Chuck spoke next, his Texas drawl apparent in a few words. “So, Stirling and Josh on coms, Julia and Molly on surveillance, Grace is there to steal shit, and Hunter and me on for security?”
Danny grimaced. “Could you flip for it?” he asked delicately. “I really don’t like leaving Tabitha here unprotected. If we could make you her driver, let you sleep in her grandfather’s house with her…. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I would really love it if we had something in place in case Sergei decides to do more than threaten.”
“Roger that,” Chuck agreed. “I’ll stay in the vicinity. Hunter, you go watch Grace’s ass.”
Hunter’s jaw dropped, and he stared at Chuck helplessly, scrambling for words.
“It was an expression,” Chuck told him, rolling his eyes. “I’m not accusing you of impropriety. Grace is what? Sixteen?”
“Twenty-one!” Grace shot back, obviously insulted. “I’m older than Josh because I came to the school system late.”
“And he flunked all his placement tests on purpose,” Josh muttered.
“Not on purpose. I just forgot I was taking them and snuck out the window to go buy snacks at the corner store instead.” Grace damned near licked his fingers, his amber eyes alight and glowing with mischief.
“Sure you did,” Hunter said gruffly. “And I could get dizzy watching Grace’s ass, ’cause he never stands still.”
Grace smiled with all his teeth, and Hunter’s chest gave a little burble. His mouth went dry. Augh! This was no good at all. Wasn’t he supposed to be bombproof?
But he couldn’t break eye contact, and breathing was becoming optional. Goddammit, why this kid? Why Grace, who by his own admission was easy because he couldn’t entertain the thought of a long-term lover in his pretty little head? Grace, who was endlessly trying to irritate people so they could get mad at him for doing something on purpose instead of the stuff he did by accident?
Grace, who could probably climb Hunter like a tree, swallow his cock in one thrust of his ass, and bob up and down there for a few minutes before he got bored and catapulted off, leaving Hunter boinging like a diving board and yearning for Grace’s full attention?
“I’d stand still for you,” Grace said, that nuclear smile not dimming for an instant, and now Hunter knew how a cat toy felt.
“Does that mean you want me to go be the muscle?” Chuck asked, but he sounded like he didn’t believe it.
“Hunter will go,” Danny said mildly, and Hunter broke eye contact with Grace to look at Danny.
Danny was regarding him shrewdly, with a little bit of gentleness. “Chuck’s good with people,” he said. “He’ll fit more easily into Tabitha’s life. We need somebody to keep an eye out for Julia and Molly as well as Grace and Artur. Coms will help, but Hunter, I think your particular skills will be more in need. Of course, Felix and I will be—”
“Here,” Felix said shortly. “Or have you forgotten we both have day jobs?”
Danny’s jaw dropped like that of a little kid. “But Felix! They’re going off having adventures!”
Felix arched an eyebrow, like he had with Josh. “And you just started a new job six weeks ago. Give it some time before you start disappearing, yes?”
“But—”
“And I actually have a network to run, and I just got back. No—we can be at our computers and on coms when things are going down, but we’re going to have to trust Josh to run this one without us, okay?”
“I could ask David and Marion if—”
“David’s got a big exhibit coming up, and Marion is a thousand years old, Danny. They wouldn’t have hired you if they didn’t need you. And remember the Gemstone Gala? The gala that was your idea to raise money? Lots of security and publicity and things? You can’t leave now. Grace may be able to come back and perform, but you’re still staging your own show!”
Danny grunted. “Oh fine,” he muttered. “Fine.” His scowl lightened up a fraction. “But only because I want you all to see the carved gemstone collection. It’s really….” He shuddered happily. “You have no idea how amazing it is.”
Pretty much everybody in the room narrowed their eyes with avaricious, serpentine smiles. It wasn’t that they were greedy people per se, but stolen sparkly things did have a certain appeal.
Even if you had every intention of giving the stolen sparkly thing back.
“So that puts you two back here on the sidelines,” Julia said. “And me in the thick of things.” She gave a delicate feline smile. “Oh, the trouble we can get into.” She raised her eyebrows at Molly, who grinned back. “But what exactly are we doing?”
“The way I see it,” Danny said, finishing off his orange juice, “is that we need to do a couple of things. Grace?”
Grace was in midstretch, his long legs split flush with the floor, his cheek pressed into his thigh. He didn’t even pause for breath. “We need to steal whatever Tabby’s grandfather is dropping off and then put it back so they don’t discover we know what it is.”
“Very good,” Danny acknowledged. “Hunter?”
Hunter knew his job. “We need to figure out how many of Sergei’s men are involved in the pickup and the drop-off, and what they’re there for. Are they armed? Do they take action with whatever’s in the bags? Is there a point man? Or is the bag given to another mule? Either way, we need to track it and see what it’s being used for so we know how big a splash it’s going to make when whatever-it-is doesn’t land in the pond.”
Danny’s smile showed he appreciated the continuation of the ripple analogy. “Very good.” He grew sober. “You really do need to watch Grace’s ass, though. They can’t know he’s anywhere near that package. We don’t want him to bring their suspicion back with him on the plane.”
Hunter nodded. “I’ll keep him safe, sir.” It was really the only thing he could do in relation to Grace.
“Good man. Julia and Molly?”
Julia looked at Molly, who grinned impudently. “Besides buy all the things?” she chirped.
Felix was the one who chuckled. “Besides that, of course.”
“We’re surveillance they don’t know,” Molly answered promptly. For all her impudence, she took this sort of thing very seriously. “They’ll be watching Artur and Grace, probably as they go about their day. We’ll be watching the watchers—and watching to see what happens after they get the gemstone, or whatever, that Grace has already stolen and returned.”
“Very nice.” Danny chewed his lips. “Ladies, since you’re going shopping, you wouldn’t, perhaps, consider…?”
Molly clapped her hands and twirled, her curls fanning out behind her in an arc. “Disguises? Can we wear disguises? Can I wear a black wig and stilettos?”
Julia considered it. “Maybe a low-heeled pump, my dear. We may have to move fairly quickly.”
“But the wig? I can wear a wig, right?”
“Of course! We can go shopping tomorrow.”
Molly pumped her fists. “Yes!”