Page 102 of Reclaiming Adelaide

Five flat screen monitors covered the length of the table, along with two mounted overhead, all of which were interconnected, allowing me to work on multiple tasks at once.

Adelaide’s eyes widened as she took it all in. “Holy shit.”

“I want you to help me.”

“With what?”

I squeezed her hand and brought her closer to the comfy black leather chair with lumbar support and armrests. Sitting her down, I turned her towards the computer screen.

“I want you to help me find them.”

Taking the seat next to her, I moved the mouse, waking up the screens on the right.

I offered her a way of distraction.

I offered her a way of revenge—in a safer way without her putting her life in jeopardy.

I offered her a modicum of control in a world that offered her none.

“Why? I mean, I don’t understand.”

“They made the wrong move, Adelaide. Now we’ll make a better one.”

She shook her head, her chair turning side-to-side as she gripped the desk.

“Jake. No offense, but you’re just a tech CEO. What are you going to do with a group of mercenaries that are trained to kill?”

Was there ever a right time to tell someone you were a broker for the criminal underworld?

Probably not.

“Let me worry about that. I want you to focus on finding out everything you can about them. I want their bank accounts, habits, and leader’s name.” As I listed my demands, I pointed to each finger. “I want to know who they’re fucking, their sleep schedules, and their next targets.”

And when we were done with recon, we’d sacrifice the pawn to kill the king.

“And what stops them from coming here, where they know we are, and shooting us?”

I leaned forward in my chair, my hands wrapping around her legs. My thumbs brushed her inner knees, and she shivered, raising goosebumps against her pale skin as I thought her question through.

She had a point, although I’d see them coming before anyone could break through here. You couldn’t approach my home from any direction without an announcement hitting my phone. The lights in this room flickered to red if a door opened, and alarms sounded, and the lights flickered to blue if a window broke. The police had a five-minute response time if the alarm went off.

I stood and walked to the far wall, slid the wireless wall monitor to the side, and used a thirteen alpha-numerical passcode, opening up my vault behind it.

“Whoa,” Adelaide said as she came up beside me.

“It’ll take nine-hundred-thousand years to break this code to the safe room. We’d die of starvation before they could get inside.”

The vault was fireproof, weatherproof, and impenetrable. It had its own ventilation system that ran on its own power source and a water filtration system. Should they decide to cut the electricity to the house, this room would still operate as if nothing ever happened.

It paid to be paranoid.

We stepped inside the safe room with a kitchenette, bed to the side, and a full bathroom in front of us.

I’d had three companies install this room, each one with a different layout, each one with different specs, capabilities, and sizes. Once one area was finished, I hired a new company until only one room remained. That room lay beyond the bathroom and now held three years’ worth of rations for two individuals.

At the time I’d thought of this, it was for Becca and me, but now that she was staying with Alek, it was for Adelaide.

“This place is insane.”

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