Page 106 of As Thick As Thieves

Drake’s sugar-high behavior was gone, replaced with a tired one. “I think that’s a record.”

Penn was flushed, but she didn’t mention it as she spoke, directing everyone’s focus away from my dick. “Stone texted. Dad’s security is literally the same. The party’s started, and Ander’s there rubbing shoulders with a few rich idiots.”

“He’s there without Zavier?” Cruz asked with a frown, mirroring my thoughts. It was dangerous to go in together, let alone on their own.

“Yeah. Stone’s keeping an eye on the cameras, just in case. If something happens, he’s sending a team in,” Penn replied. “I should probably go and see Owen soon, too. He’s a little freaked out about my stalker and wants to make sure I’m okay.”

“If you’re texting him, then he knows you’re fine. Why would you go to the gym now that you have access to the one in the compound?” I grumbled, fixing my pants with one hand while keeping my eyes ahead on the road.

“Because he’s my friend.”

I felt too damn good to argue with her thanks to Drake, so I let it go.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Penn

We spent most of the night in the office, keeping tabs on the security cameras at Dad’s. I curled up on Cruz’s lap for a lot of it while he showed me how to work the tablets they used to keep tabs on security while they were on jobs.

Since so many rich assholes were currently at my father’s, Knox decided it was a good time to hit one of the houses they’d been watching. The man was single, no children, and lived in Crestford, meaning there was plenty of time to sneak in and get back out before he left Kingslake.

I was surprised when Stone offered to go with him, snagging Will on their way out. I assumed Stone always stayed in the office to watch over the jobs from the screens.

“We track them from the moment they leave, while also keeping an eye on the targeted house,” Cruz explained, reaching around me to use the mouse and keyboard without moving me from his lap. “This is why we have so many different screens.”

Drake dropped into a chair beside us, pulling up a screen of his own with little dots scattered everywhere on a map, some being out of the country. “We can also track each other through our phones. These dots are all Night Thieves.”

My jaw almost hit the ground as I leaned closer. “There’s hundreds!”

“We’re a big organization. But it’s also how we never really get caught. Different jobs, different people, it makes it a lot easier to hide. Once we got our foot in the door with the crews and more law enforcement, we could start working with clients face-to-face, though. In most cases, our clients think we’re just runners, not a lot know we’re the ones who actually take this stuff,” Drake shrugged, zooming in on Rawson Grove. There were a shit load of dots, but my eyes went straight to the ones on the move. When he zoomed in even more, their names popped up above the dots to reveal Knox, Stone, and Will. “I’ll keep an eye on these, as well as the footage of Ander to make sure he’s fine, while Cruz watches the live footage from street security. He’s faster at jumping between different devices than me.”

“You have to hack into each camera?” I asked, watching as Cruz’s fingers flew across the keyboard, his eyes glued to the screen as he followed the guys’ journey to Crestford.

“A lot of them are cheap and easy to get into, which means I don’t always have to manually get back in each time. My software recognizes patterns in security and auto hacks into most of them,” Cruz said proudly, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Whereas others with high-tech devices need a little nudge sometimes. They scramble the pattern and it confuses my software, but it’s easy for me to get into because I think, unlike the software that’s running off memory.”

“Why is this turning me on?” I mumbled, a smirk taking over his face as he glanced back at me.

“The same reason it turns me on when you’re holding a gun. As much as I’d love to have you sit on my dick while I do this, I really need to concentrate. Sit with Drake, he’ll show you how to access the trackers. We’ll get you your own devices eventually, so you’ll need to know how to use them all.”

I climbed off him, sliding onto Drake’s lap instead, his arms wrapping around me as he kissed the back of my neck. “I can watch the screen and fuck you at the same time if you want?”

“No, I want to learn. Let me help on this job,” I whined, and he let out a huff.

“Trust me to find a girlfriend with life goals. Okay, while Cruz is doing that, we just keep an eye on this, and since we know exactly where Mr. Launder is, we’ll keep the screen up of him partying at your dickbag dad’s house so we can let the others know if he leaves. A lot of this job is just watching screens, won’t lie, but it’s just as important as being out there thieving shit.”

He showed me the information they’d been keeping on Mr. Launder, revealing weeks’ worth of his home security, pictures of him out in public, and even down to a spreadsheet of his routine. They knew his every move.

“I have no idea how you missed the fact I existed when you broke into Dad’s the first time,” I muttered, and Drake hugged me tightly.

“But aren’t you glad we fucked up? You’re having the time of your life, right?”

“Yeah, baby,” I promised, twisting my head to give him a quick kiss.

The rest of the job went smoothly. Cruz fucked with the home security just before Stone and the guys arrived, and they got in without a single issue. Watching Knox and Stone move silently through the house with their balaclavas on was insanely attractive.

“Try to remember as much as possible about what’s on the footage. Take note of things you don’t even think are important,” Drake said and tapped on the screen in question before turning his attention to the footage of Ander. He was shaking hands with my father, handing over money as a girl was dragged forward. She didn’t look older than fifteen, and I was so glad that Ander was getting her out of there. No matter what people told me about him, I’d always respect what he did to help people.

“Penn? Focus. Your eyes should be on the other screen,” Cruz said sternly, snapping me out of it.

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