Chloe was hitting his shoulder as if he ought to be doing something, probably because of the machete.
Ben ignored the hand hitting him. “You know, it didn’t even occur to me that you’d know my sister’s nanny.”
“Nanny?” Daniel grinned even wider.
“Give me one excuse to kill you,” Dema said quietly. “Just one is all I need. You know I will not have a problem getting rid of your body.”
“Darling, you were always incredible with children; it’s a brilliant idea. I hope she’s a little firecracker; that will keep you on your toes.”
Chloe tugged his arm. “Ben—”
“I have no idea.” He put his arm around Chloe and led her away from the pair. “And it’s probably none of our business. If she was really going to kill him, she’d have done it already. You know Dema.”
“I mean” —Chloe looked over her shoulder— “I thought I did.”
He patted her shoulder. “We all have that one embarrassing relationship we don’t want to talk about, okay?”
They walked back to the table under the mango tree where Zain was enjoying wine with Mika.
Zain raised a glass. “Hey, you guys. Did you see that Daniel got here?”
“I did.” Ben sat down with a nod. “He’s earlier than I expected, but it sounds like he’s excited about the project.”
“That’s good.” Zain swirled red wine around his glass. “Ben, you should try this one. You’d like it.”
“Thanks.” He reached for the wine bottle. “Good meeting tonight with Chloe’s new friend. I think I have an idea for an opening there.”
Chloe flopped into her seat and stared at Ben. “Are we really not going to talk about Dema trying to murder Daniel?”
Zain shrugged. “I mean, I don’t think she’ll actually hurt him.”
Mika frowned. “What’s going on?”
Chloe said, “Daniel Rathmore, Giovanni’s friend who’s here to help with the project—”
“Earth vampire from England,” Ben broke in.
“Liiiiiittle bit of a player,” Zain muttered.
Chloe gave them both dirty looks. “He’s at the front gate, and Dema has a knife against his throat.”
Mika’s large brown eyes went wide. “And he’s an ally?”
Ben looked around. “Is Sadia in bed already?”
“She went down an hour ago,” Zain said. “Giovanni and Beatrice are with Doug.”
“Oh good.”
Mika was still clearly alarmed. “What should we do about—?”
“Nothing.” Ben and Zain spoke at the same time.
“Dema doesn’t pull a knife on people unless they’ve earned it,” Zain said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure they’ll sort it out.”
“She’s pulled a gun on me countless times,” Ben said, “and I’m clearly still alive.”
“Gunshots won’t kill a vampire,” Chloe said.
Mika pursed her lips. “Well…”
“They will if it’s directly aimed at the base of the neck.” Zain glanced at Ben. “Not that we’ve trained for that or anything.”
“Hey, as long as I’m not the one in your sights, I’m not worried.” Ben sipped the wine. Zain was right; it was delicious.
No less than a minute later, Dema joined them at the table in silence. Reaching for her ever-present thermos of tea, she poured a large helping into an empty wineglass.
Chloe was the only one brave enough to break the silence. “Is Daniel still alive?”
“Obviously.” She sipped her tea. “Mika, I showed him where he’s staying. The second room in the garden house, right?”
Mika nodded.
“Good.”
Chloe opened her mouth again, closed it, then reached for the bottle of wine. “Vampires are weird.”
Dema nodded but didn’t say anything.
Zain asked, “So Gavin’s coming by the end of this week, huh?”
“Sadly no. Change of plans.” Chloe stared, wide-eyed, at Dema. “If plans change again though, I’ll make sure to let all of you know.”
“Good.” Dema nodded. “I don’t like surprises.”
17
The meeting with Doug happened the following night just after ten o’clock. Most of the humans were sleeping, but Doug and Zain—being the team drivers—had joined Ben, Tenzin, Beatrice, Giovanni, and Daniel in the compound’s lavish library.
The house had once belonged to a French diplomat, and the furnishings showed it. The room was decorated in ostentatious European pieces, and oil paintings hung on the walls. The narrow windows had been converted to be light safe with heavy shutters painted in similar classical themes.
Doug had found the largest computer monitor in the house and had put up a computer-generated diagram of the British embassy on the screen.
“It’s a huge compound, as you can see, but we’re ignoring pretty much all the public buildings.” He motioned to the left side of the diagram. “This is where all the security is run, but I’ve taken a look and…” He shrugged. “I’m not impressed. They’re really depending on reputation here.” He nodded at Ben and Tenzin. “For you two, getting in is going to be simple.” He gave an overview of the public buildings. “There are artifacts and manuscripts scattered over the entire embassy compound—most notably there are quite a few books and more than a few historic maps in the officers’ club here.” He pointed to a round building. “It’s a traditional tukul structure—those are the old-fashioned round houses with the grass roofs—but don’t be mistaken, it still has modern security. Cameras mainly.”
Ben asked, “Where do the video feeds go?”
“Here.” Doug motioned to a building right on the front row that faced the road. “All the security is run through here, and there is an embassy-wide alarm. If the guards see anything suspicious on the video feeds, they’re supposed to hit that alarm, which would alert basically everyone living in the compound. It is loud. It is effective. You do not want to be seen.”
“But you don’t know where all the cameras are?”
“No. That’s where your electronic sense and simple observation is going to have to come in.”
Ben had been working harder every year on detecting electronic waves and signals. He was nearing perfect accuracy with most regular-frequency electronic equipment.
Tenzin asked, “Who lives in the compound? Are there soldiers?”
“No, but the ambassador and his family do live there, and he does have security at the main house.” Doug pointed to a large European-style home near the back of the compound. “In addition to the ambassador’s house, there are twelve other residences within the compound, including a couple of the tukuls which are still in use for guest housing. There are several kilometers between the front gate and the ambassador’s house though. It would take time for more than basic security to reach you if the alarm was tripped.”
“Sheesh.” Ben leaned forward. “There’s like a small city in there.”