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“Not a chance,” she said firmly. “What if something happens? What if you need me?”
He raised an eyebrow. “No offense, Hannah, but what could we need you for? You’re a civilian.”
“I managed to sneak past the Secret Service and pose as a hotel employee without being caught. I’ve been in that hotel, and I know my way around the back areas.”
Will was already shaking his head, but Ryder turned so that Hannah couldn’t see his face and Will could see him speak. “We don’t have Joey. It’d be nice if she could run comms and talk to HQ from the van. Free you up to help as needed.” Will appreciated the quiet tone he used. Ryder wasn’t undermining his authority openly. It was a suggestion, and one that Will could take or leave. “This is just a surveillance op, right?”
He glanced over Ryder’s shoulder to Hannah, waiting for an answer with one hand on her hip and an expectant look on her face.
She had a point about being able to carry herself. She’d proven it every step of the way. But he still didn’t like the idea of putting her in danger. He also didn’t want to leave her entirely unprotected at the house. Darkshade shouldn’t be able to track them down, but he also shouldn’t have been able to get to the President of the United States.
“You’re in the van with me,” he said firmly.
Hannah looked as though she wanted to jump up in celebration, but she concealed a wide smile and nodded.
“And you follow every command I issue, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” she said pointedly, with a sloppy salute that had him fighting back a smile. Cheeky woman.
“All right.” He checked his watch. It was nearly eleven PM. “We’re aiming for eyes on the hotel by noon tomorrow, with Ryder and Pierce in the lobby bar by four. They’ll blend right in with the happy-hour crowd.”
“Oh, this could be bad. Or good?” Hannah lifted her head from the laptop she was looking at. “There is a conference at Sunset Terrace this week. It’s the PureBeauty annual convention for their distributors.”
Will looked around to see if the other guys understood any of that.
Pierce frowned, leaning against the hallway entry. “Isn’t that like makeup and girly crap?”
Jackson spoke up. “Oh yeah. I think my high school girlfriend is way into it. It’s all she posts about on Facebook. She’s always posting videos of her drinking this green powder drink that looks like grass clippings in water.”
Hannah nodded. “Yep. They sell makeup and beauty supplements. The entire hotel is booked by these girls.”
Will groaned. “So, basically Ryder and Pierce are going to stick out like a sore thumb?”
She tipped her head back and forth. “Maybe. I wonder if we could just make sure they have some lanyards or whatever? Sometimes, the reps bring their husbands.”
“All right, that could work.”
Will still didn’t like that the hotel would be swarming with innocent people. “Is there a schedule of events on there?”
“Probably. These people don’t keep anything on the downlow, except what a rip-off their products are.” Hannah clicked around the website. “Yep, here it is. Tomorrow we’ve got…” she drew out the word as she scanned the page. “Keynote is at four and a fashion show at five.”
He rolled his eyes. “Great. Why is this guy staying here?”
Ryder shrugged. “Some sort of power play, I’d guess.”
Will considered his options. It was either this or try to lure the target away from the hotel, but he wasn’t taking the bait on the email they’d sent earlier, so it didn’t seem like that was going to work. “All right. Lanyards for everyone, I guess.”
“On it,” Hannah said, grabbing the laptop. “Let me just find some pictures on social media of people who have them on so we can get ones that fit in.”
Will nodded. He appreciated her attention to detail–and her resourcefulness.
“There’s no way it’s going to be that easy to–” Jackson’s skeptical comment was interrupted by Hannah’s triumphant tone.
“Got it!” She turned the laptop around and showed them a photo of three girls wearing too much makeup. Their lanyards and name tags were proudly displayed as they looked up at the camera.
“You were saying?” Will said to Jackson. He turned back to Hannah. “Can you mock up some reasonable fakes for us?” She nodded and turned back to the laptop. “Tank, can you run to the office supply store and buy…blue?” He looked to Hannah for confirmation, which she gave with a thumbs-up. “Blue lanyards,” he confirmed.
“Hold up. I’ll send these to be printed at the same place. We can pick up everything in the morning.”
