Chapter 8
“Bristol?”
That voice drifted into her subconscious. One she’d been dreaming about only minutes before. She opened her eyes and blinked owlishly up at Devlin, realizing something had shifted. She straightened in her seat and looked around. “Are we here?”
“Yes, we’ll be landing in a few minutes.”
She wiped the sleep from her eyes and made a trip to the bathroom. When she returned, she sat down and buckled up again. “I’m really glad I managed to sleep. I hadn’t realized how tired I was,” she confessed.
“Nothing’s better than sleep to heal a lot of what’s wrong with us.”
They were another two hours landing, clearing, loading her gear and everyone’s personal baggage into vehicles, driving to hers, and then to her place. She lived half an hour out of Los Angeles. Although what she called the outskirts was the boondocks to him. Devlin chose to ride in her car, with the rest of his unit in the others, escorting her drone hardware.
“Is your lab at your home?” he asked.
She nodded, tossing him a grin. “Yes. It’s one of the reasons why I live where I do. I have space.” She glanced behind them to see the rest of the men following. “They don’t really have to come, you know.” She tilted her head at Devlin. “I feel bad about taking their leave.”
He laughed a hard bark that made her wince. “It’s better they have something to do on their days off anyway. Ryder’s coming out of a bad relationship. Corey would likely just party or get into trouble, and Easton … Well, he’s one of those guys who would much rather fill his time wisely than spend it alone.”
It took her a few minutes to digest all that. She realized they might as well come and help. She could sure use the hands. “Then thank you, all of you, for coming and helping.”
“I need your address so I can send it to Levi.”
“Levi?”
“Yes, he’s sending Harrison and Rhodes your way. Both of them are aces with computers. Harrison’s elite when it comes to software and hardware.”
She frowned. More people. She needed them, but were they all safe to let into her lab?
He shot her a glance which she caught from the corner of her eye. She took a turn off the highway, checking to be sure the guys were still behind them. Her small car versus their two vehicles—one large Jeep and a truck. She just didn’t get it. What was it about men and Jeeps?
But that was a thought for another day.
“It’s tough to trust strangers,” Devlin said, “but you have to trust someone, so it might as well be me. Levi is a good man, and he has good men. Levi’s nothing if not ambitious. Between him and Ice, they already have a corner on some of the most black-ops private-security missions going.”
“Ice,” she repeated. “That’s right. I’ve heard that name before. Isn’t she some kind of top-notch helicopter pilot or something?”
“The best.” Devlin nodded. “I’ve never had a chance to ride with her myself. Kind of wish I had. She is supposed to be something.”
“She walked away from the military too?”
“Let’s just say she stuck with Levi.”
“Ha.” And that was something Bristol understood too, even though she’d never had a relationship where she’d been willing to do the same. But if she ever did, if it was worth it, she’d walk away too. She couldn’t help herself from sneaking a glance at the man beside her. Yeah, she was a fool.
“Address?” he prompted.
She rattled it off. “They need clearance to get inside.”
“That’s to be expected. How big a place is it?”
“Big. I’ve got a full-size hangar and a large testing pad outside. I needed the acreage in order to test drones,” she said. “I have various places I take them out for some finite tuning, but I have enough space for the drones that I can actually run them at home.”
As they drove farther and farther away from the outskirts of the big city, into more open country, he said, “I think another friend of mine actually lives out here too.”
She glanced at him. “Sounds like you know everybody.”
“No, but Hawk and his sister own property in this area. She runs an animal rescue. When she first hooked up with Swede, another SEAL, she and her brother were living out of state. But she and Swede couldn’t stand being apart as often as they were. It was too far for him to travel back and forth, and she couldn’t leave her animals, so the siblings sold that first property and bought another down here.” He studied the neighborhood. “I’m sure it’s nearby.”
“There is a rescue not too far from my place. I can’t remember the name of it, but they handle animals of all kinds.”
He laughed. “That’s likely it. You might’ve seen Swede in Afghanistan. He was the monster-size guy.”
“I remember him,” she exclaimed. “You’re saying that’s his place?”
“I believe it’s part his. He and Mina hooked up. Both the brother and sister needed to buy the property, so I think they all own it or something like that.” He shrugged. “No idea how it works. The three of them do really well together. And, of course, Hawk is currently engaged to his sister’s best friend.”
“Oh, that’s perfect then.”
“Do you think so?” He laughed. “That was the dig that Corey made earlier about Mason.” He quickly explained a little bit about Mason’s Keepers.
She laughed. “Good for Mason. There should be a little bit more light and sunshine in this world with all this nastiness.” She flipped on the turn signal and headed right. “We’re almost there.”
She took several more turns, then ended up outside a very large steel gate with security cameras mounted on both sides. “Welcome to my home.”
*
Devlin’s eyes widened as he took in the stone walls all around the property and the large double security gate. She drove up to a center post, punched in numbers and waited for it to open. He glanced at her. “I hadn’t expected this level of security.”
“My father installed it years ago,” she said. “Otherwise it wouldn’t be here.”
“Your father?”
“Yes, he’s an inventor, a mechanical engineer with an interest in all things computer.”
That explained some of her history.
She pulled the vehicle through the gates just enough to drive to the far side and park. “I have to let the other vehicles through.”
She hopped out, walked back and hit a button that kept the gates open. The two vehicles with the rest of his unit drove through. She quickly hit a series of buttons on the computer panel, waited for the gate to close and returned to the car.
When she was back in her seat, she said, “We’re good to go.”
He wondered just how safe she thought she was once inside the gate with all the cameras and security codes. His mind was already cataloguing the easiest way to get in and access her place. It wouldn’t take much. The fence was not high enough, nor electrified. Cameras were around, but he didn’t find too many. It would be easy to take out the entire system first, depending on the time frame.
She pulled up beside a ranch with Spanish tiles on the roof.
He smiled. “At least a roof like that you don’t have to replace too often.”
“Again, my father. Everything he did, he did for long term.”
“Does your dad work here still?”
She shot him a hooded glance and said, “Somewhat.”
She opened the car door and got out. He followed suit. They walked over to the truck where the rest of her gear was packed and helped the men unload. They stood with the stack on the ground, and he turned to her. “Where do you want these?”
She smiled. “Follow me.”
She walked to the front door and inside the house. Devlin, with one large box in his arms, followed close behind. The house was an open floor plan, tiled and spacious. He fell in love with it immediately. “This is perfect,” he said. “I love the windows.”
The entire back wall was nothing but windows. And from here he could see a huge pool. The ranch wrapped all around the pool on three sides.
“This way,” she said as she took a left.
He saw a very large elevator door and frowned. “Not too many people have a service elevator inside their house.”
“You have no idea what’s downstairs.” She laughed. “I grew up in this house. To me it’s normal, but for the few times I have people over, to them it’s anything but.”
The elevator was big enough for all of them. As he looked around, he realized five people were in the elevator, all with their arms fully packed, so it could easily hold ten to twelve men comfortably. He checked out the panel, noting two levels. And yet a pool was outside, and her home was on flat ground. He shook his head. “Nobody would realize there’s another level to this place.”
She gave him a hooded look again. “Exactly.”
And he realized what she had meant about security. How could anybody infiltrating her company know about this?
The elevator doors opened on the first subfloor. She walked out into a massive lab. He could hear the gasp and whistles from the guys behind them. They all appreciated a good work center, and this was state-of-the-art. To the left was a massive bank of computers and several workstations. To the right were more computers, but these were set up with hardware. Huge long tables—twenty to forty feet each—were put together. Almost like a production assembly line but on a much smaller scale.
“Was Colleen working with you here?”
“Yes.”
“What about Sandra?”
She shook her head. “No, she’s Brent’s assistant at ENFAQ. Whereas Colleen worked full-time for me.”
“Was she on the payroll at ENFAQ as well?”
Bristol looked over at him and frowned. “I actually don’t know, but I don’t think so.”
Devlin exchanged a glance with Easton. “Espionage is always easiest when somebody is within the company.” If it was just her and Colleen, then that didn’t look so good for Colleen.
“Anybody else work for you?” Ryder asked.
“Bookkeepers, accountants, and lawyers.” She laughed. “Some come here, some don’t. Very few have been downstairs.”
“Can you tell us who has been down here?”
She turned to study Devlin, her gaze assessing, figuring out what his angle was.
“I’m looking to see who might have had access to place bugs, to see the actual setup and type of software you’re using, and also who could have assessed the security you have in place.” He shrugged. “The more information we have, the easier our job.”
“Just what is your job?” she asked.
He grinned. “Saving your ass.”
That startled a surprised laugh out of her. “I can’t argue with that. As far as answering your original question, the insurance agent came through. He didn’t believe me when I said I had the electronics and setup I have in here. I had to insure everything, all the intellectual property and equipment.”
“That’s something we need to know. Exactly how much is this insured for?”
She glanced at him and in a low voice said, “Seven million.”
Silence came first. “Wow.”
She nodded. “I believe the property assessment came in at three. The rest of it is the business.”
“What has to happen in order to get a payout?” Ryder asked.
Devlin winced at Ryder’s tone, but these questions needed to be asked.
She stiffened. “Basically full loss of property and business. I think a major fire or bomb.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Anything on a large scale like that.”
“I bet your insurance guy didn’t like the pool above here,” Corey said in a light tone. “Just imagine the water damage.”
She chuckled. “No, he did not like that one bit.”
Devlin turned around. “I see you have a filter system. You work with gases and chemicals here?”
“The system is here, but it’s not connected. I was looking at doing other work. I just haven’t gotten there yet.”
“Other work?”
She groaned. “My father was a weapons designer. The HEPA filter system was my suggestion for some of the work he did.”
All four men stiffened at the words weapons designer.
“That’s how you got into these drones?” Devlin asked.
“Yes. But my father is not the man he used to be. It’s one of the reasons for the security.” Then she clammed up and wouldn’t say anymore.
After an uncomfortable few minutes, Corey stepped forward and said, “I’m not just a pretty face. I’m quite capable too.”
She grinned. “I sure hope you mean that because we have one heck of a lot of work to do.”