Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Sitting at the table, Annika finished her last bite of cake.
The other three women were still working on theirs, and she felt a little embarrassed for scarfing hers down so fast.
“Want another?” Iris asked.
“No. I better not.” A moment passed and she couldn’t keep her eyes off the others’ dessert. “Well, maybe just a small one.”
“That’s the spirit!” Iris said, standing up to lean across the table and cut a piece of cake from the pan in the middle.
“It’s so good!” Annika said as she held her plate out and accepted the slice.
“Thanks,” Iris said. “I made it myself.”
Once they were all eating again, Annika thought more about what the girls had explained to her about the Daddy Guard.
“So let me see if I have this straight. The guys help Littles in need?”
It was Cami who answered. “That’s right.
They used to be cops. But then Stryker and Harrison—and Grant Baker—had this idea for an organization that comes to the rescue whenever Littles need them.
They figured there are lots of people out there that take advantage of us.
You know, they think we’re weak and stuff. ”
Boy, didn’t Annika know it!
“Yeah,” Iris chimed in, “and they do it all free of charge.”
Annika pondered it all for a moment. “So they work for Harrison, Stryker, and Grant Baker?” She almost couldn’t believe it.
As big a movie star as Harrison was, Grant was even bigger! He had multiple movies in Hollywood’s prestigious “Billion-Dollar Club”.
“Yep,” Lana confirmed. “Even though they’re famous, they’re all super nice. I wish Harrison and Stryker could have stayed for dinner. But they had some studio get-together, and they had to go rub elbows with investors.”
“That sounds boring,” Cami opined.
Annika wasn’t so sure. The thought of putting on a nice dress and eating fancy food with famous people sounded kind of fun.
It would be a far cry from her usual evenings, that was for sure.
Of course, just sitting at a cozy dining room table with other people—and being stuffed with amazing food—was far from her usual evenings, too.
“Want to go see the guys’ setup? They have a command center in the den,” Iris said.
“Sure!” Annika replied as she polished off the last bit of her cake.
This night was full of surprises. She wondered what she was about to experience next.
The den looked comfortable and cozy.
There was a pool table, as well as a built-in bar. A posh leather sofa and two matching, overstuffed chairs rested in a seating area in front of a large TV.
Against one wall, though, were the items that truly made the space unique.
“Whoa! This looks like something out of the Pentagon or something!” Annika exclaimed.
Next to her, Iris nodded. “It always reminds me of the Batcave.”
Annika giggled. Her new friend was right: Batman would look right at home behind the two flat-panel TVs that hung on the wall over the half-circle desk.
Neatly arranged keyboards and other electronics were on the desktop. She realized the girls hadn’t been exaggerating when they’d referred to this as a command center.
Matteo was sitting behind the desk, pounding away on the keyboard.
“Hey, cuties. Did you all get enough cake?”
“Yes, Uncle Matteo,” Cami said.
Annika wondered what she should call Matteo. Somehow, Uncle didn’t quite feel right.
Daddy sure did.
But she was being silly, she reminded herself. It was too soon for something like that. Besides, it didn’t matter how much time passed. He’d never be her Daddy.
Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “What are you working on?”
She didn’t want to be nosy, but her eyes were glued to the two large monitors on the wall as information scrolled by at a rapid rate.
Matteo kept typing, and it was Jack—standing nearby—who answered, “The call that came in was actually from Auntie Athena. She’s worried about a Little who frequents her nursery.”
“Yeah,” Ace said, taking over the explanation.
“Some other Littles overheard her saying the club she works at has some shady stuff going down. She didn’t feel too comfortable about going, but she needs the paycheck.
Athena was hoping we could come up with some concrete proof that the club’s owner is dirty so we can take him down and potentially save an innocent Little from being harmed. ”
“If the club owner really is shady,” Isaiah added. “We don’t want to take down an innocent man just on hearsay. We need proof.” He turned to look at Annika. “If we get proof, we’ll hand any and all evidence over to the police. We aren’t vigilantes.”
Still clacking on the keyboard, Matteo chuckled. “Are you sure about that? Because it seems like I’m trying to hack into the club’s system. That’s not exactly legal.” He shook his head with a sigh, and Annika could tell he was frustrated. “I just can’t seem to do it.”
Annika stepped closer. She didn’t even realize she had her left hand on his shoulder until it had already been resting there a few seconds.
He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he reached up and patted it, sending waves of excitement and joy coursing through her body.
“You hack?” she asked him.
“Not really. I’ve been trying to learn. Stryker is pretty good with it, but he’s tied up tonight. He has a friend in Mountainville—Stella—who’s an expert. But I don’t know how to get ahold of her.” He sighed again. “I need to improve my skills. It would sure come in handy in our line of work.”
“Mind if I try?” Annika asked.
“Uh. Not at all. Be my guest.”
Matteo rolled back a little in the chair and stood. She took his spot.
As she started pounding on the keyboard, she realized this would probably raise lots of questions she didn’t want to answer. But she couldn’t just sit back and not do anything while another Little was in trouble.
Matteo and the Daddy Guard had rescued her that very evening. Now it was time to pay it forward.
As she began to move her fingers at lightning speed, her inhibitions faded away. The dirty alleys off Hollywood Boulevard and her hungry, grumbling stomach seemed years ago.
She was in her element. She was doing what she did so well.
“Oh my gosh. Their security system is so basic.”
Matteo laughed. “What does that say about my hacking skills?”
Still working her fingers, Annika turned her face away from the monitors long enough to flash Matteo a grin. “You’re good at lots of other things. Like saving girls like me.”
He winked at her.
She giggled.
There wasn’t time to keep up the banter, though. Not right now. A Little needed help!
Annika turned her attention back to the task at hand.
“This is just off-the-shelf security software. Like something you would have picked up off the shelf from Best Buy or Walmart back in the day.”
A few minutes passed before, with a few final taps of the keyboard, she said, “And… I’m… in.”
On the monitor, images from the nightclub’s security camera feed created six smaller squares. One part of the screen, though, was dedicated to something else—the club’s financial records that they had stored on a local server.
She swiveled around in the chair to see all eyes on her. Several jaws hung slack.
“What?” she asked, suddenly feeling bashful.
A few seconds of silence ticked off the clock before Matteo said, “Where did you learn to do… that?” He pointed at the screens.
For the briefest of moments, Annika thought of telling them all about her past and what had led to these tough times.
But the thought that the knowledge could come back to haunt them, putting them in danger, stopped her.
So she said, “I learned computer stuff. Went to vocational program for it in high school.”
She left it at that, even though there was a lot more to it.
“Well, I hope you made straight A’s because that is some impressive work!” Matteo said.
Everyone clapped. Annika dipped her head as she blushed and giggled.
A yawn seized her and she stretched before wearily standing up. The stress of the day had caught up with her. It was getting late, too. And so much had happened that evening. It was only a few hours ago she’d been running for her life and trying to flee through the Roosevelt Hotel.
She felt as if she might pass out from exhaustion.
“Come on, cutie. You need to go to bed,” Matteo told her.
Annika yawned again. “But I need to help the Little.”
“Honey, you already did. Now, we can comb through those financial records and get a better understanding of what’s going on at the club. And more importantly—while we do that—we can watch everyone and make sure they’re safe.” He pointed to the security feed. “Thanks to you and your skills.”
“Your Daddy is right,” Iris said. “She’s in good hands. Thanks to you. Nothing will happen to her now.”
Annika giggled. “He’s not my Daddy.”
No one agreed with her. They just smiled as she walked toward Matteo.
She wasn’t sure where the exhaustion had come from so quickly. It must have been the food and the late hour. For whatever reason, she was so tired she almost couldn't walk.
Apparently, it was obvious because Matteo scooped her into his arms.
“I’ll carry you to bed, honey. Tell your friends and Uncles goodnight.”
Annika waved. “Goodnight, everyone.”
She thought they said, “Goodnight,” to her, too, but she couldn’t be sure. With her head pressed against Matteo’s hard, muscle-packed chest, her eyes closed.
She was asleep before he’d even carried her from the den.