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Until he learned about the blood money, of course.
“He’s supposed to be brutal and fearless.”
Ryn’s brows dipped together. “Everyone’s scared of something.”
She slid him a glance and swallowed. To cover her discomfort, she adopted a light tone. “I’d love to know his. Spiders? Mice? Matchmaking grandmas?”
Bright white teeth with a hint of fang showed with Ryn’s laugh. “Doesn’t everyone fear that last one?”
“More than anything else, I think.” At least a sense of humor lurked under the serious demon visage. She couldn’t survive without her sarcasm and black humor. Dang. One more for the list of why this demon made her want to drop her panties. Well, two. His smile turned him from merely ‘hawt’ to ‘panty-dropping.’ She cleared her throat and noted he’d crossed a bridge. “His farm is in Oakland?”
“You’re going to eat up a bunch of electricity warehousing people and keeping blood chilled to avoid spoiling. What better way than to cover the activity by using a dilapidated light industrial warehouse?”
“Delivery trucks. Low employee traffic. Could work.” End up hurting a lot of people, too.
“We’re meeting the surveillance team. They just rotated out. They’ll provide us the setup.” He turned off onto a side street.
The familiar, welcome electrical charge vibrated through her as she slipped into operation mode. “There’s still someone with eyes on the property?”
“Yes.” He guided the SUV into a small, dilapidated strip center’s parking lot with a vacant store at the end. Behind the building, he parked next to a row of identical vehicles. “Come on,” he said while he pulled the handle to open the SUV’s door.
No security lights illuminated the back of the building. Caro may have thought the security arrangement strange, except the lack of illumination allowed for the vacant property’s discrete use. She had no need for the light since she could see perfectly well in the dark. After she slung the pack over her shoulder, she followed Ryn’s very fine ass up the short flight of metal stairs.
He’d dressed for the occasion in a dark, long-sleeved shirt, with black tactical pants and boots—not unlike her. Bulges at his waist indicated firearms. Huh. She’d figured him for the big-money leader, not one to get his hands dirty in operations.
A lock popped, possibly to a spelled door. He yanked open the steel panel and strode through. Through a vestibule, she and Ryn came upon the thirty-ish members of his team.
Inside the vacant business, two rows of tables were set up, with ten people at computers. Others stood, maybe twenty more, focused on checking their guns and knives, hooking up their earpieces to the radios, loading magazines with rounds, all the usual activities when preparing for an assault. Some were in small conversation knots. Others picked over a table loaded with blood bags.
On a blank wall, a projector shone an arial view of a light industrial warehouse, probably about the size of a football field. By the number of cars on one end, the building may have two businesses. Presumably, the end with the four SUVs would be where Jenkins set up shop.
The parallel with her past life hit her in a surprisingly nostalgic wave. She’d missed the intensity, where each cog fit to make a seamless, purposeful, deadly machine.
Usually, once the boss entered the room, all conversation ceased, and everyone paid immediate attention to the group. No different here. She stepped away from him and toward the group she worked with over the last several nights.
Miren, a tall vampire male, made way for her to join the group. “Kavenaugh, you’re with us tonight. Boss went to get you special, eh?”
She shrugged, choosing a casual demeanor, despite the uncomfortable scrutiny from Miren, as well as an elf by the name of Charl, and Hayden, a sorcerer. If she knew them better, she’d pop off something like a sarcastic ‘he must’ve needed the best.’ She chose discretion instead. “Must need all hands on deck. Even mine.”
“We’ll be starting in one minute. Please get settled,” a stern-faced, female demon said in a slightly elevated tone from her position near the warehouse projection on the wall. If she led the brief, she would be the commander for this operation.
Interesting. Not Ryn. She covertly spied the demon speaking quietly with a male she didn’t know who sat in front of a computer.
He glanced up and caught her eye. She didn’t turn away from his frank assessment. The foster care system taught her to show no weakness. Her and her sister’s lives had depended on Caro’s quick mind and fists. The Sanguis world was no different.
He concluded with a familiar pat on the male’s shoulder and sauntered across the room to join her and the three others, only breaking eye contact with her to quietly acknowledge the rest of her team members by name. She drew a careful breath. The intensity burning in the depths of his dark gaze mesmerized her, drawing her like a dragon to gold. This demon posed a dangerous combination of personality and drive, someone who could inspire people for good or ill.
Why ‘ill?’ He’d shown nothing but courtesy to everyone and knew his people well.
You were in the business too long. You don’t trust anyone. Maybe she could trust this one. ‘Trust.’ Like she had a choice.
“You look like you’re going to play with us tonight, boss.”
Miren’s comment drew her attention from her thoughts. Did Ryn not go out that often?
Charl shoved a magazine he’d finished loading with bullets into a holder at his waist. “Which group are you going to work with?”
“This one.”
