CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
MERRY
It was official.
My brain was utterly and completely fried. If I tried to dig out one more piece of data on Dumont, I would know more about him than God himself.
I stood up and stretched my back, twisting and bending to loosen the tight muscles. I would give someone a thousand dollars for a decent massage. If I had a thousand dollars.
Callum groaned and got to his feet as well. "I think we found everything there was to find," he said. "I even know what size briefs Dumont wears now."
I grimaced. Andre Dumont was a handsome man, but his attitude and actions ruined those good looks, so imagining him in his underpants wasn't exactly pleasant.
"We have everything we possibly can," Callum continued, reaching toward the ceiling. I heard his back pop. "It's time for you to sit back and let the rest of us do our work."
I wasn't going to argue with that. I didn't want to face Dumont or another of his vampires any time soon. My Taser worked and my vampire-strength pepper spray probably would, too.
But I'd rather not test it out for the first time in a real-life situation.
"About that," I said. "You know you can clone his phone without being in the same room, right?"
Callum's eyes sparkled with humor and mischief. "Yes, I know, but Macgrath wants to plant some bugs, eyes and ears. He wants to see and hear everything happening."
"But how will that work if he's on the move? Won't the cameras be useless?"
He grinned. "Nope. We have our ways."
Okay, I didn't think I wanted to know.
"You and Marcus will stay here while I go to the planning session with Ava and Macgrath."
"If Marcus is going with all of you, shouldn't he be there, too?"
"Nope. We're not leaving you here alone," he said.
"What about the wards? Didn't you say they would keep out anyone but the most powerful magic user?"
"Doesn't matter. I can promise you right now that Marcus won't agree to leave you here alone."
"Doesn't he need to be involved in the planning?"
Instead of answering my question, he asked, "Are you trying to get rid of both of us for a few hours or something?"
"No, I just want to make sure he doesn't get hurt."
Callum's smile faded a bit. "You care about him too, don't you?"
"I care about both of you."
"We've been doing this sort of thing for a very, very long time. We'll be fine, even if Marcus can't present us with his usual grumpy face during the meeting."
"What grumpy face?" Marcus asked from the door.
I jumped and whirled around to face him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" I yelped, clutching my chest.
Marcus stood in the open doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, and wearing the exact grumpy expression that Callum mentioned.
When I laughed, he looked at Callum for clarification, but all he did was shrug. "What's so funny?" he asked me.
