Page 39 of Sweet Revenge

While he called whoever he needed to speak to, I cleaned up the taco trash and then came back to the living room.

“We’re going to have company in a little bit.” Daemon stood and paced the small living room a bit, thinking.

“Who?” I sank down on a chair the color of burned orange rind and tried to be patient.

“A friend,” was all he’d tell me. I sighed but let it go. Daemon was sinking into that predator train of thought he usually took on when he was getting ready to do something devious. I needed to stay out of his way, help if I could, and not ask too many stupid questions.

Not long after the phone calls, there was a quiet knock on the door, and Daemon moved to open it. When I saw that it was Janis, I leaped out of my chair, rushing toward him to give him a hug. Daemon took the bags he’d been carrying out of our friend’s arms as he wrapped me up tight. “Miss Elisa, you look well,” he said in a polite tone.

“It’s so good to see you.” It was hard to pry my arms off him. If I’d been allowed to pick the type of man I wanted for a father, it would’ve been someone like Janis.

“Come with me.” Daemon beckoned, and we followed along. He dropped the bags in the larger bedroom, and I spied some clothing along with some of my favorite products tucked inside. Janis was a gem. Then, Daemon led us to Alex’s room. Janis gasped when he saw him.

“Alex La Rosa,” Daemon explained. “You’re his new babysitter. No matter what he says or does, do not let him loose. My life might depend on the information he knows, Janis.”

“Say no more, sir,” Janis said with a nod. “I shall make sure that he doesn’t regain his freedom.”

Daemon patted him on the shoulder and then turned to me. “Ready to roll?”

I took a deep breath and nodded, not sure if I meant it or not.

CHAPTER24

DAEMON

We’d entered through a basement door, security cameras following our every step from the van to the steel, bolted door. My contact, his real name I wasn’t sure of, sat huddled behind a large computer screen, shrouded in shadows. I’d often wondered if this was the basement of his own house or if his mother lived upstairs and screamed at him from time to time to make his bed.

“I don’t like it,” he growled at me, shoving his glasses up his nose with his middle finger. “I know you, Daemon. I trust you. The broad, not so much.”

I raised an eyebrow at him using the term “broad.” He couldn’t really pull it off. “I’m telling you, she’s fine. This is my girl. Elisa’s with me all the time. She’s not a threat at all.”

“I could go.” Elisa hooked a thumb over her shoulder and took a step backward toward the door. I figured she probably didn’t want to be there any more than my tech guru wanted her there.

“Sure, so you can call your friends at the CIA?” he snarled.

The urge to roll my eyes almost overwhelmed me, but I suppressed it. “Relax, I don’t work with Feds. Listen, if you can give me what I want, we’ll be out of your hair.

“If a black-budget hit squad comes after me—” he began, but I cut him off.

“No one is going to find you because of this.”

“You know how I hate it when you guys bring strangers in here. This is high-tech stuff. Classified.” Again, he jabbed at his glasses.

Well aware of the fact that much of this stuff had been created for the CIA and FBI, I nodded again. He had the tools I needed to catch my backstabbing brother, whichever one that happened to be, and I wasn’t going to back down easily. “Listen, I just need surveillance gear. Plenty of it. Cameras with high def that are nearly invisible. No one needs to know I’m filming them with what they’ll be doing.”

That got a naughty chuckle out of him. It wasn’tthat. But most criminals didn’t want to be on video at all. It had nothing to do with sex.

“Stationary shit or wearable?” he asked, beginning to come around a little bit.

“Stationary, but they definitely need night vision. The best quality cameras you’ve got available.”

With a sigh, he asked, “How many?” as if I’d been inconveniencing him.

“About twenty.” I’d figured that number out in my head on the way here. Seemed about right.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head and looked around the room. “I’ve got the stuff, but that’ll just about clean me out. It’ll be expensive.”

The duffle bag I had over my shoulder was heavy for a reason. Swinging it around, I unzipped it and plunked out a wad of cash. “More?”