Dangerous.
Every time she grinned, it did something to his chest, somewhere behind the Kevlar-lined walls he’d spent a lifetime building.
Dammit.
“You happy with this camera angle?” Carter asked, shifting the tablet toward him, regaining his attention. A camera feed showed the stairwell and most of the back hallway. “Catches all the entry points.”
“Looks solid. Make sure it’s recording to both the cloud and the back-up,” Bennett said, working hard to keep his interest from drifting back toward the sink again.
Carter snorted. “Please, I’m not a rookie. This thing’s got more back-up than your average boy band reunion tour.”
Tyler wandered in from the unfinished unit next door, brushing drywall dust from his shoulder. “Side sensors areup,” he informed. “Still working on the second-floor motion detectors. Storefronts are next.”
Matthew was on his six, now holding an energy drink instead of tools. Looking around, he let out a low whistle. “Gotta admit, this place is shaping up faster than I thought.”
“Which makes it a bigger target,” Bennett muttered.
Tyler frowned. “You thinking the same person hit the diner?”
“Not sure.” He shrugged. “But if it was, they knew when to strike and where. It’s pressure.”
Tyler’s brow furrowed. “Pressure on Annie? Or Laurel?”
“Annie,” Bennett said without hesitation. “Laurel’s just in the blast radius.”
He felt it in his bones. And that was the reason he’d reassured Laurel they’d put someone on her aunt. Mac had agreed that Sinjin was the perfect agent to shadow Annie. The woman would never even know he was around.
Sinjin Acothley was a former Delta operator who’d spent years in the shadows, running black ops across the globe. If he didn’t want to be seen, you’d never know he was there. The man could ghost through a crowd like smoke—silent, invisible, and deadly precise.
He was exactly what Annie needed.
“What about Duke Carver?” Matthew asked, keeping his voice low. He’d done a quick dive on the guy earlier today, and no one liked the results.
And even though that afternoon they’d questioned a few of the realtor’s clients who’d sang the man’s praises, no one at ESI felt any different.
The guy was slick, and that usually wasn’t good.
Carter crossed his arms. “According to one of Mac’s cousins, Duke is an asshat who’s been sniffing around that building for years.”
For the first time since he’d received Laurel’s text that morning, a smile tugged at Bennett’s lips.
Matthew laughed outride. “Did Mac’s cousin really call him an asshat?”
“Yes, along with some other choice words.” Carter grinned. “Apparently Connor McCall and Duke have been rivals since high school.”
He liked this Connor guy and made a mental note to track him down if they needed more insight. For now, they knew enough to put Duke at the top of their list.
“He’s got motive,” Bennett muttered.
“And the charm to hide it,” Matthew added. “Apparently, he shows up at the right time, offering to help.”
“If Carver is behind things, he’s not the type to get his hands dirty,” Bennett stated. “He’d hire someone else to do the legwork.”
They all went quiet.
“My brother said he’s still digging into the partial plate from the diner’s alley camera,” Tyler offered up about the sheriff. “Old white pickup. Might give us something.”
He and Matthew had called Gabe to the diner that morning to inspect Laurel’s findings. The sheriff hadn’t found any evidence to connect it to the break-ins in this building but was waiting to see if forensics painted a different picture.
