Page 187 of Somebody's Watching Me
If they succeeded today, it was going to do a lot more than piss Sinclair off. With the jammer and the intel swiped during his experiment yesterday, Rowan would hopefully put a serious kink in Sinclair’s network.
Annabeth raised her hand hesitantly. “He wouldn’t blow up the Fairweather buildings.”
Rowan frowned. “What are you thinking?”
“If he really wanted to hurt us, he would attack Firewater Beach.”
“Firewater Beach.” Dr. Cohen nodded as he thought it through. “Klausen, we need more of your people patrolling the area. However, I’m not sure if anything there would matter to him other than Samuel’s house.”
“Except if it were Ben’s place,” Bernie interjected. “The home holds meaning, and is a direct connection to Toby.”
“No.” Liam returned to his laptop and recalled the blueprints. “A direct connection to Toby would be Haven House. If Sinclair wanted to make a statement, he would do it here.”
The room went quiet.
“Protocols need to be tightened. The net widened on the small patrols around the estate.” Rowan had to sit, the possibility of a strike against Haven—Annabeth’s sanctuary—weighing him down. “He could set off one of his larger devices as far away as the mill, and it would still do serious damage.”
“We’ll need ETDs,” Liam said to Ben. “They won’t be cheap, and it won’t be easy to get them here fast.”
“I don’t know what the hell ETDs are, but money will move anything fast,” Ben snapped. “Get what we need, and three of everything. I want Samuel and Selah’s houses covered.”
Everyone started talking at once, with Simone being the loudest. Jamison went to Liam’s side, and they put their heads together, going through something on his computer. Dr. Cohen and Ben descended on Klausen, piling the federal agent with demands.
Rowan felt sick, and reached across the table to hold Annabeth’s hand, needing contact. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
A sharp knock on the door sounded, and all conversations halted.
“Klausen, is that one of yours?” Dr. Cohen asked.
“Don’t be absurd,” Klausen whispered, as if the person in the hall could hear him through the soundproof door. “I have my people staged in the areas you requested.”
Rowan checked his time. “Twenty-eight minutes. I can get the party started now, but everyone needs to be ready when I punt the ball.”
“What are you talking about?” Jamison asked.
The knock sounded again.
“I locked the house up,” Simone said. “So, whoever is out there is one of the guards or someone they let in.”
“Shit.” Ben hurried to the door but didn’t open it. “It’s Taylor. I had a meeting this afternoon, but canceled it, and I guess I forgot to tell her.”
“Step out and shut the door quickly behind you,” Rowan ordered, ready to get down to it. “Simone, lock it once Ben has cleared the room, and Dr. Cohen, you can shut down the jammer.”
Ben opened the door, and just as he said, it was Taylor standing on the other side. “I know I’m early,” she said, teetering on her tiptoes to see past him. “Oh, wow, what are you guys doing in here? And why is there all thisfurniture in the hall?”
Pivoting to block her from going any further into the room, Ben placed a hand on Taylor’s shoulder to guide her back into the hall. “Let’s set up in the dining room.”
Blushing at the physical contact, Taylor let out a breathy sigh and followed Ben, her questions forgotten.
Bernie’s mouth hung slightly open when the door shut. “Who, or should I say what, was that?”
“Ben’s new assistant.” Simone locked the door and leaned back on it. “Whenever she’s not throwing more work in his face, she’s trying to hump his leg.”
Rowan winced. “That is not a visual I needed in my head.”
“Me either,” Jamison snarled at the closed door. “I can’t wait to fire her.”
A loud alarm sounded from his laptop, and Rowan grinned. While Ben had been getting rid of Taylor, he had taken a sneak peek at the buzz of activity going down on the other side of his wall. “Liam?”
