Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson Guardian 8)

I raised an eyebrow. "I'd imagine such records would be extremely well protected. "

"They are, but we have some of the world's best hackers in our employ. " He glanced Sal's way. "Sal, for instance, is a genius at hacking into security-sensitive areas. "

"Which I've just completed. " She glanced over her shoulder. "We now control Daskill's security systems in both his house and his Melbourne office. "

"Excellent. And the computer files?"

"Randy is still downloading. There's a lot of information, and it's all coded. " She paused, glancing briefly at the screen and flicking a button. The screen divided into four, each one showing a different section of what looked to be a grand mansion. "Initial investigations on one of the earliest files downloaded indicate intensive records concerning the movements of a man who was found murdered three days after his release from jail. If he isn't the brains behind this scheme, he's certainly involved. "

"And that is all we need to go in and get him. " Jack glanced at me. "Daskill has been going home to have lunch with his new wife every day between one and two-thirty - "

"Obviously he doesn'

t trust the new missus not to take a lover," I murmured. "Which says a lot about the power of his loving. Or the lack of it. "

Maybe he just fancies his new missus, Quinn commented, eyes twinkling as he glanced at me. Hell, when the company is fully transferred to Melbourne, expect me to be breaking up a boring day by coming home for a quick bit of loving quite frequently.

That's because you hang out with a werewolf, and the randiness has finally rubbed off.

"The reason doesn't matter, just the result," Jack said. "He has a security force of eight men who rotate on twelve-hour shifts, as well as the cameras. "

"Having eight security guards on standby is a bit of overkill, isn't it?" Rhoan said, frowning. "Even for a man whose first wife was murdered. "

"They work in teams of four," Jack said, "which makes the numbers more even. And given he's either in charge of, or involved with, an organization that runs a stable of some extremely well-trained hit men and women, then no, I wouldn't think his precautions are over the top. "

"If we move on Daskill, that stable of killers may just melt into the woodwork. "

Jack glanced at me. "He's the brains and the money behind it, so he's the one we need to take out first. The others can be found in time. "

Fair enough. "Then what's the plan?" He obviously had one, because he wouldn't have called Quinn here otherwise.

"We're going in at one-thirty. Quinn will take out the guards, as neither myself nor any of the other guardians is able to venture out at that hour. "

Even Quinn was pushing it.

I'll be fine, he said. At worst, it'll give me a nice tan for our wedding night.

You'll be naked on your wedding night. No one is going to care about your tan.

I'll be wearing trousers. I may not be quite as old-fashioned as I used to be, but Liander is not going to get the joy of a full frontal. Not when I'm getting hitched.

Amusement bubbled through me. Who said I was talking about the ceremony?

"Riley," Jack said heavily, "stop mind-talking to Quinn and concentrate on the business at hand. "

"It takes two to talk," I commented. "And I am listening. "

He gave me a disbelieving look, then continued. "You and Rhoan will hit the house once the guards are taken out. He does keep two rottweilers inside, so you'll have to watch out for those. "

"A good stun gun will fix those quickly enough," Rhoan said dryly. "But someone this security conscious is going to have standby systems we don't know about. "

"And a gun by the bed, no doubt," I said.

"No doubt, so be careful. " Jack was looking at me rather than Rhoan when he said that, which wasn't exactly fair. Rhoan tended to be more reckless. The only problem was, the bad guys just didn't seem to enjoy munching on his body as much as they did mine.

Jack opened another folder and passed several sheets of paper to me and Rhoan. "These are the house plans. Memorize the layout while you're heading down to the armory. "

Rhoan barely even looked at them before standing, but he was good enough at his job that he probably didn't need more than that. "Which we'd better do now if we want to get to Brighton with sufficient time to spare. "