Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 143779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Oh, is he not? Because I recently changed my whole training program rules for him. He’s your boyfriend and he pissed you off by not getting his ass arrested with you. He’s waiting for you at Sanctum. Face him like the grown-ass adult woman you are and make him either explain his actions or pay for them. Do not sneak off in order to avoid confrontation because confrontation will find you one way or another. Do you want to be the sad sub who gets hauled into interrogation rooms, or the badass bitch who makes cops so scared they’re willing to do almost anything to keep you happy? It’s your choice.” Lea turned and started out. “And know that I will stuff your ass in the car. You’re going to Sanctum. Spend the car ride deciding how you want to deal with your man.”
Noelle forced herself to follow the Domme.
Maybe it was time she faced Hutch. But he wasn’t her man. He wasn’t going to be anything to her but a regret.
Chapter Sixteen
“She’s not answering her phone. She has her phone back, right? Lea said she was processing out half an hour ago. The police would give it back to her.” Hutch paced the conference room floor.
Sanctum’s conference room was there for the numerous times play nights had gotten interrupted by some case they were all on. More than once in his time with McKay-Taggart he’d gone from spanking a sub to sitting in this conference room hacking into the CCTV feeds of a European country because an op had gone south.
This one had gone so far south it might be rounding north again, and it was the most important case of his career because he’d fallen madly in love with his client.
“She’s not answering her phone because she’s probably still in shock.” Big Tag had changed out of his leathers, though it seemed his night had sucked before Hutch’s issues had arisen. Charlotte had gone home to deal with some kind of teen girl problem, and that had left Tag growly. “Have we figured out why our mystery lady left the cameras on while she stole the data and then turned them off as she left? Why not simply turn them off when she’s ready to access the data?”
“Because that would tip off security.” Hutch was guessing here, but Kyle had mentioned that security monitored the cameras from their phones from time to time. They could be alerted if the systems went out. It would be a calculated risk on the operative’s part. She balanced the risk of someone watching one particular camera among hundreds at precisely the right time versus the absolute certainty of the alarm going off. “She shut it down when she was okay with the chaos the alarm would create. She’d already gotten away, and she could erase whatever she liked.”
Tag’s hands had fisted. “MaeBe, I want a name.”
MaeBe looked up from her computer. She’d made it to the club before he had and apparently taken the brunt of Big Tag’s bad mood. “I can’t get a name if I can’t see a face.”
“What does that mean?” Tag stalked over to her, looking over her shoulder. “I thought you said she walked out of the building. Did she find a way to take out every CCTV camera in downtown Dallas?”
“No, CCTV is working. I can show you that she walked from the Genedyne building three blocks to a hotel where I lose her. And yes, I’ve made note of the hotel and I’m investigating, but I would bet she’s not a guest. This woman planned her op carefully, and that means she planned how she would get away. I would bet she met someone there and they left via the underground parking garage. It’s what I would do if I wanted to go unseen.”
“Show him. He doesn’t understand how she could keep her face down for that long.” Hutch moved in behind Tag. He’d been down here while Tag had dealt with Cara and Chris. He’d been trying to track the woman who’d fucked up his life because this had been one long setup.
MaeBe’s fingers raced across the keys, bringing up the moment the woman walked out of the Genedyne building.
“What is she wearing?” Tag asked, pointing to the odd glasses on the woman’s face.
“She’s wearing state-of-the-art, fuck-the-facial-recognition-software gear,” MaeBe stated flatly. “The LED lights confuse the AI. She can smile right at the camera and I get nothing. It’s even bending the light around her face slightly so I can’t print it out and get anything useful. She presents as female. She’s roughly five foot seven, and that’s all I can tell you. The jacket she’s wearing is shapeless. She knew exactly what she was doing, and that was getting away with stealing Noelle’s research.”