Rock Chick (Rock Chick #1)(90)

I glanced at Lee, the Lee Beast had disappeared and Cocky Lee had taken his place.

I ignored it and turned back to Brody. “You do programming?”

“Nope, hacking, usually tracing embezzlement stuff but sometimes…”

“Brody,” Lee cut in and Brody stopped talking, his eyes got wide and he stared at Lee.

“Yeah, sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Brody said and looked at me. “Confidentiality,” he whispered. “I keep forgetting.”

I looked around the room, fascinated by what Lee had built in a short period of time. It was a huge-ass operation.

“The other cubbies are for searches and stuff.” Brody started pointing. “That’s Kim’s cubbie, she’s hilarious, you’d like her. Her husband is a paramedic so she likes to work when he’s on shift, sometimes seven to three, sometimes three to eleven. Then there’s Pablo but he’s part-time, like me. I do morning, he does afternoons. The other one is for the boys when they need to do computer work we can’t see.”

“Ah,” I said.

Brody looked to Lee. “See, I told her the whole thing without talking about the job we’re doing.”

Lee stared at Brody, obviously re-evaluating doing a favor for his sister.

“That’s good, Brody,” I said to him like he was a lovable dog, which, in a way, he was.

Lee put his hand at my back again, indication it was time to go.

“When we leave, lock the door and don’t open it for fifteen minutes unless you get a knock, three, two, two. Got that?” Lee said to Brody.

“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.