Page 46 of Tempt the Dragon
“Yeah, let’s get her on that now. I want to know about any weak spots beforehand. If need be, Steele, you’ll meet with the owners to suggest upgrades.” The Revival was the year’s first big concert, expected to draw at least twenty thousand to the downtownarea.
“Sending her a message as we speak,” Steele said.
“After that we don’t have any big public events until end of March when all the spring activities will begin. We’ve got time to meet up about that.” He closed some files on the screen, slid some to the side to look at later and opened new ones. With the Royal Blood investigation taking precedence over the past weeks, a lot of statusupdates had been neglected. “I want to also do an overhaul of all the personal security clients that are on revolving contracts. We need to look at their situations closely, see if there’ve been any changes, if service is still required or if we need to upgrade any coverage. I know you’ve got somebody who oversees that, Mag, but I’d like to pull him in and the three of us go over every account.”
“No prob,” Magnum said with a nod.
Steele, on the other hand, hated meetings and never missed an opportunity to make that known. So what Theo had to say next might not go over too well, especially since he’d just mentioned the possibility of another meeting to Steele a few minutes ago. “We’re gonna need to do the same with your business accounts, Steele. I see some notations where you’vemet with a few of the owners to go over any questions or offer any new solutions, but I’d like to hear more about how those meetings went.”
“It’s all in the report I filed.” The reports Steele also hated doing.
Looking up as Steele stared at him quizzically almost made Theo chuckle. “It’ll be short and sweet, I promise. We won’t even call the owners in for the meeting, unless absolutelynecessary. It’ll be just you and me.” The Drakon still didn’t look pleased and that did bring a grin from Theo and Magnum.
“Man, it’s not that bad. We’ve been in this meeting for forty-five minutes and you haven’t collapsed on the floor from boredom,” Magnum joked with his younger brother.
“That’s because I’ve been playing a game on my tablet while you two ramble on,” Steele snapped.
The three of them laughed together and Theo wondered how long it’d been since they’d had such a relaxed moment together. Of course, as things always seem to go, the good didn’t last long.
A shrill buzzing sound filled the office.
“Yes, Isla?” Theo answered the intercom.
“Front desk just called about a Detective Milton Posner. He’s here to speak to you in an official capacity. They’reasking if you want him to come up.”
How did the detective know he was there at this time of night? These definitely weren’t normal business hours, which the detective surely knew since the front doors to the building were locked at six thirty every evening. The guard at the front desk would’ve had to buzz the guy in. There was a garage on the top three floors of the building, so none of themparked on the street.
“Yeah, send him up.” He began closing screens on his desk.
“How’d he know you were here?” Magnum echoed the question in Theo’s mind. Both he and Steele were closing down their tablets and stood to place them on the table across the room from Theo’s desk.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” he replied.
“What does he even want? We’ve got a contact at theenforcer station, Nolan Grant. So who’s this Posner guy?” Steele returned to where he’d been sitting, moving the guest chair back from the desk a few inches, while Magnum did the same with his chair.
They wouldn’t sit during this meeting and they wouldn’t let the detective get too close to him. This was how they’d always treated him, even before he’d taken the throne as emperor. It both irritatedand brought him closer to the brothers who’d long ago pledged their loyalty to him.
“It could be about one of our clients, so let’s just hear what he has to say before we start speculating.” That was said to keep them calm, because one thing was for certain, the muscled build of the Eze brothers was not just for show.
A couple minutes passed, the detective would’ve had to get on the elevatorand travel up to the sixty-first floor where Theo’s office was located and then walk down a hallway to get here. An intentional knock sounded at the door.
Theo stood and smoothed down the black and white paisley print tie he wore before nodding to Steele to open the door.
Detective Posner was an athletically built guy with an easy gait and assessing eyes. Walking through the door, he lookedSteele up and down before introducing himself.
“I’m Steele Eze, agent with Legion Security.” The Drakon sounded polite enough, even though the beast within him was on full alert.
“I’m Magnum Eze.” Mag stepped in front of the detective as Steele moved to block the open doorway.
Posner nodded to Mag as he continued walking into the office. “And you’re Theo Masters, owner of this buildingand several other properties throughout the country.”
The detective had done his homework, putting Theo at a modest disadvantage because he didn’t know squat about this guy.
“I am,” he responded. “What can I do for you at this time of night, Detective?”
Posner took a seat without it being offered to him. “I’m investigating the murders of Natalia Gionni, Leanne Richmond, Banalla Linkand as of about an hour ago, Riya Merriwell and three men who reportedly worked for you.”
Not only did that last name come as a shock, but the knowledge that his employees had been killed had his beast rearing its head. The guards would’ve had to be killed in order to get to Riya, they were highly trained humans who took their jobs seriously. But he should’ve sent dragons to watch her, theywould’ve been prepared for a vampire attack. With guilt already starting to nag him, he sat down, keeping eye contact with the detective. “How can we be of assistance?”
