The Payback (Team Zulu 2)

“You could’ve gone with something more subtle.” I tugged the duvet higher. “Where the hell are you?”

“Just doing some after-hours work. Hold on one moment.”

“What? Brandon, what’s going on?”

Silence.

“Brandon!” I snapped.

“I’m back,” he whispered. “Apologies. I had company. Would you be a lifesaver and head to your laptop and open cameras nine to twelve?”

The cameras from Dante’s house?

“Why?” I asked, my tone full of suspicion, but Brandon didn’t reply. When I did as he’d asked, I almost crushed the phone in my grip. “I am going to fucking kill you.”

“You might have to get in line because there’s a chance someone in this mansion will beat you to it.” Brandon was on camera ten, dressed all in black and hiding behind a large mahogany desk in Dante’s study. He waved, then blew me a kiss as if that might placate me. There were no lights on, although the black-and-white infrared image allowed me to see clearly.

“Brandon! What’ve you done?” I whisper shouted, suddenly worried one of Dante’s security guys might hear me yelling through Brandon’s phone because two of them were nearby. They seemed unaware of Brandon’s presence, but he’d never get out unnoticed.

“Got myself in a little pickle.” He shrugged and smiled at the damn camera. I wanted to scream at him that this was no time to joke.

“A pickle? You think?” A strangled laugh escaped me. “What are you doing inside Dante’s house?”

“I’m just…making a delivery.”

“A delivery?”

“I’ll explain later.”

If he was still alive later.

“Brandon, if I can see you, so can the guard in the security control room.”

“The strangest thing happened. His coffee put him to sleep instead of keeping him awake. His friends might notice soon, so I have to hurry.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to walk out of here, and you’re going to help me. I need you to be my eyes.”

“This is crazy. There’re too many of them. It’ll never work!”

“Itwillwork if you guide me through it. You just need to track the guys with guns and let me know when it’s safe to move.”

“I can’t, Brandon. What if I screw up?” I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t watch them catch him. What if they killed him right before my eyes? No. Not again. If anything happened to him, it would crush me.I sucked in a shuddering breath.

“Sage, calm down. Just breathe.”

“There must be some other way. Can’t you set off an alarm at the perimeter wall to create a diversion?”

“I don’t want to spook Dante before the ball. It might trigger him to further increase security or call the whole thing off.”

“Did it occur to you we won’t be going to the ball if you’re dead?”

“You can do this, Sage. I have complete faith in you.”

“Shh. The one in the hallway is coming past again.”

Brandon remained silent. I used the moment to gather my wits.