Nevins, was in this area. At this point, it looks like it was false information, someone getting Geoffrey mixed up with his brother. I want to track down the source, though. Sam's been having some trouble, and I want to make sure Geoffrey isn’t the cause of it."