Page 80 of When He Defends
She let the shirt fall back into place.
“How many cameras did you count?” Gray asked her.
A pause from her.
“Come on, Emerson, you count everything. How many did you see? I want to make sure I didn’t miss any of them. After I pointed them out to you, I know you started keeping track.”
“I don’t count everything,” she groused.
“Yeah, you do.”
“Ahem.” From Malik. “Should I call back?”
“No, you should use your tech skills—bring in any additional help you need—and let’s figure out where the feeds are being transmitted.” He put the phone on speaker.
“You’re seriously telling me that the security guards at that place aren’t aware that there areextracameras watching guests?” Malik’s voice had turned brisk.
“I’m seriously telling you that very thing. The cameras are tiny. No exaggeration. They are dark and they are attached to dark surfaces. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you miss them. And the security guards I’ve met are all retired guys looking to chill and strolling around without any weapons and whistling to announce their approach long before they would ever surprise anyone. In other words, we are not dealing with the A Team here.”
“How many cameras?” Malik pushed.
Gray stared at Emerson. She held up seven fingers. He nodded. He’d counted the same. “Seven. That we saw. Not like we could examine every inch of this place.” But he rattled off the locations that they had checked.
“If the manager of the resort finds out about those cameras, he will insist on having them removed,” Emerson warned.
Yeah. And a removal would mean that they couldn’t track the signal but…
If we leave them up, the perp will have a chance to look for more prey.
“I want to attract his attention.” Emerson swung her legs as they dangled over the edge of the bed. Sand dripped from her sandals.
“Youdidattract it,” Gray snapped.
“Let’s be sure of that.” She thrust back her shoulders. “Malik can try to track down the signal for those cameras. See where they are transmitting. And I’ll dramatically find one of the cameras when we are out hitting our list of must-do activities. I’llmake sure and alert the security team with my grand discovery. That way, we’ll stop our perp from watching anyone elseandwe’ll make sure that he’s extra angry with me.”
Hell. That would catch the killer’s eye.Even more than it’s already been caught.
“That’s why we’re here, remember?” Emerson seemed to read his thoughts. “Besides, I have you to keep me safe. My protective, ever-so-attentive husband.”
He nearly shattered the phone. “See what you can discover, Malik.” After Emerson’s “find” of the cameras, he’d get Rylan to covertly sneak in and get access to the equipment. Maybe the FBI techs would be able to learn more once they had the cameras in their possession.Maybe the dumbass perp even left some prints for us to find.In his experience, perps could screw up in the most basic of ways.
“On it.” Malik ended the call after a short, terse exchange where Gray rattled off a few more orders. And then…
Gray tossed the phone onto the nightstand. Right next to the champagne that waited in the ice bucket. The bucket must have been helluva insulated because the ice had barely melted. He kept towering over Emerson because he knew a fight brewed between them. Her eyes practically shot fire at him.
He waved her on. Didn’t crook his finger as she had done.Waved. Her. On.“Let me have it.”
“How do you know I count things?”
Thatwas her first shot? He sighed. “Emerson, sweetheart, sometimes, your mouth literally moves, and I can almost hear you saying the numbers.”
The mouth in question dropped open in shock. “It doesnot.”
“Yeah, baby, it does so. You usually do it when you’re super stressed. And even if you aren’t silently mouthing the numbers, I can see your eyes ticking past objects as you count them.” He shrugged. “I’ve seen you count steps when you enter a building.When you were in O’Sullivan’s that night with the team, you counted to see how many tables were between you and the door.”
“How do youknowthat?”
“Because I watched you. You know, when you were busy letting Rylan rub his arm all over yours.”
