15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Pete

T here’s nothing shadier than a basement level security office, and I know that’s where we’re headed before Lana leans forward and presses the button at the end of the row of numbers.

“How often have you been to this office?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “I used to run the reception desk, so I brought mail down here every other day, for years.”

“How ‘bout since you started running this place?”

“This would be my first time coming down here since then, but that’s only because we’ve been short-staffed. We had a lot of walkouts when I took over and people realized I was going to make changes.”

“Did you check how the guys who stayed felt about that?”

“I did, and they seemed pretty glad to be rid of the guys who left. I didn’t know too many of them, but there were a couple of real creeps who walked. I can’t say I was sad about that.”

“So, you’re happy with who you’ve got left.”

“They seem like good guys to me.”

She shrugs as the elevator stops.

The doors open on a dimly lit corridor.

Shady as hell.

Keeping the security office down here only serves to cut it off completely from the rest of the building. It makes it easy for whoever’s in charge to do whatever the fuck they want.

“What else is down here?” I ask, as I follow Lana into the corridor.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are all these other rooms for, exactly?”

I point out the rooms we’re passing. Closed doors that might be locked.

“Oh,” she murmurs. “Um, we used to store cleaning supplies down here, but we moved that closet upstairs a while back. It’s just security down here now.”

And security have a camera above the elevator, so they know we’re on our way.

“You should move the security office upstairs too.”

“I guess I could do that. This is it.”

She stops at the last door in the corridor, the one furthest away from the elevator.

The guy inside has had a couple minutes to prepare for our arrival.

He opens the door before Lana gets a chance to knock.

“Hey,” he greets her, with a fake smile.

Hello, suspect number one.

He doesn’t even glance at me.

His attention stays on her.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Cole?”

“Well, Melvin,” she starts. “I might have mentioned we should have our staff shortage sorted out soon. Pete is from the new company.”

Now, he looks at me, and I catch the irritation in his stare before he covers it with his typical ‘good guy’ mask.

“Oh, really?” he asks. “I thought this young man was one of Dr. Clarke’s visitors.”

“I am,” I tell him before he can turn his gaze back on my girl. “I’m also head of operations at Lennox Securities, and Ms. Cole is hiring our team.”

If he’s the guy, he’s not going to like that news one little bit.

“That’s good to hear,” he says, without skipping a beat. “We’ve been burning the candle here since Ms. Cole took over.”

“And this is your security office?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

The room looks pretty dark from what I can see. A lamp is lighting a section of the room that’s out of view, but there are no overheads.

“If you want the tour,” he offers, pushing the door open more with his back and gesturing to us to come in.

I step inside first, and I find out the room is only slightly bigger than a closet.

The monitors are on a desk with one leather office chair in front of it.

A walkie sits on the desk in front of the monitors, alongside a landline phone.

The lamp is a battery-operated lantern hanging from a hook on the wall by the side of the desk.

Lana steps into the room beside me.

“Oh, wow,” she murmurs. “This is claustrophobic.”

“It can be,” the guy admits. “I’d offer you a drink, but I can’t open the fridge when the door is in front of it. You get used to the lack of space, but it’s not a two-man office.”

I watch the monitors carefully, going from screen to screen, and confirming that there isn’t a feed for the camera that’s been installed in the hallway of the previously unused wing.

“These are all the cameras you have?” I ask.

“Eighteen feeds aren’t enough for you?” He laughs.

“Considering how big this place is, no.”

He shrugs. “I work with what we’ve got. We have all the main areas covered. Patrols take care of the rest.”

I look at Lana. She turns her gaze from the screens to me.

“I’ve seen enough.”

She nods, and glances at him. “We’ll get out of your hair.”

I follow her out of the tiny room.

He hovers in the doorway. “If you need anything else, you know where I am.”

“Thanks,” Lana says, giving him a wave.

He goes back into the security office, and I hear him lock the door.

I look around and move toward the door across the hall, trying the handle and finding it locked.

“You have keys for all these rooms? Or does that guy have them?”

Lana presses her lips together. “He has the main set, as far as I know. I have a skeleton key for the building. It’s what I used to let you guys into Dr. Clarke’s suite.”

“You have it on you?” I ask.

She goes into her pocket, and I have second thoughts.

I don’t know what that guy could be hiding down here.

We’ve already rattled his cage today.

Sticking around and potentially pissing him off more doesn’t seem like a smart idea, at least not while I’ve got Lana with me.

She brings a set of keys out of her pocket and offers them to me.

I let go of the door’s handle. “Doesn’t matter. The rooms are probably empty.”

Searching down here can wait. It’ll be more constructive to run checks on the men she’s got working here, starting with the one sitting in that locked security room.

“Okay,” she says, sounding vaguely annoyed before she slips the keys back into her pocket.

“We should go back upstairs. I’m going to need that list.”

She still isn’t keen to hand it over, I can see it in her eyes.

“I need to know who I should be watching,” I add, keeping my voice low.

“You don’t even work for me yet,” she murmurs back.

Smiling, I head back toward the elevator. “We can fix that before you hand the list over.”

She knows I’m right, and she doesn’t seem to have anything else to say to that.

Following me into the elevator, she keeps her thoughts to herself.

I lean back and watch her sexy walk.

Thankfully, Shadow took the edge off my lust for her curvaceous form with his mouth.

It doesn’t mean I’m not still thinking about all the things we could be doing in this elevator if she gave the slightest sign that she might invite that kind of move.

I know it would be too fast.

She doesn’t seem sure about trusting me, even if her instincts are telling her she should.

Physically, the attraction is mutual.

That doesn’t mean it’s okay to let things heat up between us.

She should know who I am to her first, and that’s not as simple as just telling her.

I wish to fuck it was.

My gaze fixes on her ass as she turns around in front of me to press the button next to the closing doors. My cock twitches against the front of my jeans, and I force my attention away from her body.

I’ve got to focus on keeping her safe right now.

Someone in this building is planning something, and I fully intend to figure out who and what before the asshole can get anywhere close to pulling the trigger.