“One is a camera, the other is a mic. Until this case is over, I want you to wear them.”
My gaze jumped to his. “Um, you know I love you and all, but there’s certain parts of my life I have no desire for you to see or hear.”
“And I’m sure I wouldn’t want to know about them, either.” Amusement briefly crinkled the corners of his gray eyes. “You can turn them off easily enough—you just press the left stone once. Two presses activates them again.”
“What about when I shower? Do I have to take them off?”
“No.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He pressed the two stones onto my earlobes. They had to be some form of nanotechnology, because the stones warmed the instant they touched my skin, and they clung to my earlobes without anything to actually secure them. He lightly squeezed the right stone, then stepped back. “Karl, you getting the picture?”
“Yeah,” the man inside the car said. “Sound, too.”
“Good.” His gaze came back to me. “At the first sign of trouble, I’ll be in there.”
“I’ll be fine. Really.”
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. He wasn’t worried about my ability to protect myself; he just didn’t want to see me hurt.
I headed across the road. My gaze swept the first building, but came to a halt at the security camera.
“Azriel, you might want to become invisible.”
He did so immediately, then said, You suspect he might have hacked into the security system?
Well, not him specifically if he’s blind, but someone working for him certainly could. It’s safer for me if they don’t know about you.
You’re considering your own safety? His mental tones held an edge. This has to be a first.
Sarcasm doesn’t become you, reaper. Even if it was true.
I walked down the side of the first house. Though I couldn’t see anyone, the curtains twitched, a clear indication that someone was watching.
It is the woman, Azriel commented. He hesitated, then added, Her thoughts are odd.
Odd how? I scanned the second house as it came into sight. There was another security camera perched on the side of this house and metal protection bars on the windows. Obviously Vonda and her sister didn’t trust either their neighbors or the neighborhood.
They are vacant. It is like she has nothing else to do but look out the window.
Maybe she hasn’t. Or maybe she’s been made to take something. I doubted her behavior was a coincidence, given the reason we were here.
I rounded the corner of the first house and headed for the front door of the second. The security door was thick and heavy, just like the bars on the windows. I twisted the handle and it opened, as did the wooden front door. My stomach began to churn. This was way too easy.
Possibly, Azriel said, and it took me a mental moment to remember what he was replying to.
What about the man and the child in that house? Are they okay? I pushed the door open with my fingertips. The air inside was fresh and cool, and ran with the scent of femininity.
They sleep. He paused. Deeply.
Something in the way he said that had me looking around before I remembered he wasn’t actually visible. What do you mean?
Just that it does not appear to be a natural form of sleep.
So they’re all drugged up? I took a cautious step inside.
I do not know much about drugs, but as I have said, this sleep is not natural.