Andrew tried to stay focused on his own pending ‘heist’. “I just have to think of this like a Metal Gear Solid VR Mission,” he muttered, waiting for Ford’s signal to move down the next corridor.
“Video games, Andrew?” Ford teased with a derisive cluck of his tongue.
“You’d love this one, Ford. I’ll have to show you sometime.”
“Asking for another date?” He smirked, looking practically ethereal in the dim lighting of Avalon after hours.
Did he want a date? Was this a date?
“Can you stow the moon eyes, lover boys?” Luke growled. “We’ve got company.”
A guard had stepped into view at the end of the hallway. A simple glance to the right would give him a clean line of sight to all three of them.
But he wasn’t part of the schedule. They were waiting for the guard scheduled to come down the corridor in front of them before they continued onward. Meaning they were trapped between one guard inevitably headed their direction and one that only needed to turn his head to see them.
Andrew pushed from the wall toward an unplanned corridor, trusting Ford and Luke to follow. They did, and once safely in the empty hall, Andrew slammed his hand against the wall as hard as he could.
“Are you crazy!?” Ford said in a furious whisper.
Andrew swung a finger up to his mouth to shush him.
They waited, Ford scowling as two sets of footsteps sounded, getting closer and closer until the guards stumbled into each other, not visible from their vantage point but still audible.
“Johnson? What are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you be on fifth?”
“I am. I’m on break and was heading for the vending machines.”
“There’s one upstairs.”
“It never has what I like. Plus, I think I dropped a quarter somewhere. Don’t suppose you got one?”
“Whatever, man, sure. Just get your snack and head back to your floor. Vallancourt would have our asses if she knew we strayed from the course after that break-in.”
“Five minutes, I swear. Then I’m right back up there.”
There was some mild grumbling, and then continued footsteps away from their hiding spot. Once the sound of clicking soles faded, Andrew looked at Ford and grinned.
“We’ll make a felon out of you yet,” Ford said.
* * * *
Maybe Andrew wasn’t merely a pretty face with detective skills. He could think on his feet; a skill Isaac had wondered if he lacked given how often he’d beaten Andrew in the past.
Having Andrew along tonight, however, was soothing in ways Isaac couldn’t explain, other than that he appreciated having someone else to watch his back—and his son’s.
There were extra cameras inside that Vallancourt had warned them about, and additional sections of the building that required keycards, but that had meant nothing to the original thief. Whoever they were, they’d known all the tricks too, the layout, the schedules. The only thing Isaac wasn’t sure how they’d managed was getting away without leaving fibers. Even he’d left something behind occasionally when he was a thief.
They were making good time, almost to the freight elevator, when he could have sworn he sensed something…off, an extra set of steps, an extra panted breath that didn’t belong, something, and he whirled around to look behind them.
“What is it?” Andrew glanced fretfully too, seeing the same empty space Isaac did.
“Nothing. But stay alert. Something’s not right.”
“You know I hate your bad feelings.” Luke gritted his teeth.
“It’s fine. Keep moving.”
They made it to the freight elevator without incident and began their ascent.
Almost immediately, Andrew started snickering.
“Something funny?” Luke barked.
“No…”
“Thinking of another video game, Andrew?” Isaac asked.
“Well—”
“Maybe FFVII with that raid on Shinra?” Luke said with a faint smirk.
“Or the ridiculously awkward elevator rides in Mass Effect?” Isaac added.
“Wait, you two…”
They grinned. They’d been young criminals when Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid first came out, and hocking a PlayStation was easy money back then—and certainly didn’t mean they’d never kept one. Isaac’s gaming systems were just hidden in his entertainment center.
“Maybe I could show you a thing or two,” Isaac said.
Despite Andrew’s cheeks darkening, he returned Isaac’s teasing stare without falter. “Isn’t it my turn to show you?”
Luke groaned, but him knowing everything did make it easier to keep up the banter. He wasn’t as against Andrew as he pretended either. If he was, he’d trip an alarm on purpose just to watch him squirm.
Isaac faltered to think of a comeback when they only had a few seconds to Dalton’s floor.
Three…
Two…
They flattened themselves to the sides of the elevator, and when the doors opened, they waited…listened. Isaac stuck his hand in front of the doors to keep them from closing, and only when he was certain no guards were detouring from their planned routes, did he peer out and lead them onto stage two.
From there, they’d each memorized a different path and guard schedule to better map out the routes to Dalton’s work area. The thief may have taken any of them, and could again if they returned, so they needed to know for sure which path was the most desirable.
Having to trust that his companions had their routes handled, while Luke went left and Andrew right, Isaac continued forward. That strange feeling he’d had on the ground floor was gone. He remained a constantly cataloguing force of nature as he moved along his path, picturing the schematics in his mind and counting out the seconds to when the guards would be in his way and when the coast was clear.
He had six more items of note to share with Vallancourt when he reached the rendezvous point, but he didn’t wait long before Andrew joined him.
“You can give me your recommendations when this is over,” Isaac said, “but I expect it to be thorough. Now, we wait for Luke.”
“Giving orders again?” Andrew sauntered up to him, gripping the side of Isaac’s neck and crowding into his body now that they were alone. He pressed the curve of his thumb down Isaac’s jugular into the dip of his throat like the precursor to a squeeze at Christmas. “Like I said, isn’t it my turn?”
Isaac would have dropped to his knees right there if they weren’t on the clock.
“That is happening,” he reached up to take Andrew’s hand, caressing it meaningfully as he peeled the fingers away, “but you have to be patient. Luke may be big, but he doesn’t usually lose this kind of race.” Isaac pensively looked the direction he should be coming from.
Andrew looked too, his dominant stance fading as he took Isaac’s cue.
They waited, but Luke still didn’t appear. When a full two minutes passed, Isaac knew something was wrong.
“Nobody gets left behind on my jobs.” Isaac sped forward before Andrew could reply, calculating timing and guard placement backward. He had this part of the map committed to memory as well, but not as crisply. He just hoped Luke wasn’t too far back.
They bypassed one guard, the only one they should have to worry about for a while, before they came upon the obvious problem, because while there weren’t any alarms blaring audibly, a type of alarm had been tripped and blinked at them as soon as they neared one of the closed off labs—which shouldn’t have been closed.
Isaac tapped the glass window in a familiar pattern, and seconds later, Luke popped up out of hiding from inside the sealed room. He pointed to a sign above his head that blinked: Contamination Alert
“How?” Isaac griped. “Vallancourt said the sensors would only be on if there was an active experiment running.”
“Someone must have forgotten to shut it off.” Andrew shrugged.
“But how did Luke trigger it?”
&n
bsp; Luke was watching their mouths through the glass and pointed down at a nearly invisible square on the floor.
“A pressure plate?”
“A scale,” Andrew said. “He must not have seen it. They’re set for specific weights to avoid volume contamination.”
Isaac remembered from the notes, but he hadn’t realized one would be so seamlessly set into the floor. A hidden scale with an attached alarm was a novel idea, just a pain in the ass right now. Not something to tip off the guards, but still a problem. He doubted the original thief had come this route. Too unpredictable.
“We’d need the code to shut it down.” Andrew indicated the number pad by the door. “Otherwise, it won’t reset for several minutes.”
“We don’t have minutes.”
“Then we’ll have to go through the lock.” Andrew reached for the number pad but stopped. “Give me the air can.”
“That won’t work on this type of lock.”
“It will the way I’m going to use it.” He thrust his hand insistently, so Isaac gave it to him.
Using the can on the edges of the faceplate, Andrew froze it enough to snap the plate off and exposed the wiring beneath. Then he crossed the wires to override the controls with a faint spark, and the door whooshed open.
He really would make a good felon.
Luke rushed out to join them, continuing through as he would have if he hadn’t gotten caught, only for Isaac and Andrew to realize at the same time too late that they were currently in another section of testing labs with another hidden scale in Luke’s path.
“Wait!” they called.
But he was already crossing the threshold with an angry, “What?” when another Contamination Alert went off and the next door started closing.
“Go!” Andrew said as he hurried to put the faceplate back in place and cover their tracks.
Pushing Luke ahead, Isaac ducked out after him as the door came swiftly down. Having to spring Andrew like they’d just sprung Luke would cost them precious time. He was seconds from telling Andrew to forget the number pad, when he finally finished replacing the faceplate and sprinted for the door, dropping down like a baseball player stealing home, and slid out to freedom before the door slammed down.
Foolhardy, but incredibly hot. Isaac even allowed himself a moment to peruse the merchandise before Andrew hopped up onto his feet and handed him back the air can.
“Since when are you so good at being a criminal?”
“Since I started trusting you, I guess,”
“Never dated, huh?” Luke droned as they hurried ahead.
“Shut up,” Isaac said.
The rest of the route was boring by comparison. Before they knew it, they’d reached Dalton’s lab and moved cautiously toward his workspace.
“Finally got to see Artifice in action,” Andrew said.
Isaac smirked but didn’t comment.
“You’re not so bad for a pig.” Luke smacked his back roughly.
Andrew coughed. “Former. And you’re not so bad for thieves.”
“Former,” Luke echoed. “I don’t usually mess up that bad. Damn scales…”
“They gave me an idea though,” Isaac said, drifting to the tall table with Dalton’s remaining equipment. “I think I know exactly how to catch our thief.”
“I have some ideas too,” Andrew said.
“Can’t wait to hear them. I might even let you keep your half of the payout when this is over.”
“Might?”
Isaac spared him another admiring glance. “Unless you’d prefer to be paid some other way?”
“Who’s back there?” Luke’s bark broke the moment before Andrew could answer, and Isaac stiffened, stepping in front of Andrew to…protect him, he supposed, as someone who couldn’t possibly be a guard stepped out of the shadows.
Dalton.
“So…” he said guiltily, “dinner at Andrew’s tomorrow?”
* * * *
Ford was livid when Dalton showed up at their not-heist, an expression Andrew knew well from his brother—more so his brother than from either of their parents. But he was not happy Dalton had proven he had the family chops for B&Es.
Although Ford had almost caught him, sensing something downstairs with almost supernatural precision. Dalton had gone a different route to the upper floors, taking the main elevators using his employee keycard, but he’d still gotten one up on his old man.
Andrew was big enough to admit that he’d been disappointed they were interrupted before he could answer Ford’s question. Ford never let up with the flirting, the banter, the eye-glances, that damn swagger and magnetism, and Andrew didn’t want any of it to end.
Family dinner could end it, though he was really only worried about Steven.
And Candace.
Nothing more had happened that night though. They’d let Dalton lead them out through an official exit, regrouped on everything they’d learned, and gave Dalton strict instructions to report back to Vallancourt what security measures they wanted to change, that next day if they could, to make sure the thief, should they attempt to break in again, went a very specific route to reach Dalton’s desk and triggered their trap.
Andrew was quite proud of his contribution.
If the thief didn’t try again, Dalton and his research would be fine, but he wouldn’t get back what was stolen, and they’d have to bide their time for another chance to catch them. Andrew couldn’t help hoping that the thief would strike, and maybe, Olivia’s article would help lay the groundwork for that like they planned.
That morning, he stopped only briefly at the coffee shop closer to work for a quick cup and the newspaper. He’d almost reached his office doors when he got to the part in Olivia’s article that made him spit half his coffee onto the sidewalk.
“In the aftermath of the recent break-in at Avalon, former thief, Isaac Ford, and former detective, Andrew Wen, of Ford and Wen Security respectively, have teamed up to give the conglomerate’s defenses an overhaul. Whether they will be successful against the mysterious serial robber plaguing our city is yet to be known, but they have been seen together on multiple occasions. Their interests colliding seem, to this reporter, to have less to do with any paycheck and more to do with head researcher on what was taken—Dalton Wellesley.
“What their relationships might be to the young scientist is up for debate.”
Fuck.
Chapter 9
Isaac couldn’t believe he was going through with this when Andrew had royally screwed him. Dalton’s name—his name—had been in the papers right beside theirs, speculating about how they all knew each other. There was no way that would go over the heads of all of Isaac’s enemies. Someone would connect the dots, and knowing where Dalton worked, they’d know exactly how to find him.
It was a wonder Olivia hadn’t come right out and printed that Andrew was Isaac’s arresting officer, but this was worse, because it put even more of a target on Dalton’s back.
The only reason Isaac had agreed to still attend dinner was because Andrew had called him the second he read the paper. By then, Isaac had read it twice, steaming mad and eager to rant. But Andrew assured him he’d fix this.
He was going to have to do a hell of a lot to accomplish that.
“Hi!” Andrew greeted at the door, a little overly zealous, Isaac thought, to counter how much he knew he was in the doghouse. They’d both gone to Avalon earlier to install the changes they’d recommended to Vallancourt, but Isaac had made a point of always being one room away from Andrew. “You made brownies?”
“Dad made brownies.” Dalton wiggled the pan in his hands. “He’s a really good baker.”
“Of course, he is.” Andrew scratched the back of his neck, hesitant to look Isaac in the eyes. Good. “Listen, both of you, I am so sorry about Olivia—”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear another word about that article.” Dalton pushed inside beside him to hover in the doorway, like a bridge between him and Isaac. “For all we know,
this will still push the thief to act sooner, which is what we want. Everything’s in place, and I am fine. Perfectly safe. I have you two to look out for me, right?”
If nothing else, Isaac did believe that Andrew would stop at nothing to keep Dalton safe.
“It’s still unfortunate,” Isaac said, eyeing Andrew coldly, and then turning his ice to Dalton, “especially when someone keeps showing up where he doesn’t belong.”
“Don’t start that again either,” Dalton groaned, continuing the rest of the way inside to take off his shoes and coat, leaving Andrew looking nervous and fidgety as he gestured Isaac across the threshold too.
Isaac did so but didn’t soften his stare.
“Olivia is the worst,” Andrew tried again, pointing to the coatrack for them to hang their things, which already had several jackets. “I wish I’d realized that two years ago.”
“Still have the same bad taste as college?” Dalton teased. “Present company excluded.”
Isaac was not in the mood, but the comment made Andrew rub his neck again.
“Look who’s talking?” he threw back. “Riley?”
“We haven’t even gone out! And what’s so bad about Riley?”
“He works for a snake.” Candace appeared from the dining room, casual as she pleased, having set a few things on the table, with clatter coming from the kitchen, and then the reveal of Kevin and Steven setting the table as well.
Isaac tensed.
“Candace,” Dalton rebuked, passing the pan of brownies to Andrew so he could hug her, “be nice. He’s my dad.”
“I know. I was nice the other day, wasn’t I?” Her smile could have sliced through concrete. “Pleasure seeing you again, Ford.”
“Likewise,” he said just as unbelievably. He noticed Andrew peeking under the tinfoil and yanked the brownie pan away from him. “No dessert before dinner.”
“Really taking this dad thing seriously, huh?” He pouted.
“Or there are certain manners everyone should abide by.”
“If they’re as delicious as they smell, I’m making you repay me for all those coffees in baked goods.”
Public Enemy, Undercover Lover Page 13
