The Gift of Loot Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Let's Start A Riot

Read chapter 39 of The Gift of Loot by Jack_Golightly on NovelPedia.

"Who are they?" Thomas's voice most certainly did not come out in a squeak. At least, that's what he told himself. "More 'family' friends?" He leveled a glare at Zach. "Dunno, but probably not. Unless they're some rival family. But then why would they be following you?" Zach turned to get a napkin under the guise of looking around. "What are they doing now?" Thomas had not shifted his attention from their followers for a moment. "They've gathered in a group. I think they're talking about something." Zach brightened a little. "That's good." "How is that good? You said it was a hit squad . They're probably talking about how to kill us." He looked around. "Should we run for it? Go to convention security or something?" "Chiillll." He pushed down with one hand in a classic slow-down motion. "If they're gathered together, it means they're not communicating with someone higher up. They're talking things out, probably trying to figure out why the two of us are talking over hot dogs, which means they might not know exactly who we are, or we aren't being specifically targeted outside of being strong level twos." "My nephews would call that copium," Thomas grumbled. Zach flashed a grin at him and offered the last third of his hot dog. When Thomas shook his head, he shrugged and ate it himself in two bites. "Far as I can tell we have two options: we head for the exit and deal with it if they try to stop us, or we create a little distraction and slip out." "First one's out. If we head straight for my car, they can look at my license plate and find my registration. I'm not leading these people, whoever they are, to my brother and his kids." "Distraction then." He tilted his head. "I could start a fire." "Absolutely not," Thomas said flatly. "You don't know who could get hurt." Zach looked mildly offended. "I can control a fire." "You can't control how people with magical Gifts and skills will react to that fire." He trailed off meaningfully. "Not to mention those protesters out front. Any injuries here will give them more excuse to..." He trailed off and thought. "Huh." "What is it?" Thomas felt himself smile. "Why don't we use the protesters for cover?" Zach's eyebrows went up. "I like it. There's a lot of them, they're making a lot of noise. As long as they don't clock who we are... but how do we get out there? An emergency exit will sound an alarm." Thomas looked around and settled on an idea. "Meet me at the bathroom in two minutes." This would be easier if they were both women, as going to the bathroom together was a thing women did, but it would be weird for two guys. "The family bathroom," he said. "The one with a lock." He vaguely remembered reading on a website a year or two back that the Reno Convention Center had gone through a renovation. Thomas had been to the place since then and saw that part of that renovation had been to add a third bathroom option in the restroom's hallway. Now people with younger children could take them there without having to worry about disturbing other adults. That's why the main door had a lock. Luckily it was unoccupied, so Thomas slipped in and went to the far wall. The bathroom had a single toilet, a sink, and a baby changing station. He ducked underneath the changing table. Hopefully this wall wouldn't have any pipes. He took out his curved dagger. It had cut through anything in a level one dungeon and didn't have much problem with level two. He just hoped that extended to non-dungeon items. The wall was made of cinder blocks and he tested the blade against the grout. It slid right in like he was cutting soft cheese. Damn, this blade was scary. He was lucky it hadn't somehow cut its way out of its sheath. He easily cut around one of the blocks and, using his fingers, wiggled it free. When he set it aside, he saw daylight and some scrub brush on the back side of the convention center. Beyond that was a chain-link fence, a gap, and then the back of somebody's booth. It seemed the protesters had