Excitement sparked in her eyes.
“Cool your jets. I’m not gonna treat you like an operative because you don’t have the training and there’s no time to get you up to speed. I’m not sending you in. But, if Cici presents the opportunity, then I want you to take it, butyou call me immediately, all right? You’ll need back-up.”
Fuck. What am I doing?Camden just hoped that the fertility clinic would pan out before any of this happened.
“Don’t look so worried,” Elena said, running her hand through his hair. “I have an idea that will relax you,” she added with a wicked grin.
It did.
* * *
First thing Saturday morning, Camden drove the SUV up the winding road toward the villa where Roger Bennett would make the announcement that he was running for the House of Representatives. Costello rode shotgun, and mercifully didn’t commandeer the radio the way Jake always did. But, Nashville sat in the back and fidgeted worse than any kid on a cross-country road trip.
“Seriously, dude, do you mind not kicking the back of my seat?” Camden groused.
“Sorry.” Nash uncrossed his leg and the kicking stopped for about a minute, until he crossed the other leg and it started again.
“That’s it. I’m overruling the rock, paper, scissors fight you toddlers had over riding shotgun. Nash, you’re riding up front on the way back.”
“Shit. Sorry.” Nash rolled down the window as far as he could. Camden wouldn’t have been surprised to see him stick his head out like Toby did. The man hated to be indoors.
The top of the villa came into view above the palm trees and cedars—pale stucco walls with a red-tiled roof. It was impossible to gauge the true size of the place from the road, but Camden and his team had studied the schematics and he knew the place was huge. But you can only get so much info from a piece of paper, so Camden wanted to get boots on the ground to check the place out ahead of time. He’d arranged to meet Cici at the villa, telling her he needed to go over details of the night’s agenda so that he could have security in all the right places.
Luckily, the crowd would be herded out to the massive courtyard and discouraged from wandering the mansion-turned-museum. The only exceptions were that Elena and her crew would be allowed access to the kitchen, and another room was set aside for childcare. Roger intended to be the ‘Families’ Candidate’ so everyone attending was encouraged to bring their kids along for a big photo op at the end. He reassured himself that the adults were the real issue here, but just thinking about security for all those kids made his head pound.
Camden had gotten a guest list from Roger, which included thirty-eight kids under thirteen years old, the cutoff age for the kids’ room. He’d station two armed guards outside the door who would check the IDs of everyone who came and went. The adults numbered two-hundred. No foreigners were on the list, and everyone’s background check came back fine. Jake checked up on fifty-two guests who had traveled outside the country over the past year on the chance they’d met with any foreign operatives. Camden had plans to put Jake, Costello, Gina, and now Nashville on the guests who’d visited Eastern Europe, Russia, or the Middle East. They’d follow them closely but discreetly through the evening, keeping an eye on who they talked to, especially if and when they spoke to Roger, Cici, or Larry Franklin. Camden would stick close to the Bennett family. His team would be wired and in constant communication.
Camden pulled into the lot and parked next to Cici’s champagne-colored Mercedes. There was no sign of her so the three men walked to the entrance. She was just inside chatting with a woman who introduced herself as the director for the villa. Cici actually took Camden’s arm and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek as if they were old friends.
“I’m so delighted to have Delia’s restaurant handling the refreshments, all thanks to Elena.” She looked behind Camden as if expecting someone. “She isn’t with you?”
Interesting, Camden thought.There are eyes on us.
He thought back to the beginning of the week, how after making love a second time, he’d told Elena that since she was involved in the case, he would be staying with her, or she and Tina would be moving in with him. She argued, of course—that was his Elena—saying that she didn’t want to put him out, but he stood firm. He would’ve preferred they stay with him in his well-secured house, but she made the case that it was too far out of the way for her to get Tina to and from school and aftercare, and herself to work without spending half her life in traffic. Plus, she wanted to keep Tina’s life as chaos-free as possible, and that meant staying in their apartment. He relented, and she had to smile—he’d brought a duffel with several changes of clothes and his dap bag.You knew I’d winshe’d said, and she hadn’t been entirely wrong.
Tina took it all in stride when she saw Camden in the kitchen the next morning. There was precedent—they’d all stayed together in the safe house—but she didn’t seem worried or afraid. Her biggest concern was that Toby be allowed to continue sleeping in her room.
They’d spent the week together, and it was one of the happiest of Camden’s life. He’d even picked the Mermaid up from aftercare a couple of times and brought her home to Elena’s amazing cooking, which she’d insisted on doing, even though Camden had offered to take them out to dinner every night. One thing they did do every evening no matter what, was to go to the beach, where Camden did the ‘sunset trick’ as Tina called it. She still wanted to see a sunrise and a sunset at the same time on a monitor, and Camden promised her it would happen. He had a trick up his sleeve for that, too, but it had to wait for the right time.
So, they were living together, but Camden made a point of telling Elena not to let Cici know that when she talked to her—just on a hunch. And now, that hunch paid off. Cici slipped, expecting Elena to be with Camden because she knew he’d moved in with her. But, was Elena being watched, or was it him?Now, to play this right.
“Elena?” he asked, feigning surprise.
“Oh, I just figured you two would come together. I texted her just a little bit ago to come up here to see the kitchen. It only just occurred to me we were already scheduled for today and she’d want to see it. I’ve been so busy and a little scatterbrained.” Cici laughed it off, but the nervousness stayed in her eyes.
Just then, the front door opened and Elena came in, breathless. “Sorry, I got here as soon as I could after I got your text. I had to drop Tina off at Bette’s.” Her voice hesitated on Bette’s name, and he realized she was still awed by the woman.
She looked so gorgeous—fresh-faced, with her hair up in a messy bun. To Camden’s eye, Cici couldn’t compare even though she was a knock-out, because her look was artificial and carefully groomed. Never a hair out of place or an outfit that wouldn’t have cost Camden a week’s pay. With Nash’s mad hacking skills, they’d learned Cici dipped into her trust fund pretty regularly when it came to Rodeo Drive.
Cici brightened when she saw Elena and walked to her. “You’re right on time, don’t worry.” She gave Elena a hug and kissed her cheek. “Why don’t I let Patricia show you to the kitchen while I take everyone else out to the courtyard to show them how we’re going to set up?” She looked at the director, who nodded and led Elena away as they chatted about the villa.
Cici gestured to an archway leading outside. For the next two hours, Camden, Costello, and Nash walked around the villa and its courtyard and extensive gardens, talking with Cici about her plans and with the director and the villa’s own head of security about logistics. Camden loved this part of the job—scoping out a site and deciding how best to secure it. Costello proved invaluable—Psychic could spot a trouble zone like no one else. Nash wasn’t too shabby, either.
They ended their tour with a walk through the gardens. Camden had plans to rope off most of it. Too much to watch. He did take note of a statue that Tina would love.It must have been sculpted just for her, he couldn’t help thinking.
A weathered copper mermaid, waist-high, emerging from a wave and holding a crescent moon with a sundial on it. He thought about going home—home! —and telling her about it over dinner. Along with photos of the villa, he took a couple of pics to show her.
The other place he paid special attention to was the kitchen. It had two entrances, but the one leading deeper in to the villa would be locked. He didn’t think it would present too much of a challenge. And, Elena personally knew all of the staff and trusted them. They were fiercely loyal to Delia and had become fond of her, too.
