Page 114 of Guarding Grace
Her response solidified that I was on to something. Finding my aspirin bottle, I chased two more tablets with the remainder of my coffee.
I’d just had three customer calls in a row when Zane was polite enough to knock before he opened the door.
He smiled. “I have to take a call with the boss. I promise I won’t be long.”
I nodded. “Knock yourself out.” I noticed Peyton behind him, checking out his ass.
“Stay here with your door locked until I get back, okay?”
“Paranoid much?”
“It’s the job,” he said before closing the door.
I saluted him through the glass.
Terry
I droveup to Hawk Central, as I liked to call it, and hit the button to open the gate to our garage. Lucas had bought the building and moved us into it last year after upgrading it to his specifications.
I parked in the garage, next to my car with its bullet holes from the run-in with the Marku crew.
Joe, our mechanic, talked with Lucas, shaking his head and gesturing at the car. Joe treated our cars like his children. He had all the tools he needed to modify and keep our vehicles in top shape, including a car lift, and he hated seeing us bring one back banged up.
Lucas glanced at me, putting a finger to his lips as if I had to be reminded not to say anything a bug could pick up. Then pointed at me to stay in the car and wait for Jordy.
I’d been through this bug-search routine twice before with Lucas and Jordy, and both times the car had been clean.
“Aw, fuck. Where did that damned thing go?” I said, in case I was bugged and they wondered why I hadn’t shut off the engine yet.
Jordy appeared from the hallway that led to our guest accommodations for the dirtbags we occasionally had to detain.
We also had a full gym on this floor, and an indoor shooting range. Upstairs, we had room to grow with abundant office space and proper apartments for visiting clients or specialists from out of town.
Jordy joined Lucas, and they motioned for me to shut down.
After I killed the engine, Jordy timed his opening of the passenger-side door with me opening my door. He held his little sniffer that he claimed could detect any transmissions.
Lucas leaned over to watch.
Jordy smiled and pointed. The dial of his sniffer responded as he waved it under the dash on his side of the car.
Lucas pointed upward, and I followed him past our guest accommodations.
A janitor was disinfecting suite number two.
“The guy last night puked up his dinner when Duke questioned him,” Lucas deadpanned. “They just don’t make bad guys like they used to.”
I chuckled. Duke could make threats that would have a grown man’s balls shrink to the size of canary eggs. It was one of his superpowers.
Lucas turned as we reached the second floor. “We’ll keep that car on ice in case we want to send them a message later. Get a new one from Joe when you go out.”
“Sure.” It made sense to keep a misinformation channel open to the Russo gang in case we needed it.
“Review in my office in five,” he said as we neared his doorway. “Tell the others.”
“Roger.” I turned left.
“Hey, lover,” Constance chided as I walked by her on the way to my office.
