War-N-Wit, Inc. – MeanStreet, LLC Read Online Free

going to need one.
    And was it—Harold’s eyes widened. “Squawk! Squawk! Shiver me timbers…fire in the hole…fire in the hole!!”
    The bloody box bloody lifted ! Off the floor! One foot in the air, two feet in the air…of course, nothing magical in lifting a box off the ground. You only needed a rope and pulley system or some version of it employing thin wire that seemed invisible, but with the box moving at that speed—and anyway, it’d never done that before.
    The box started coming back down, the spinning revolutions slowed. Damien stepped up to the doors . He grasped the door handles, pulled the doors open, and swirled his cape. Empty box. Of course. It always was. That was the whole point. But this time—no, this time, Harold wasn’t a happy bird about it.
    The audience clapped and called. Damien stepped to the front of the stage with Assistant Golden Girl. They clasped hands and bowed.
    “Thank you! Thank you, one and all!”
    Harold looked over at the sides of the stage. At previous shows, the “volunteers” waited in the wings, ready to come out and take their own bows. Not this time. Nobody was there.
    “Squawk… no fire in the hole…no fire in the hole…whassup doc! ”
     
    * * *
     
    Backstage in the dressing room, Damien threw off his cape and stretched.
    “I love it when we finally get moving!”
    Golden Girl unzipped the side zipper of the gold-sequined bodysuit and burst out of it.
    “ Squawk…what a pair…what a pair… ” Best part of the show. Harold never could stop himself when that zipper unzipped.
    “Damn parrot. You’d think he actually knew what he was saying.” Golden Girl reached for her dressing gown and slipped into it.
    “Maybe he does. Seems to be the usual male reaction.”
    “Sure he’s a male?”
    “No, actually, I’m not. Never checked.”
    Harold’s eyes widened. And you’d bloody well better not try either, mate!
    “Did you get confirmation? That the package made it through?”
    “Not yet.”
    “And you’re sure that couple won’t have anybody checking on them?”
    “ Yes , I’m sure that couple won’t have anybody checking on them. At least not for a few days. Told you, they’re here alone, not with a group, not with friends. Spur of the moment elopement, didn’t even tell anybody where they were going. Heard ‘em in the lobby when they were checking in. And about damn time, too, seems like everybody in Vegas is here with some group or other this time.”
    “Good pick.”
    “Oh, yeah. All that sexual energy just busting out from the seams. Couple more like that and then the finale. Saturday night, don’t wanna stretch it any further, that’s cutting it too close. Yeah, Saturday we’re outta here. We’ll go for the power at that show. Won’t matter if they’re alone or not, we’ll be long gone.”
    “Speaking of seams and busting—this skin’s getting horribly tight.”
    Harold’s eyes bugged. Was that a tentacle waving out of her hair?
    “Up to you. But you know human form feels even worse if you break out of it and have to go back in than it does if you just stay in it in the first place.”
    Blimey and h oly hell, that wasn’t just one tentacle waving out of her hair, it was three! And counting!
    “I know.” Golden Girl shrugged. “But you know what? I don’t care. Got to have a break!”
    “ Squawk…invasion of the body snatchers…invasion of the body snatchers…whassup doc…squawk! ”
     
    * * *
     
    While all this was going on, I was half a continent away in our home at Pine Whisper Plantation, packing for a special occasion—Stacy and Spike’s upcoming wedding. In Vegas at the Little White Wedding Chapel’s Tunnel of Love Drive-Thru. On motorcycles. Can anybody say “copycat”? But I had to admit, considering the circumstances and all, nothing could be more perfect.
    I almost closed my suitcase but didn’t. Something—something else. What?
    “Baby girl, you been staring at that thing for five minutes. Want