Page 17 of Nico

I looked toward Nico. "You think this person is dangerous."

It wasn't a question. Nico met my eyes.

"Yeah,” he answered with no hesitation. He looked back toward the screen. "Normal fans want access. You know autographs, photos, recognitions.”

He pointed toward one post, then highlighted one sentence. Everyone keeps getting in the way.

The room seemed to hold its breath. Nico looked back at me. "This person doesn't want access. They want ownership."

The distinction hit me immediately. Nico was right. Normal fans wanted to be noticed, craved interaction, but this person viewed everyone around Logan as obstacles. Problems to remove.

A knot tightened in my chest. Beside me, Logan had gone unusually quiet.

That worried me more than if he'd made a joke. I looked back at the screen, at the photographs, the impossible angles, and the hidden vantage points. Suddenly the extra cameras didn't seem excessive at all.

Now, they seemed necessary and long overdue. For the first time since arriving in Pecan Pines, I felt something dangerously close to embarrassment.

I'd spent the last few hours assuming Nico was an overeager fan who'd somehow stumbled into a job requiring competence.

Instead, he'd quietly dug through months of online activity and identified a potential threat before anyone else had even realized one existed, including me. I didn't like that feeling.

If Nico was right, then I should have caught this already.

I was the bodyguard, and protecting Logan was my responsibility, my purpose. If someone had gotten this close without me noticing...The thought made my stomach turn.

"What do you need?" I asked.

Nico blinked. "What?"

"For the cameras,” I said.

His eyes widened slightly. "Approval mostly."

"You have it,” I said.

Logan looked between us. "Mine too."

For a moment Nico simply stared. Then he recovered quickly. "Okay. Awesome.”

4

NICO

The temporary command center was taking shape inside one of the trailers parked closer to the filming site. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the setup back at my usual office.

I had better equipment there, more space, and a proper network infrastructure that didn't involve running cables through a trailer and praying no one tripped over them.

But the filming site was spread out over a ridiculous amount of land, and it made far more sense to monitor everything from here than from the office.

I hummed quietly along to the Shadowfall soundtrack playing from my laptop. The music usually helped me concentrate, and after spending enough time listening to the same tracks, I'd practically memorized every note.

A heavy leather boot tapped against the metal floor. Tap. Tap. Tap. I turned the volume up a notch. The tapping continued.

I turned it up another notch. A low sound came from behind me, halfway between a sigh and a grunt. It was impossible to ignore.

I was already bracing myself for another question, another criticism. It wasn't as though I wasn't used to it. Isaac had been questioning me since yesterday, and he wasn't even the first person to do it.

Being compared to Tony came with the territory. He was the head IT specialist, and apparently that meant everyone assumed there was a right way of doing things, which was usually whatever Tony would have done.