He let out a low whistle. “All right. Give me a day. You’ll have to come down here though. I can’t send you anything electronically. And I’m only doing this for you because I know you won’t use this illicitly.”
“I definitely won’t.” She wanted to find these “alleged” thieves/killers. Technically she’d found them. Or at least where their vehicle had led back to. Now she just needed to take back their stolen painting—and then alert law enforcement. She just hoped the Feds could make something stick.
“Okay. Just make sure you take care of yourself.”
She could feel Nash’s eyes on her and resisted the urge to look over at him. She was still annoyed with him about involving Juan in this—a man who’d talked incessantly about Angel the entire drive over here. Which was kind of adorable, but she still didn’t know the guy. “I always do. I’ll be in contact. Thank you.”
As they disconnected, she motioned for Nash to pull away from the curb. They’d been parked across the street only for a few minutes so they shouldn’t stand out, but she wanted to get out of here.
“So you just called someone about getting the building schematics? You’re kind of scary,” Juan said.
“I hope that’s a compliment,” she answered.
“Definitely. I like scary women. They keep life interesting.”
She snickered and glanced over at Nash. “I have a feeling you make Nash’s work more than interesting.”
“I definitely do.”
Nash sighed and Ivy pointed to an upcoming alley. “Can you pull in here and park over there behind the dumpster, please?” As soon as he did, she set up her own tablet on the dash, and got out. A quick glance around showed two security cameras mounted on the exterior wall of the back of this shopping strip, both pointing in different directions thankfully.
She quickly hurried to the back of his SUV and opened the hatch.
Nash was right there, a silent ghost. “Do I finally get to see what’s in that duffel bag of yours?”
“You’re going to be really jealous.” She gave him a small smile, her heart skipping a beat when he returned it. She might be annoyed with him, but she realized she couldn’t stay mad at him for long.
He eyed her as she grabbed a small case and hurried to the front of the vehicle. She kept her door open for a moment before popping open the case with a soft snick and releasing one of her drones.
“Holy shit, that’s the newest model,” Juan said excitedly. “I didn’t even know that was on the market yet.”
It wasn’t. Not technically.
She was quiet as she viewed the drone’s camera feed from her tablet, making sure the coast was clear. A couple dumpsters lined the alley, and two bicycles were propped up against one of the walls, but it was mostly clean, with a clear pathway for any vehicles that wanted to cut through here.
“What’s that on the bottom?” Nash asked, motioning to the cluster of black cameras.
“You’ll see.” She wanted to show him. Because it was pretty damn fascinating and definitely cutting-edge technology.
She maneuvered the drone out of the SUV then shut the door. Steering with practiced ease, she flew the drone high above the two three-story buildings they were parked in between, and directly toward the warehouse across the street.
Two cars drove by underneath and various people milled about on the sidewalk across the street from the warehouse. This was a more industrial part of town with flooring or sign shops—places you went to when you were renovating your house or shopping for specific construction needs. People didn’t window-shop down here, they came here with a purpose. Well, so did she. Just a different one.
She maneuvered over the security fence, flying much higher than the warehouse before doing a full circle of it. Even with the wind, she was able to keep the drone steady.
She would review the feeds later, pinpointing any security cameras around the entire property. She’d already seen a couple with the naked eye but had a feeling there might be more. After doing a full aerial loop, she eased the drone back toward their vehicle and perched it on top of a nearby fence pole.
She could hear Juan shifting slightly in the back seat, leaning forward to get a better view at her screen. She pressed the release button for one of the cameras. As soon as she did, another screen popped up on her tablet, showing that the microscopic camera she’d released had found its mark.
“Did you just plant a camera on top of the fence with the drone?”
“Yep.” She didn’t completely understand how this tech worked, just that these particular cameras had some sort of binding ability and basically molded to their targets until they were picked back up by the drone.
She repeated the process all around the fence line eight times before taking a chance and planting one on the actual building itself. It was a risk even though the camera was small, but she had to take it.
“That’s impressive,” Nash murmured, eyeing her tablet as the various screens popped up, showing that the camera feeds were all live.
“These are battery powered and solar powered, which is good for a place like Miami. Because the battery can run down fast. But this will allow me to keep an eye on the place, see who comes and goes. I’ve got an app on my phone where I’ll get motion alerts.”
“Yep, definitely scary.” Juan leaned back in his seat.
“Give me just one minute. I need to secure the drone and then we can get out of here.”
Nash was quiet as they finally left, and maybe it was just her, but he seemed almost unnaturally so. Well, she hadn’t asked him to come on this job with her, so if he didn’t like her methods…that wasn’t her problem.
But it still mattered to her, that he seemed withdrawn, whether she wanted to care or not. Because with Nash she definitely cared. Always. “Where are you headed?” she asked when Nash merged onto the highway.
“To drop Juan off at his truck.”
Oh right. Ivy nearly jumped when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Her heart rate kicked up a beat when she saw Genesis’s name on the screen. Please have something I can use. “Hey,” she said.
“I’ve got good news for you.” Genesis jumped right to it. “They want a bidding war so they’re putting the painting up for auction on the black market. They’re going to let it gather some steam before it goes live in seven days. I’ll send you everything I have.”
That was great news—she had a time frame to work within. A short one, but it gave her an end goal. “Thank you.” They talked for a few more seconds before hanging up. Ivy glanced at Nash, then at Juan in the back seat. She seriously doubted that Nash would have invited Juan if he wasn’t trustworthy. But still… She faced forward again. “I think it goes without saying that everything that happens here is between us.”
Juan held up his hands. “We are definitely in the circle of trust right now.”
She blinked at his light tone. “Circle of trust?” Juan was kind of a goofball, but it was endearing.
“That’s right. Seriously, I already promised Nash that I wouldn’t tell anyone about this. Though I don’t understand why you guys don’t just call the cops. It’s my understanding that even if they’re the ones who bring the bad guys in, the art still gets retrieved. Right? Wouldn’t you get a finder’s fee for locating the painting and helping get the guys arrested?”