Page 55 of Charming But Reckless

Were they building an army?

Were they trying to find cracks in our armor?

Would they attack us before we got the chance to come after them?

It was a lot to try to understand. A lot to try to beat.

My gaze was drawn to the video screens. Olivia had been worried about her father being too close to her, so she wasn't wearing an earpiece. She did have a small camera fixed to the necklace she wore, which gave us the ability to see who she was with and where she was going. It also had a microphone to pick up information, though we could not transmit anything back to her.

Archie and Takeshi did have earpieces though. They needed to be able to have a heads up should anything arise.

As we listened to the conversation going on around them, Memphis chimed in here and there with details that would help them along — people to avoid and places to steer away from.

Archie had it pretty easy since the kids all wanted to huddle together and have a snack in one specific area. He kept his eyes peeled, though, ever the protector of the children. The man was built for the social services life.

When dinner finally came, we watched as they went through a boring conversation about business and the political climate.Olivia nodded along and agreed as she could to keep the gig going.

Her father appeared unaware of anything else, and he drank heavily that night. He was joyous and excited.

My skin iced over as realization set in.

“He's bought another child,” I said to the quiet room. “That's why he's so fucking happy. We have to find out who.”

Arick tensed, his hand gripping my leg tightly. “You have to find out whoever it is and save them.”

Tank, who had come into the room at some point during the dinner, nodded. “We'll find whoever it is and return them home safely. Don't worry about that. Right now we just need to get the information. I'm sure the fuckface has it on his computer.”

Memphis clicked away at the keys, then spoke into the microphone so Archie and Takeshi could hear. “Olivia needs to get to the computer as soon as possible. We suspect her father has bought another child."

We watched how Archie whipped his head up to look at his husband. The other man was already on the move.

There was a tense moment where the two of them stared at one another. Then Archie turned back to the children. He knew that whatever happened, he couldn't leave them.

Memphis decided to tap Olivia into the conversation. He called her cell phone. She looked down at the phone when it rang loudly in the space.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said dramatically. "I need to take this. Just a moment, Father."

He smiled at her, then turned back to his conversation. She rushed from the room as if it was really an urgent call. Her husband watched curiously, though he didn't move. He was too engrossed in whatever his father-in-law was saying.

We kept our eyes peeled for her path out of the room, while also watching the cameras Memphis had been able to hackthat lined the hall. Everything in the Varr home was linked to one system. Everything except his computer. It’s how Memphis knew he had to be hiding something there.

As Olivia moved towards the office, Memphis covered her tracks to make it look as if she had stopped to take the call.

Olivia's voice echoed around the room as Memphis put her on speaker. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

Memphis grunted. "We think your father has already purchased his next victim. We need you to get to the computer and get that program running now. I need remote access. I can't do that without you, Olivia."

We didn't see her, but from the intake of air we heard, I had no doubt the woman was gearing herself up for the next step. She moved into his office, which unfortunately had no cameras, so we couldn't watch.

We could hear her shuffling around and then the click of a keyboard.

“I plugged it in. There's a screen. It's loading."

"All right, good job, Olivia. You just wait right there. I've got eyes on the hallway. No one's going to get to you without you having a heads up."

We waited for the longest ninety seconds of my life. I swear it felt like days by the time she spoke again.

"It's done," Olivia said.

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