Page 72 of Assassin's Game
“I am,” Maris said, joining us.
I glanced toward the elevator as we moved back into the foyer. “I’ll probably head downstairs and see if Eli needs anything first.”
Leah’s eyebrow went up at Eli’s name. From Maris’s smirk, I figured my sister would probably fill her in, in my absence. Whatever. One less person I’d have to explain myself to. But before I headed out… “How is Abby doing?”
Leah’s shoulders drooped. “As well as can be expected,” she said quietly. “You’ll see an older woman around, Geneva Sanderson. She was a friend of Abby’s mother, and they’re very close. She is seeing to Abby as much as possible so I didn’t have to leave Maris to babysitting duty all the time.”
Maris shook her head. “Brooke is a delight, and you know it.”
Leah perked up. “I certainly think so. I can’t imagine what I’ll do if this one is a boy.” She patted her stomach. “Girls seems so much easier.”
“Considering who the father is—and the uncles—I think that’s probably an accurate statement.” I laughed. “I cannot imagine a little Agozi boy running around this place.”
“A little terror, more like,” Leah agreed, but she didn’t look like she minded in the least.
“Mommy!”
Leah looked over her shoulder. “I need to get back to the kitchen. All these extra bodies in the house has left Brooke feeling a bit off-kilter, especially with Diesel down in the basement with the brothers.”
Eli’s dog. I was sure the pup was happy to see his owner again. Come to think of it, so was I. I waved Leah and Maris off to the kitchen and took the elevator to the basement. The bat cave, Maris had said they called it. The name brought a snigger as I stepped onto the elevator.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Thirty-One
Eli —
“The damn thing hacked our jammers and figured out the algorithm for the lines that were open.”
Levi growled beside me. “Why were the lines open?”
Diesel whined from his spot beside my feet. He hadn’t gone more than five feet away from me since I’d gotten home, settling right down half-in, half-out of his bed so he could lay his head against my foot. I murmured a low sound to reassure him that Levi was all bark and no bite; then shot Levi a warning glance that clearly said,Don’t upset my dog, asshole.
“They’re always open,” I snapped, but quietly. “We recycle them on a regular basis; that’s part of our security protocols. You know that.” I’d spent hundreds of hours over the years lecturing Levi on the tech I’d put in place to keep our family safe. Getting him to acknowledge that any plan had loopholes?
“Damn it, Eli.”
Yeah, there was no acknowledgment coming.
Remi slapped his hand onto Levi’s shoulder, squeezing down hard. “We get it; you’re frustrated and angry. That’s not important right now. What’s important is that we fix it.”
I finished entering the series of keys I’d started. “Already done.”
“What did you do exactly?” Levi asked.
“I shut down all frequencies through the jammer. Walkie-talkies only, gentlemen.”
“Fuck,” Levi growled again. Beneath the desk, Diesel met Levi’s growl with one of his own.
“It’s only temporary,” I assured him as I shifted my chair to face a new screen. “I’ll add some new security measures to keep intrusions out, right after I—”
The elevator doors opened, and a live wire lit up my body. Mikaela. I didn’t even need to see or hear or smell her; on some deeper level than even the physical, I recognized her presence and reacted to it.
“Right after you what?” Remi asked, a grin in his voice.
I forced my attention back to the screen. “Right after I make X’s half-a-million-dollar drone a flying hunk of useless metal.”
Mikaela clapped her hands as she sauntered up to us. “Sounds like fun. Can I help?”
