Beedevil

prevaricate - to lie procrastinate - to put off until later (never do today what you can put off until tomorrow) Aside from that, the story is quite entertaining.

"gotten off guard" would properly be "caught off guard" "sudden change of development" is a mix of two different phrases with similar meanings. It should be either "sudden change of pace" or "sudden development". Hope that is of some use to you.