“Three, two, two. Got it.” He turned to me. “Lots of codes around here. Three quicks then a long. Three short, three long, three short. Shit, what’s this new code again?” he asked Lee.

Lee sighed. “Three, two, two.”

“Yeah, okay. Three, two, two. Later, Indy. By the way, really dug the El Salvador e-mail, that was hilarious. Where do you come up with that shit?” Brody asked but didn’t expect an answer and then walked back to his desk chanting, “Three two two, three two two…”

Lee guided me out of the room and back to the reception area. Dawn was behind her desk and she schooled her features into a benign smile at our approach. Her immaculate desk top was marred by a gunbelt which Lee picked up with the barest hint of a nod of thanks to Dawn.

He pulled out a flat black thing with two prongs at the top.

“Stun gun,” he said, “you have to be close to use this, take down is half a second so it’s quick. Don’t touch the prongs or you’ll get cranked with 625,000 volts.”

Holy crap!

Is that what happened to me?

625,000 volts?

That seemed like a lot.

A lot, a lot.

Lee was still talking. “Batteries are new, switch it on and touch the prongs to your target and he’ll go down.”

“You should know about those, considering,” Dawn chimed in sweetly. “They’re not pretty but they work!”

Lee’s eyes cut to her and she immediately turned her attention to the computer and I just stopped myself from sticking my tongue out at her and giving her a “nanny nanny foo foo” head wag.

Lee shoved the stun gun back into the belt and pulled out something that looked somewhat like a real gun.

“Taser,” he said, “you can use this from a distance, point and shoot, same result as a stun gun. Prongs come out and juice him. Don’t worry about clothes, these prongs will even go through a vest.”

“That’s a bulletproof vest,” Dawn cut in again.

“Thanks,” I snapped sharply on a saccharin smile with a bitch glare, a combination better known as the Bitch Triple Threat.

When I looked back to Lee, his eyes were crinkled and he was shoving the taser back into the belt.

He thought we were the funny.

I decided not to go into bitch smackdown mode. I’d been giving Lee’s employees enough entertainment for a week.

Lee pulled out a canister.

“Pepper spray. Shake it to make it live, make sure you point it correctly. This one sprays at distance, you’ve got up to fifteen feet. Aim at his face. Don’t do it in an enclosed area or you’ll get it too.”

“Okey dokey,” I said quickly before Dawn could give any helpful hints.

Lee turned to Dawn. “You’re goin’ to lunch.”

Without a word, she grabbed her purse and walked that long-legged, one foot in front of the other, ass-swaying catwalk out the door.

Lee and I watched and I changed my mind again about Dawn.

I turned to Lee. “I’m just gonna say, she’s a problem.”

Lee put the belt on me, shook his head and caught my eye.

His eyes were serious and Dawn was a distant memory.

“The fun part of the day is over,” he said in a no-nonsense voice, securing the belt at my waist.

Uh-oh.

“You’re gonna see and hear shit that you might not like. This is my work and you have to remember, whatever it is, there’s an explanation behind it or it’s being controlled. Talk to me before you react and listen to me. Pay attention and be smart. If something gets too much, too intense, you just say, no matter where we are or what we’re doin’, I’ll take you away. Yeah?”

That didn’t sound good.

Lee watched me closely and waited for me to respond.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“We’re goin’ to the holding room. If we capture a skip and for some reason can’t get him to the station, we use the holding room. You’ll see now it has other purposes.”

Yikes.

“Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open and know where your weapons are. Do not use the pepper spray. We’ve got someone in there and we’re lettin’ him go. I don’t know how he’ll react.”

“Letting him go?” I asked. I didn’t know who he was but whoever he was, he was in a holding room and letting him go didn’t sound like a good idea.

“He’s part of a bigger picture. We’ve been workin’ with him for a few days, tryin’ to get him to talk. He hasn’t felt up to it. Now, it serves the higher purpose to let him loose.”

I had questions to ask but I had no time to ask them, Lee was already moving away and I had no choice but follow… or run away.

Chapter Eighteen

Naked Gratitude

For better or worse, I followed Lee down the hall.

He knocked twice on the surveillance room door, used his fob and went in.

“It’s time,” he announced.

Vance got up and walked to a desk. Monty leaned forward and flipped some switches and some monitors came on. On the monitors, I could now see Brody working, the empty hall and a room with a bed, a toilet and a sink, a guy lying on his side on the bed. I couldn’t see much of the guy and then Vance was in my way. He had a gunbelt doubled up in one hand, he put it behind his back, opened it and strapped it on. It had the same stuff mine had, plus a real gun and cuffs.

He lifted his hand, his dark eyes locked on mine and flirty look was gone. He pointed to the door.

I walked out behind Lee, Vance followed me and closed the door.

Lee walked down to the end of the hall to the last door, the only door Lee hadn’t opened to show me what was inside.

“You know where your weapons are?” Lee asked.

I felt around my belt and nodded. I felt like Super Idiot with the belt on, not Super Cool like Vance looked. Lee wore no gunbelt, just the killer dark brown leather one holding up his faded brown cargo pants.

Lee jerked his head at Vance. Vance used a fob and a light went green.

“Follow me in,” Lee said to me, opened the door and walked in.

I did as I was told and, once I was in the room, I saw Terrible Teddy, Coxy’s goon who hit me what seemed like years ago. He turned in the bed and stood.

I sucked in air.

He had a bandage across his nose and a wicked black eye, both nose and eye were grotesquely swollen to almost Rocky-Balboa-post-Apollo-Creed-fight size.

Teddy spared me only a glance, then he turned cautious eyes to Lee.

Vance stood in the door, one hand resting on his taser.