Take - Page 65

“Well, this is nice.” She took in the deck and the view toward the city. She slid a wooden chair back and sat.

“I don’t use it that much.” I sat across from her. “We usually eat at Dante’s, or at the shared house.”

She scooped up a forkful of eggs. “So, I guess going to the lab today is out of the question?”

I nodded. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Ugh. I hate Auclair and these guys. They’re interrupting my work.” She stabbed at her eggs like she was picturing Auclair’s face. As she ate, she looked lost in thought.

“You can come to my office. I can get you a secure laptop, if there’s any work you can do on that.”

She nodded. “I can do some analysis and planning.” She leaned an elbow on the table. “I’ll get to see your domain. The Reath Fury bat cave.”

I shot her a look. “It’s just an office.”

“The office of the top security firm in New Orleans. I bet it’s impressive.”

“You’ve been reading up on me?”

“I can do a web search. I saw that you and your brothers donate a lot of money to charities.”

“We’ve done well, and we like to give back. It was a lot of hard work, but also a dash of luck. We made it, but not all kids like us do. So, we like to give back to help others make it, too.”

She set her fork down. “That’s admirable, Reath.”

I felt uncomfortable. “It’s just the right thing to do. Finish up. It’s a short walk to the office.”

Once we’d tidied up and put the dishes in the dishwasher, we both brushed our teeth. I didn’t let myself think about how it felt with her there beside me.

We walked down the sidewalk to PSS.

As we reached the office, she studied the words Phoenix Security Services etched on the window, along with the rising phoenix logo. Inside, I nodded to Daniel sitting at the front desk. As we headed up the stairs, Frankie’s head moved, taking it all in.

“It does look like an office,” she said. “A fancy one.”

Her flat shoes made no sound on the polished concrete floor. She peered through the glass wall into the conference room.

I stopped at the door that led to the computer room and pressed my eye to the retinal scanner. The lock beeped and disengaged. I placed my palm on Frankie’s lower back and ushered her into the dimly lit computer room.

Her mouth dropped open. “You do have a bat cave.”

Two of my team sat at the curved banks of desks in front of our high-tech computers. Screens lined the wall.

She spotted Lincoln at a desk. He had a bandage on his head.

“Hey, Linc, are you all right?” Frankie asked.

My man nodded. “I am. Thanks to you.”

She grabbed his hand across the desk and squeezed. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“I have a hard head.” He met my gaze and gave me a short nod. There was respect on his face.

“Frankie, this is Keiko.” I gestured at my other team member.

Frankie lifted a hand. “Hi.”

The dark-haired Keiko nodded. “Nice to meet you.”