Shadows Reborn (Garrison Security Innovations #6)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

ROBERT JENKINS, ELVIS TO those who truly knew him, woke up to the scent of cherry lip balm and too much whiskey as he stretched his eyes, trying to get them to focus.

A tangle of blond curls lay on the pillow beside him, snoring softly, and no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t remember her name.

Brooke? Brandy, maybe? All he was sure of was that it started with a B.

Well, maybe not so sure. All he remembered really was that they had met at the casino bar’s karaoke last night, drank too many whiskey sours, and someone challenging him to sing “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” which they regretted as soon as he picked up the mic.

It was their fault for not asking him if he could sing before issuing the challenge.

He couldn’t, of course, but that never stopped him.

It actually worked out in his favor as his team always bought him drinks just to get him to stop.

He had no shame about his voice, and he could never say no to the King, so he nodded, took a long swig of his drink, and headed for the stage.

Grabbing the mic, he belted out the tune, or rather, screeched it, if he were honest, and while most winced and covered their ears, Miss B—damn, what was her name?

—just laughed and swayed to his singing.

That was all it took for him to pay their tab and follow her to her room at the casino hotel.

Holding his breath, he eased himself out of bed as if sneaking his way out of enemy territory. He had done both plenty of times, and there was no way he wanted to risk waking her up and having a conversation, letting her know he had no idea what her name was.

He found his shirt peeking out from under a chair and then grabbed his boots as he looked around for his pants. As he stood there, scanning the room, he heard movement coming from the bed and closed his eyes as he sucked in a breath. Shit.

“Planning on making a quick getaway, are you?”

He stood taller, turning around and giving her his best smile. “Well, I need to get to work and didn’t want to wake you. Trying to be a gentleman and all.”

She scoffed. “I prefer the way you were last night. Now that was far from a gentleman and fun as hell.” She bounced her brows at him as she propped herself up with her elbows after tucking the sheet under her arms. “You were on a mission once you got here.”

He laughed as he dropped the boots to the floor and slipped his shirt over his dark blond head. “Well, once I get going…” He yanked the shirt down his torso and smiled at her, his brows arched.

“Can I ask you something without you thinking poorly of me?” she asked, her head tilted to the side as a slight blush colored her cheeks.

He found his pants on her side of the bed, along with his boxers, and snatched them both off the floor. “Shoot. I’m an open book.”

She scrunched her face up as if waiting for something bad to happen. “What’s your name?”

He paused, one leg halfway to his pants’ opening, and stared at her. Then he simply busted out laughing, shaking his head. “Robert, but you can call me Bobby. My friends all call me Elvis.”

“That explains your playlist last night at the bar.” She sat up straighter, her hands clasped in her lap, the sheet barely covering her breasts.

“Well, since we’re sharing identities…” He cocked a brow at her, a smirk twisting his lips.

Her laughter brightened her eyes. “So I wasn’t the only one, huh?”

“Too many whiskey sours, darlin’” he said, finishing slipping into his pants. “At least, that’s what I’m using as an excuse.”

“Bella,” she told him, sliding out of the bed, the sun peeking through the curtains raking her naked body with golden light.

“I knew it started with a B!” He buttoned his pants and moved to where she stood. “We definitely need to, um, you know, do karaoke again.”

She nodded, sliding her hands around his waist and snuggling up to him, her breasts close enough that he could just lean down and suck on her hard nipples.

“I put my number into your phone last night with my name.” She winked at him, a mischievous grin on her lips.

“Use it whenever you’re ready to sing for me.

” She bit her lower lip as she swayed in his arms.

He leaned down and kissed her nose. “You got it, darlin’.”

Five minutes later, with socks and boots snuggly in place, he slipped out of her room and headed for the elevator.

His steps were loose and relaxed, never in a real hurry unless bullets were flying or Abbie back at the office was yelling.

As soon as the elevator arrived, he stepped inside, glad it was empty, and hit the button for the lobby, where the hotel had given Silver Security a conference room for their use.

He fell back on the wall as the elevator kicked into gear and closed his eyes, taking in a slow breath.

The hotel had originally asked Garrison Security Innovations to provide the security for the VectorPoint Global, a cybersecurity summit being held at the casino’s hotel.

However, they had too many of their team scattered in different places, so Dane had suggested Sage’s brothers.

He also offered Elvis and Hawk as a bonus.

Elvis had been quick to agree, loving the chance to pretend he was the high-end muscle with a badge and an earpiece.

Hell, they might even give him a blazer to wear to make him look official.

The elevator dinged, and he lumbered out, wincing at the bright sun shouting from the glass front doors. He could use a little less cheerfulness from the day until his hangover subsided a little more.

Ducking into the hotel’s VIP wing, he moved down the hallway until he saw a door marked with a makeshift sign that read “Private Event Staff Only.” Taking a slow breath, he knocked once, having forgotten to get his key card from the team yesterday.

Levi Silver, Sage’s eldest brother and the founder of Silver Security, opened the door, took one look at him, and barked out a laugh. “Jesus, dude, you look like a wrung-out groupie. What the hell happened to you?”

“As the King would say, I was taking care of business,” Elvis drawled as he stepped inside, giving Levi a wink. “Don’t be jealous now. Green never was your color.”

“I can tell you what didn’t happen,” Hawk said from where he sat at the table. “He didn’t make it back to our room last night.”

Elvis merely shrugged, a devilish grin pushing up his cheeks.

Levi chuckled, shaking his head. “Trust me, looking at your condition right now does not make me jealous.” He shut the door and crossed back over to one of the chairs. “Did you even come back to the hotel last night?”

Elvis gave him a curt nod as he headed for the coffeemaker.

“Yup. Never left. Just didn’t go to my room.

” He turned and gave the man a smirk. “Some of us still know how to enjoy life, squeezing every bit out of it we can. And trust me, there was a lot of squeezing last night. As the King said, ‘Live each day as if it were your last.’”

Elvis poured himself a cup of coffee and then turned and leaned back on the counter as he took his first sip, glancing around at the buzzing room.

A bank of monitors lined one wall, showing surveillance angles of the casino floor, the elevators, hallways, and all rooftop access points.

Colin, the Silvers’ middle sibling tucked between Taylor and Barrett, was fiddling with a laptop rig, while Taylor leaned over a blueprint of the casino and Barrett handed out earpieces.

Sitting in a chair off to the side and sipping coffee was Hawk, Elvis’s stoic comrade from GSI.

The man watched the others with a blank expression, like someone who didn’t know whether to laugh or take cover.

He gave Elvis a curt nod when they locked eyes, but that was all, and Elvis merely chuckled, thinking the man made Callen look like a jokester.

Elvis bounced off the counter and crossed the room to where Hawk sat, glancing over his shoulder at the table. “No doughnuts? What kind of operation is this?”

Hawk shook his head. “I see you’re still trying out for the Worst Decisions Ever Made. Did you at least wait until she woke up before sneaking off?”

“My friend, I never make bad decisions,” Elvis smirked, lifting his coffee to take a slow sip. “Only fun ones.” He shrugged as he lowered the cup. “And I don’t feel bad at all. She didn’t remember my name either.”

Hawk merely rolled his eyes before glancing over at the Silvers. “How’s it looking?”

Levi stood straighter as he stared at the monitors, running a hand through his shaggy hair. “So far, so good. VectorPoint Global is set, and there’s a full list of billionaires, power brokers, and hackers all pretending to play nice while thinking about stabbing each other in the firewall.”

Elvis cocked a brow as he stared at the man, falling back against the wall without splashing his coffee. “Is that a euphemism for something?”

Taylor sighed as he glided his fingers through his short red hair. “Nope. Just means it’s Thursday.”

Elvis chuckled. “All right. Give us the rundown for this… Thursday.”

Levi pointed to the schedule on the wall monitor.

“Keynote starts at eight, and our job is to supplement the internal casino security and prevent any surprise walk-ons. We’ll sweep the main ballroom, VIP suites, and service corridors.

No one gets in or out without credentials.

We’ll have facial recognition running on loop, but it’s glitchy with the lighting.

Hence the extra boots on the ground, which, just as a heads up, the Director of Security Operations, one Raymond Boudreaux, wasn’t too thrilled about, which means we weren’t his idea, just something shoved at him.

He hates extra people on his floors and, from what I could gather, he’s also dealing with a security audit over the next couple of days.

Some company out of Oregon, Obsidian Analytics. So the man’s extra grouchy.”

Colin, just a year younger than Taylor, with shaggy blond hair and baby blue eyes, which Elvis was sure made him the winner at many hookup bars, spun in his desk chair, turning away from the monitors to face Elvis and Hawk.

“I tapped into the casino’s security feeds, so we’ll see everything they see.

” His grin grew almost too big for his face.

“I was also able to add some of my own toys, like motion detectors and some Bluetooth proximity sensors. Even hooked up a couple of custom sensors just in case someone brings something not sold at RadioShack.”

“Is that place still around?” Hawk asked, one brow cocked.

Elvis merely laughed as he lifted his cup. “Sounds like you could give Blaze a run for his money. I’m impressed.”

Colin grinned even more, a devilish twist of his lips. “We’ve been comparing notes.”

Elvis slipped his earpiece in as he drained his coffee, setting the cup on the table when he finished. “All right. Hawk and I will take a stroll around to get a lay of the land. We’ll let you know if we see any gaps in the camera surveillance while we’re at it.”

Barrett leaned back in his seat. “Maybe grab a shower,” he smirked, his dark blue eyes shining. “You look like you just crawled out of bed.”

Elvis scoffed. “That’s because I did.”

The casino pulsed with a thousand blinking lights and the low whir of money being lost in real-time as they stepped onto the floor.

The air was cool, dry, and just scented enough to feel expensive.

There were no windows to keep the gamblers from knowing just how long they were sitting at their machines, and servers in short skirts and black pantyhose walked around offering free drinks to anyone sitting at a machine.

The casino couldn’t have them getting up and wandering off with money still in their pockets, now could they?

Elvis scanned the room like he was casing the joint, which, technically, he was, just not for the wrong reasons. Security, however, needed to think like a burglar to keep the burglar out. It was all part of the process.

He pointed to a camera in a corner between two of the slot machine rows. “See that angle?”

Hawk nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, it’s angled too much. Gives us a dead zone.”

“That’s what I thought.” Elvis tapped his earpiece. “Hey, Colin, we should rotate Camera 14 about thirty degrees left. Looks like a visibility gap there that someone overlooked.”

“Let me take a peek,” came the reply. “Yup, you’re right. Good catch. I’ll have them move it. Give me a sec.”

Elvis stared at the camera as it slid to the left.

“All right. Got it.”

“Thanks,” Elvis replied. Then chuckled as he shook his head. “You know, this feels a lot like one of those heist movies. You know the ones with Clooney and Pitt? I may need a tux tonight.”

Hawk scoffed as he walked down the aisle. “You’ll get a badge if you’re lucky and a clipboard to doodle on while we stand around trying not to be too bored.”

Elvis sighed. “Yeah. All the cybersecurity people will be here. And the hackers. Could be a game of cyber tug-of-war, which would never be visible to us. Blaze would have been better suited for this.”

“Please. The kid would be too distracted with all the big names in this place to focus on the job.”

“Well, this job might just bore me enough that I fall asleep.”

As they looped back toward the staff hallway, Elvis whistled “Viva Las Vegas,” earning him a glare from a dealer and a confused look from a tourist.

Hawk shook his head. “Don’t you think that’s a little too on the nose, even for you?”

“What can I say? I was feeling the moment.”

“At least you’re not singing.”

Elvis glanced up at the ceiling, looking for more gaps in the surveillance. “Did you know Elvis Presley had over 600 recorded songs, but never once wrote a single one himself?”

Hawk glanced at him, his brow furrowed. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

“It’s called legacy, my friend. That’s why he was the King.”

Hawk shook his head. “Yours will be ‘died singing off-key in the shower.’”

Elvis smirked, hands in his pockets. “That just means I wasn’t alone in the shower if someone knew I was singing when I bit it.”

Hawk rolled his eyes. “You’re terrible.”

But Elvis ignored him, his mind already turning over which Elvis song he’d butcher at the afterparty before hooking up with Bella again. He’d at least remember her name this time.

Tonight would prove to be a long, boring evening. However, for now? The King had returned.