Victor's face hardened. “My commuting time is valuable. I maximize it whenever possible by bringing secretarial support. Kindly do not ask me to explain my decisions to you ever again. Is that clear?”
She blushed furiously and nodded, acutely conscious of Seth Mackey's quiet, intense presence, listening to Victor's reprimand. She watched them walk away, feeling helpless and foolish. Damn. The pirate queen would have thought of some quick and clever way to eavesdrop on their confidential conversation. She certainly would never have been intimidated into taking off her glasses.
Then again, the pirate queen would have been shrewd enough to stow her contacts in her purse. She knew how to plan ahead. She was bold, but crafty. Brave, but patient She could fight when the need arose, but she didn't waste her strength or resources in useless battles. And she wasn't afraid to seize what she wanted, whether it be truth and justice, or a tall, dark and sexy security consultant.
Raine sat down in the backseat of the limo with a sigh, and composed herself to wait. Seth Mackey didn't know it yet, but he was about to be seduced by a pirate queen.
“The first step is to conduct a detailed vulnerability analysis and threat assessment,” Seth said. “That involves inspecting every part of your facility to identify weaknesses. Locks, doors, alarms, the telephone system, network and computer security, everything.”
Lazar frowned slightly and looked around the huge warehouse. “How long will it take? My security problems are very pressing.”
Seth shrugged. “It depends. At least a few days to cover the corporate headquarters and all the warehouses. Do you want to include your private residences in the threat assessment? I recommend it”
Lazar's eyes narrowed. “Let me mink about that.”
Seth gave the murdering bastard his very best, ultra-friendly Mr. Professional smile. “When we get down to the actual debugging, I'll call my crew for backup. We'll start with the radio frequency sweep, then the wire and conductor check. Then we'll do a detailed physical search for hardwired mikes and remote shutdown transmitters.”
Lazar held open the back door of the warehouse, gesturing for Seth to exit first “And how do you propose to maintain secrecy under those conditions?”
The man's condescending tone made Seth feel like he was chewing glass. He turned and waited for Lazar to draw abreast of him. No way was he turning his back on that treacherous asshole. “That's your judgment call” he said. “We tend to find remote switchable devices more easily if we sweep during business hours, but your adversary could switch off the remotes, or even vaporize the microphone elements with charged, high-voltage capacitators, if he's onto your survey. It's a toss-up. Think about it.”
“I see,” Lazar murmured. “I certainly shall think about it.” “When it comes to the RF sweep, our spectrum analyzer is the best I've used,” Seth went on. “And I've used them all.” “Oh, I'm sure your firm is everything it claims to be.” Seth pushed doggedly on with his standard promo spiel. “We use a nonlinear junction detector and an infrared probe in addition to the RF sweep. We'll use time domain reflectometry for the telephones. I need a history of the system installation and a cable chart for the phone matrix as soon as possible.”
Lazar nodded. “I'll have it ready for you in the morning.” They fell silent as they walked past one of the very warehouses that Seth and the McCloud brothers had shamelessly robbed only six weeks before. Funny, how even though it was all an act, his brain still clicked automatically into TSCM mode, starting the process of developing a comprehensive strategy for isolation and nullification.
God knows, this would be the easiest bug sweep his team had ever done, since he knew exactly where all the bugs were. He would find plenty of evidence to satisfy the client, plant a hell of a lot more, and make the bastard pay through the nose for the service. It was beautiful.
With this contract, Lazar was financing his own ruin. Seth liked that. It appealed to his sense of justice, and solved several pressing problems at once. He had been neglecting several aspects of his business since Jesse's death—namely, the money-making ones—and he was running through his own personal fortune at an alarming rate.
He was his own biggest pain-in-the-ass nonpaying client. Kearn and the others were at their wits' end with him. This deal would float the investigation once again—by securing Lazar's facility against Seth's own spying, thieving depredations. His mouth practically watered at the thought of bug-sweeping the Stone Island house. God, what havoc he could wreak.
He and the McClouds had enjoyed themselves hugely on those warehouse raids, and even more on the burglary of Lazar's townhouse. Once Seth had analyzed the existing security and rigged his own surveillance equipment, it had been almost too easy Each subsequent warehouse break-in had been tougher, and more fun. With Kearn and Leslie’s new ultra-sensitive thermal imaging goggles, it had been pathetically easy to see where the security guards lurked. It wasn't very sporting, maybe, but hey, he could deal with that It hadn't been sporting to slaughter his little brother, either.
They turned the corner to the front of the warehouse where the Umo was parked. The blonde scrambled out of the backseat as they approached. She pulled off her glasses and shoved them into her purse. She looked totally different without them. Soft, misty and succulent She had been biting her lower lip so hard that it was red and puffy.
As if she'd been passionately kissed.
Lazar was talking again. Seth hauled his attention forcibly back.
“... long will the installation take?”
Seth fished the rest of Lazar's question out of his automatic short-term memory, remembering just in time to switch back to the cover story for the blonde’s benefit. “I’ll need to analyze your existing inventory system, and inspect the other sites before I can tell you that.”
“You can inspect the other warehouses tomorrow morning, if that’s convenient,” Lazar said.
“Tomorrow morning will be fine.”
“Well, very good, then. I hope you will excuse me, but I have an urgent appointment downtown,” Lazar said. He glanced at Raine, with a smirk that made Seth want to drive his fist into the older man's face. “Raine, Mr. Mackey is newly arrived in Seattle. Would you be so good as to show him around? Restaurants, tourist attractions, and the like?”
Raine's eyes widened in a remarkable semblance of innocent surprise. The tinge of alarm was a nice, realistic touch, Seth thought. So was the blush. “Me? Oh, but I... but Harriet will be expecting—”
'Harriet understands the situation,” Lazar cut in smoothly. “We must welcome our honored guest. I leave that in your capable hands.”
“Oh.” Her eyes darted back and forth between them. She looked trapped.
Lazar extended his hand to Seth. “I'm sure you'll enjoy her company,” he said.
Fury slashed through him, and he barely stopped himself from crushing Lazar's hand into a bloody pulp. He forced himself to smile politely as the other man climbed into his limo. So Lazar had sampled her charms himself. The message was clear.
He told himself to get the fuck over it. She was a professional, and it was no more or less than he had assumed from the first.
Raine gazed after the limo as it pulled away, her lower lip caught between her teeth. She looked bewildered, or maybe that was just the innocent maiden act. It was damn convincing. He had to give her that.
He shifted his leather coat, draping it across his aching hard-on. Lascivious possibilities presented themselves to him, one after the other. There were lots of dark, secluded corners in the warehouse they had just vacated. He knew exactly which ones were out of the range of video surveillance. Places where he could pin her up against the wall, rip open her hose and drive his aching flesh deep into the hot, slick depths of her. She would cling to him, her thighs clasped around his waist, cries of pleasure jerking out of her throat with each heavy thrust.