by AJ Sherwood
Remi’s mouth pursed in a little bow before she answered, “Cabs, metro, buses, walking. Do planes count?”
“For you, yes. Which ones can you take?”
“Metro and buses. Maybe planes?”
As he walked her through the possible ins and outs out of the city, Carter couldn’t help but observe that as he talked Remi through the basics, Ari stared at him hard. Ivan seemed intrigued as well, but something about Ari’s expression…it wasn’t irritation. Or seemingly any sort of negative emotion, although Carter could understand if it was. He might be stepping on toes. But really, he was following through on an earlier promise, to help Remi come up with an exit strategy. To ease Ari’s mind about having her here.
No, it wasn’t irritation. Or worry. Or anything like that. It was something else, something Carter couldn’t quite read. He did know it made his skin a little too tight and hot, his mouth a touch dry. And god, as agitated as it made Carter feel, he wouldn’t mind if Ari stared at him like that for a few more hours.
12
Ari
This should not be sexy. Or a turn-on. Harrison leaned towards Remi, seriously listening to her, giving her all of the attention people normally reserved for other adults. Remi responded in kind, oriented towards Harrison, and if someone didn’t know better, a third-party observer would think it was uncle and niece talking. Or perhaps even father and daughter. Remi had no reserves with him, and how the hell was Harrison charming her so thoroughly as to manage that?
Watching and listening as a mercenary walked his daughter through all of the escape routes of the city shouldn’t be alluring. But damn if Ari didn’t want to drag the man into a backroom somewhere and blow him. Harrison was clearly very good with kids. Which was somehow surprising, although Ari wasn’t sure why. He oscillated between being hopeful, to being confused at being hopeful, and slapping his libido down. Was this a thing now? Had being a father changed his perceptions so much that he found Harrison’s attitude toward his daughter attractive?
Being a parent really should come with warning labels.
Fortunately, no one seemed to realize his head had gone straight into the gutter. Well, maybe Ivan. But Ivan was good at reading people. They finished dinner and set out once again, this time doing some of the necessary shopping.
Anyone going through DC would tell you that the two fastest ways to get anywhere were by bus or metro. Cars might come with more freedom but it meant being stuck in traffic most of the time. People opted for the metro for that reason—it was just faster. The first thing they did was stop by a station and buy metro passes for all of them, including Kyou. They picked up maps of the stations as well. This would be one of Remi’s tasks—to memorize where every station was.
After they had the passes, they immediately used them, going towards their target. As they waited for their train to come in, Ari bent down to Remi’s level. With the crowds on the platform, and the noise of the trains coming and going through the tunnels, he had to speak a touch louder than he wanted to make sure she heard him. Even with her standing in between his knees. “Rems, you keep that with your phone, okay? We’ll use it a lot.”
Her cellphone case had a pocket for a debit card, which she also already had tucked in there. It was strictly for emergencies, in case she needed to get out quickly. Ari had been surprised at how well she obeyed that rule. She never touched the card without his permission.
Nodding, she slotted the metro card on top of her debit card before putting the phone back into the Black Widow backpack on her back. “Daddy, Uncle Luca texted me just now. He said if I wanted, I could come stay with him during the job.”
She didn’t voice the question, but her eyes asked, Do you want me to? Ari phrased the words carefully before speaking. “Rems, I think you can stay with us. Uncle K’s really excited to have you here. He wants to teach you more computer stuff. Uncle Luca’s worried about you being here while we’re working. It’s up to you, though. If you want to go stay with him for a month, you can.”
Remi chewed on her bottom lip, obviously torn. “I do want to meet him. But I want to stay, too.”
That was more or less the answer he’d expected. “I guarantee we’re going to meet him soon. Our birthday is coming up. I told you about how we always celebrate that together.”
“Yeah. And that’s August 21st.”
Remembered that, had she? “Yup, sure is. So you’re going to meet him sooner or later. Up to you, gattina. You want to stay with us or go?”
“Stay,” she said decisively.
Also the answer he’d expected. Still, he found himself grinning at her. “I figured. If things get hot, though, you call him. You go directly to him, tu capisci?”
“Lo capisco.”
“Okay. Uncle K will be relieved you’re staying. He’s counting on you to be another set of eyes on the cameras. And you know how bad Uncle Ivan is with the electronics. I expect you to watch him.”
She didn’t quite salute, but her body language was right for it. She gave him a serious nod. “Okay.”
The train arrived, an announcement blaring out over the speakers in a detached female voice. The passengers on board shuffled off, then the ones on the platform shuffled on. Ari kept a tight grip on Remi. He’d learned that lesson the hard way. Finding a panicked eight-year-old in the New York metro system had not been fun.
Remi apparently remembered that as well, as she kept a firm grip on his hand, although she couldn’t do much more than comfortably cling onto three fingers.
They got a bit battered on all sides as they loaded. It was nearing rush hour, and Ari kicked himself for not planning ahead. Benches lined the walls, all of them full, and the standing room quickly filled up with people, all with hands latched onto the various offered handholds. Ari took one look at the situation and grimaced. “Whose bright idea was it to go anywhere at four o’clock in DC?”
“Chert, zanuda,” Ivan grumbled crossly. “We should have considered that.”
“Here.” Harrison touched the small of Ari’s back and Remi’s shoulder, subtly guiding them more towards the cavity of the doors.
Ari went, as that was the only sensible option to stand and block Remi from being crushed by everyone else. He grabbed the handrail near the benches, bracing himself, Remi tucked against the door in front of him. Then he nearly leapt out of his skin when he felt Harrison close in from the right side. His head came up sharply, and it was then he realized Harrison’s extra two inches of height over him put their heads uncomfortably close together. (A bit more of a tilt and they could actually kiss. Not that Ari was thinking about that. At all.) Fortunately, Harrison’s attention wasn’t on him, but on the passengers crowding in from behind. He had a hand braced against the door above Remi’s shoulder, his other hand wrapped around Ari’s back and holding onto the rail. Ari recognized that stance all too well—it was something he’d done a time or two himself in the army. It was a protect-the-citizen stance and done so smoothly he didn’t think Harrison had made a conscious decision to use it.
What? Why? Huh?
It had been a dog’s age since anyone had tried to protect him. Even from something as casual as the crush of rush hour traffic on a subway. It did funny things to his heart, speeding it up and twisting it a bit in his chest.
He’s doing it to protect Remi, Ari kept telling himself. Harrison was flanking on the right side to keep the girl from being crushed, that was all. The fact that his arm was pressed up against the small of Ari’s back, and that their shoulders overlapped, that was just coincidence. Happenstance. Unavoidable in these close quarters, really. So, he really shouldn’t be fixated on the obvious strength of that warm body pressed close, or stubble framing Harrison’s mouth. His heart shouldn’t be skipping a beat every time the rocking of the train pressed Harrison just that bit closer. His instincts were currently at war between relaxing into the cradle of Harrison’s arm around him or keeping rigidly upright. The vote was currently: 1 for leaning in, 0 for keeping distance
.
Damn, he smelled good. Like warm skin and musk. Was that cologne?
Ari stared into Remi’s innocent eyes, by far the safest thing to look at, and swore at his libido. He really needed to do something about easing all of this sexual tension. Clearly, if having a man step on his shadow had this sort of effect on him, he’d gone too long without. Although really, when had his brain decided to trust Carter Harrison? Up until this morning, Ari had been debating putting a bullet in him.
The turning point might have been the conversation over dinner. Or maybe not. Ari couldn’t pinpoint it cleanly. He just knew the man’s proximity was causing havoc on him now.
It might have been fifteen minutes. Or a small eternity. Really, anyone’s guess, but eventually they reached the right stop. Ari had never been so relieved to leave a subway car. They either weaved or bulldozed their way through the crowds to get up the stairs and onto the sidewalks once again. Then it was another ten-minute walk to their actual destination.
Ari leaned down and scooped Remi up, setting her on his shoulders as they moved. “Okay, Rems. You now have better vantage than we do. I need you to count guards and security cameras, okay?”
He didn’t, really, but it was good practice for her. And there was the possibility she could see something from his shoulders they couldn’t. The fence along the perimeter was nine feet of wrought iron, spaced so that a man could slip his hand through easily, but nothing larger than that. Most of the view to the mansion was blocked not by the fence, but the line of trees just inside. It meant she would only be able to see snatches of what was going on inside, in between the leaves and the branches, which was frustrating now but would come in handy later.
Her hands settled on his head and he felt her nod. “Okay. Should I tell you now?”
“Yeah, no one’s going to be paying much attention to us.”
“Take a good look, solnishko,” Ivan requested softly, closing in on his left side. “You can stare that direction without issue. We stare too long, the guards get nervous.”
“That’s cause you’re scary, Uncle Ivan.”
Ivan chuckled and Harrison snickered. “Ah, solnishko, you always say such sweet things to me.”
“Everything inside the big black fence?” Remi double checked.
“Yup. We’ll focus on this side of the street.” Ari kept his walk casual, more a stroll than anything. Million-dollar homes, restaurants, and those elite stores only the truly wealthy could frequent lined the street. One bank as well, on the corner. It looked picturesque, with planter boxes and landscaping in full bloom, the trees trimmed to within an inch of their lives. Picturesque, but not without its security measures. Everything had cameras, as far as Ari could tell. Most of them faced the front doors, which only made sense. That’s what the owners were interested in protecting.
“How is it?” Ari murmured to Ivan.
“I think some of the cameras are problematic,” he returned in the same low tone. “They’ve got enough of an angle to catch across the street as well. Not all, though. K can work his magic here.”
“Assuming they’re not all dumb, on their own servers.”
Harrison cleared his throat meaningfully. “You two do remember this is a covert operation? We need to switch it all out without anyone realizing we were there.”
Ari made a face. “That’s the optimistic result. I’m planning for pessimistic everything-goes-wrong first.”
“Besides, it still counts as a covert operation if no one lives to tell about it,” Ivan observed absently, his eyes still studying cameras.
Harrison gave him a worried look, not sure if Ivan jested or not.
Trying to assure him, Ari muttered from the side of his mouth, “He’s joking. Mostly.”
“Mostly,” Harrison said blandly. “Right.”
“It’s like the Hilton job in LA. 2008. Good times,” Ivan reminisced.
Harrison startled visibly. “The Zoe Diamond? You stole that?”
Remi thankfully interrupted before the conversation could further go off the rails. “Daddy, I see two guards walking along the grounds. There’s two more on the front door of the house.”
“Okay, that’s four. Keep an eye on them, see if they switch out with someone else.”
They turned the corner and kept walking, all the world like tourists out to see the sights.
“Ground sensors,” Harrison muttered while making a face. “Those are going to make jumping the fence a no-go. At least they don’t have dogs.”
“Dogs are hard to get around,” Ivan agreed in the same disgruntled tone.
Ari waggled his eyebrows at both of them. “Something you two want to share with the class?”
“Long story.” “Bad story.” They said in near unison in a quelling don’t-ask manner.
It took another ten minutes to walk to the end of the block, and the property line. Knowles was less a house and more like an estate, eating up very pricey real estate in an obvious show of wealth. The perimeter fence stayed steady and true all the way, with a distinct, if low-grade, hum. If that thing wasn’t wired for shock, Ari would become a cop. After all, it had been last time.
They kept walking, this time crossing the street to make it less obvious they were casing the joint. A street vendor sold ice cream cones, and they all stopped to get one, Remi opting for a popsicle. She didn’t get back on his shoulders for which he was grateful. Ari had experienced sticky gooiness in his hair before. It was a pleasure he could live without.
“Only the one entrance,” Ivan noted. “Still.”
“It did initially surprise me they didn’t have a side entrance for deliveries and such,” Harrison pitched in, licking at his Rocky Road. “But it really does make sense from a security perspective. Easier to guard one entrance.”
“They were smart about how they set up security.” Ari glared at the extensive, well-manicured grounds as if they were an insult to his mother. “Bastards. Remi, what’s your guard count?”
“Six,” she answered promptly.
“There were ten last time we came in.” Ivan didn’t look at the grounds again, keeping his attention on Remi. “Of course, some of them are on vault and house duty, we won’t see them out here. K will need to find the roster, double check if things have changed.”
Ari would personally bet they had. They’d already been robbed once, after all. “Either way, we’ve done what we can today. Let’s get back to the hotel. Remi’s got a date with the pool.”
Elated, she bounced once in place. “Yes.”
“But first, swimsuits,” Carter added practically. “Because I don’t know about any of you, but I certainly didn’t pack one.”
That was a good point. “Quick shopping trip, then pool.”
Remi was fine with going to the pool, excited even, right up until it came time to get into the water. She hesitated strongly at the pool’s edge, staring down at it with open trepidation. Ari didn’t initially understand why, as they were at the shallow end, and even with her shortness it wouldn’t go over her head. Then it hit him—had she even been in a body of water before that was bigger than a bathtub?
Kneeling next to her, Ari asked softly, “Gattina, you know how to swim?”
Shaking her head, she kept staring at the water as if it might reach up and bite her.
Well, this was a problem. Ari wasn’t that strong of a swimmer, himself. He’d not been in a pool that many times in his life. Normally, if he was in water, he was fighting for his life. It hadn’t endeared him to large bodies of water. (He largely blamed Africa for that. But then, Ari blamed Africa for a lot of things. His fear of snakes, for one.)
Carter hopped in and then came around, wading easily. “Remi, you coming in?”
She didn’t so much as even dip in a pinky toe, just shook her head.
Proving the man wasn’t just a pretty face, Harrison cocked his head and asked, “You not comfortable swimming?”
“Don’t know how,” she said, barely above a whisper.
“Well, that ain’t good, kiddo. I can tell you point blank, you need to be comfortable swimming. You don’t know what life’s going to throw at you. How about this. If your dad’s okay with it, I’ll drown-proof you.” Harrison eyed him askance even as he made the offer.
Ari nodded encouragement, as he really didn’t know how to approach this one. Harrison exuded confidence, so he clearly did. “Yeah, that’s fine by me.”
“Remi, sit on the side for now, let me show you a few things. Ari, can you assist?”
“Sure.” Ari had no idea what the man was up to, but willingly went along with it. He didn’t want Remi to hold onto this fear. Bad enough he had trouble with water.
Harrison flopped onto his back, easy and comfortable with the water lapping over his chest. He was beautifully muscled with a hint of padding around his stomach. “Now, first thing. The trick to staying afloat is your chin and hips. All your body weight takes its cue from the head, believe it or not. Here, watch. Ari, take my head and turn it any way you wish.”
That sounded like an odd request. Ari wasn’t sure how he felt about deliberately touching Harrison, either. He was a little hesitant to do so, keenly aware of Ivan lounging next to the pool in the hot tub and watching this play out. He gently grasped the sides of Harrison’s head, his slick hair soft against his palms. Ari liked being able to touch, and he had to clamp down on his expression before he gave too much away. He kept his grip gentle and turned Harrison’s head slightly to either side. Harrison’s body stayed loose and his body rotated with his head, a beat behind. Ari couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the sway of Harrison’s up-thrusted hips, the way his black trunks clung to the top of his thighs and dick, shifting with every eddy of water.
“You see?” Harrison asked Remi, still being maneuvered and with no apparent concern. “The head dictates where you go. If you want to stay afloat, you keep your head straight and your chin and hips up, and you’ll be okay. Chin, hips, and toes.”
