"Let's get moving before those hounds from hell come to." No one seemed objectionable to Roden's proposal.

They dragged the dogs' bodies into the cover of the trees in order to hide the recent scuffle; and, at Martin's rather demented but useful suggestion, they bound the dogs together by their collars. "This way, when they come to, they'll be too busy struggling against each other to come after us."

As they continued in the direction they had originally intended, Max whispered to the invalid Martin, who had leaned in for support, "You know what the granny panties mean, don't you?"

"No." Martin shook his head in confusion. "What?"

"It means she had no intention of putting out when you were on your date." Max gave Martin a moment to let it sink in, and then added, "You weren't going to get any."

Martin huffed. "You wanna bet. I could have, if I'd had the opportunity."

Max let out an angry scowl. In less than a second, he let go of Martin and delivered a prompt punch to his right eye.

"Ah, wha-tha fu - aahh". Martin grabbed at his eye as he fell to the ground. "Shit man," he tried to keep from shouting as he rocked back and forth in the grass. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Opportunity? You filthy worthless son of a -" Max began to spit out.

"Damn it. I didn't mean I was going to slip her a roofie." Martin shot back. "I was talking about my charm. I meant that I could have charmed my way into her panties."

"Oh," Max replied as he helped him up. "Well, you still deserve that punch anyway, for being a slimy bastard."

"Fine." Martin replied in resignation. "Whatever you say. Just stop punching me now. I'm helping you out, you ass hole." Max just gave him a satisfied smile.

Roden and Manda, who had trekked several yards ahead already, looked back at them in askance, but Max just shook his head to wave the incident off. The four intruders then continued on in silence. Two obstacles down. Who knew how many more hurdles to go?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"I didn't see anything on the cameras. Go check out the west side of the property. That's where the dogs headed."

"Are you kidding? I just got my cup of coffee." The junior guy did not sound very pleased about his latest orders.

"Are you a lazy ass or do you just want to be unemployed? No, I'm not kidding. Go check on the commotion with the dogs. If they haven't come back by now, there may be something out there." The man let out a grumble of annoyance. He didn't appreciate being left behind with the inept 'newbie' when all the other guards were ordered out to find Max and his companions.

The newbie stepped out of the guards' cottage mumbling his dissatisfaction with his job, and headed off towards the west side of the estate. In the newly enfolding darkness, he didn't see the four intruders who were hiding in the manicured shrubs that lined the small building.

"There's only two guards on duty right now." Martin explained after eavesdropping through the open window of the cottage. "I think we can knock the younger guy on the head when he comes back around and shoot the one that's inside."

Manda and Roden gave him a disbelieving openmouthed stare, while Max glared and punched him in the shoulder.

"You're sick," Manda said after she regained her speech. "Max, I'm glad you're the one with the gun."

"I didn't say we had to kill him." Martin replied, but still received no support. "Well, do you have a better idea, then? 'Cuz I'd love to hear it."

"Anything's better than killing someone. Jeez. We're trying to keep the crimes to a minimum here." Roden answered for Manda, who looked at him gratefully. She was getting tired of people asking her if she had 'a better idea'.

They heard the phone ring through the window, and Max popped up to listen in.

"Good evening, sir. . . certainly. Would you like the Rolls or the Town Car? . . . The Maybach is with the mechanic, sir. . . I'm sorry, sir. It couldn't – . . . I'm so sorry, sir. . . Yes, sir. I'll bring the Town Car around at once." The guard jumped to his feet immediately and hung up the phone.

Max dunked back down into the bushes as the second man exited the building. After he passed them by, Max filled his fellow conspirators in on the situation. "Angoli's on his way out. I don't know if he's taking Ess along with him, or not."

The guard was radioing the new orders out to the newbie, but as he walked away from the cottage they couldn't make out the details.

Manda gasped. "What are we going to do? What if he's taking Ess away? We have to stop them now."

"We need to get rid of the obstacles." Martin tried to reason, but no one wanted to hear his suggestion again for taking care of the guards.

"The coffee." Manda suddenly had an idea. Finally, she could contribute something to the situation. "The other guard just poured himself a coffee."

"Yes?" Roden didn't know where she was going with this, but he urged her on.

"Let's slip him a roofie." The three men were surprised. Max gave her an impressed smile and pulled the bag out of his pocket.

"Great idea, Manda. I'll slip inside. Keep a lookout." Max rose from his crouched position, and slinked along the wall around the corner. The guard had not bothered to completely shut the door when he left, so Max pushed it open silently. With a quick glance around the office, he pinpointed the location of the steaming coffee that was on the desk near the open window. Reaching in the plastic bag, he took out a pill and deposited it into the mug. Then, he decided to add a second pill just for good measure.

"He's coming back." He heard Martin whisper on the other side of the window. Damn! Max looked for a quick hiding place. He opened a nearby door and discovered a second office, where he concealed himself.

He made out the sounds of the slamming door and footsteps moving over the wooden floor, and then the newbie could be heard grumbling about his dissatisfaction. "My third night on the job and everyone deserts me to take care of the whole damn place myself. Stupid employee benefits aren't worth this shit," he harrumphed, and sat back on his chair, picking up his coffee mug with a gesture that matched his anger. As he tested the liquid for its heat, the disgruntled man continued his complaints, "The man sends me out for a freakin' false alarm, then runs off to do the real work." Apparently, he found the coffee to be the right temperature, because he took a nice big gulp. "Coffee tastes like shit, too." He kept drinking it, though, so it couldn't have bothered him too much.

After a few minutes of waiting for the roofies to kick in, Max became anxious to catch up with the other guard who had gone to fetch a car for Angoli. After a little exploration of the office he was in, he discovered that he could unlock the single window that the room had to offer and crawl out of it. Making sure that he did this unseen, he began inching his was back to his companions.

The minutes were agonizing while the others waited to see if the roofie would take effect. Every now and then Martin would risk a peak into the window to check on Max's handiwork. Eventually, the man began to nod off. He fought against it, but could not overcome the sedation.

"Okay, he's down for the count," Martin finally determined.