Chapter 17
Magnum
She disappeared into her bedroom, and I didn’t know what to expect.
I’d already decided she doesn’t have any privacy and her room isn’t off-limits to me, but it felt like I needed to give her a little space.
It’d been an intense day and night, and she likely needed time to process things before confronting a planning meeting.
But she came down the stairs when the motorcycles sounded in the driveway, her makeup perfect, hair in a messy bun, and without any angst. She wore loose blue jean shorts with a pastel pink T-shirt tucked in, sport sandals on her feet, and held her closed laptop at her side.
“Any special protocol around them?” she asked. “I don’t expect to screw up and call you Sir, but if I do, will it be a problem? Are you going to tell them we’ve… I don’t know, fucked, I guess, though it’s…” She met my gaze. “It’s a lot more than that.”
“It is, indeed, a whole helluva more than that. I don’t keep secrets from my brothers, but I don’t feel the need to announce our new status at this time. If you call me Sir, it’s fine, but you shouldn’t need to.” I looked her over from head to toe and back up. “You good?”
“Yes. Should I put snacks together?”
I shook my head. “I put a cold twelve-pack in the den. Anyone wants more than that, they can go get it. You don’t wait on them unless I tell you to, and I haven’t given that order.”
She blew out a breath, nodded, and lifted her laptop. “I can type faster than I can write, so this is the easiest way to keep notes.”
I shook my head. “We don’t keep digital notes about club activities. I have a notepad and pen, if you feel like you need to take notes, but please don’t do so on your laptop. You’ll eventually get back online, and…” I shrugged. “Basic operational security, for us.”
She stared at me a few seconds before saying, “I keep a whole lot of secrets. I’ve gone to jail for keeping them.”
“I’m aware, and it’s one of the reasons we’re trusting you, but I need you to follow club rules for this.”
She blew out a breath. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll take this back upstairs, and I have a notepad I can use.”
One of the things I respect about Mad Dog is his ability to cut through the crap and get shit done. An hour later, we’d agreed:
Assuming we could get enough intel to feel confident in doing so, we’d infiltrate the Virginia property during a fight weekend, when activity is happening and the fighters will be there.
This would not happen in two weeks, but likely ten weeks out — though this was dependent upon us getting actionable intel.
Skippy and Ember would head to Virginia for recon. What didn’t get said around Storm was that they’d strap a camera on Skippy’s raven and he’d fly around the governor’s mansion as well as the fight property.
Meanwhile, Storm and I would continue to scour what we could get to online, to try to find another location, the food vendors, and anything else we could dig up.
We’d meet again when Skippy returned to figure out our next steps.
Ember had, indeed, brought her Drake Security partner, Sloan.
He’s a former Navy SEAL, and Dementor has told me in the past that the two work well together.
When Sloan found out what Ember was helping us with, he’d volunteered his services as well.
He apparently knew Gears’ brother, but I wasn’t clear on whether that’d happened while they were in the military, or after.
My Stormy girl held her own in the meeting, asking intelligent questions, making some really good suggestions, and remaining quiet when she didn’t have anything to offer.
Every supernatural in the room could smell damage on her, and a few of them gave me an appraising look, but every one of them knew I wouldn’t take advantage of her. They knew I wouldn’t play rough unless she wanted it, so no one took me off to the side to make sure.
When the meeting broke up, I offered to take the group out on the boat, and we all made our way down to the water with a huge cooler full of beer.
Storm and Ember seemed to hit it off, which means my girl talked to Dementor quite a bit, too.
She also talked to Sloan, and I didn’t like that, but quickly realized I was just going to have to be okay with it.
Sloan is single, but the eagle shifter wasn’t hitting on her.
There was nothing there, so why the fuck did I want to growl at him and tell him to back the fuck off?
It didn’t make sense, so I focused on driving the boat.
- - - ? - - -
Storm
I liked Ember from the start, even before I found out she used to compete in roller derby.
Also, I got serious owned-and-owner vibes from her and Dementor, despite the fact they didn’t say anything that should lead a rational person to think they’re in a power-exchange relationship.
She made a huge container of margarita mix before we went down to the boat. I’d watched her make it with tons of tequila, and couldn’t believe she wasn’t sloppy drunk when it was halfway gone.
I was drinking beer with the men, making sure I didn’t go past slightly buzzed. The alcohol helped relax my swollen, inflamed asshole, and made my aching feet and legs not hurt so bad.
Nothing was going to help my oversensitive, raw, overfucked pussy, though.
“Are you good here?” Sloan asked while the bikers were being extra rowdy, and I got the feeling he didn’t want Magnum to know he was asking. “I can put you somewhere else that’s safe, if this isn’t working out for you.”
I stared at him a few seconds, wondering why he thought I might not be okay.
Nothing came to mind, so I told him, “I feel safe here. Magnum and Skippy get us online so no one can trace back to us, with alarms to show when they’re trying.
Means I can keep up with my research and don’t have to drop it, or depend on others to finish what I started.
Bugs me I can’t go with Ember and Skippy, but I can’t, so I’ll deal with it.
I hate having to hide out, but this is kind of like paradise, you know? Could be a lot worse.”
He watched my face like he was reading it, and he nodded a few seconds after I finished talking. “Okay. I believe you. If for some reason this isn’t working for you, let me or Ember know.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
He smiled. “Happy to hear it.” He looked around and then back to me.
“Have you noticed the route Magnum has taken? Careful we don’t get within a hundred yards of any lakefront residence?
He’s making sure none of their security cams pick up your face.
” He tilted his head. “I know you think the hat and sunglasses will keep you safe, but the government has new facial recognition algorithms that’ve changed that.
If for some reason you need to leave his safety, go overboard on your contour to make yourself look like a horribly unfortunate ugly girl before you put the sunglasses and hat on.
Also, tuck something between your teeth and lower lip, to push that lip out.
Walk like someone else, and use your left hand more than your right. ”
Again, I was left staring at him while I absorbed that, and then slowly nodded. “Any chance I can pick your brain for this kind of thing when this is over with? I’d love to do an exposé on the latest ways we can be identified, above and beyond facial recognition.”
He shook his head. “I was under the impression you weren’t going to use what you learn while here?”
I frowned. “Nothing about the bikers, but that’s government stuff.”
“Here’s the thing, though. I can get in trouble for sharing things with a reporter, but it’s stuff I’d tell a damsel in distress without thinking twice, if it’ll keep her alive. I need your assurance I’m talking to the damsel in distress and not the reporter.”
I blew out a breath and considered what I could promise. “And if I can show that I found something out another way, so it doesn’t come back on you? Can I report on what you’ve told me then?”
“You’ll be helping criminals with your reporting. Does that bother you?”
“I’m not a criminal. Everyday people have a right to move around without being monitored. We’re heading into 1984 vibes, and that troubles me. No, I don’t want to help criminals, but I do want to help people who just want to be left alone and not tracked.”
He sighed. “Please don’t use the bit about the padding under the lip.”
I instinctively understood this was a test. If I argued, he might not tell me something I needed to know for my own safety. “Okay. I can see this is important to you, so…” I shrugged. “I won’t.”
Again, he looked like he was reading my face, and I could see him visibly relax.
“I don’t intend to leave here anytime soon,” I said, “but if for some reason I have to, it’s good information. Thanks for looking out for me. Assuming I live through this, when it’s over and I’m onto other stories, I’ll let you read through what I plan to record before I do.”
“The most important thing,” Ember said, “is honestly the bit about changing your gait. Wear uncomfortable boots on the wrong feet if you have to, or put a small pebble in your shoe.”
I hadn’t known she’d been listening — she’d been kissing Dementor, or rather, he’d seemed to be devouring her. But now he was at the back of the boat, and she was fully engaged with us again.
“I’ve actually heard rumors about that,” I told them. “Algorithms that look at the way you walk and your basic body shape.”
She nodded. “I use butt lifters when I go undercover sometimes, to alter my body shape. Your ass is already perfect, so you’d need ill-fitting Spanx to try to flatten it out.
Also, on the makeup thing, contour your cheekbones and put highlighter under them, the opposite of what you’d normally do.
Use highlighter under the jaw and slightly darker powder on the jawline, to try to make it merge instead of pop, right?
Foundation on your upper lip and then line it so there’s just a thin little piece of color, to make the top lip look wrong.
Opposite on the bottom lip, and with an appliance inside the lip, it’ll make your mouth look completely different. ”
“I was under the impression the algorithms did some kind of ratio between eyes, lips, and nose,” I said. “That’s why sunglasses throw it off.”
“Yeah, and that’s what local police departments still use, but the Feds have better algorithms and… other things,” Ember said. “The ratio is still important, but be aware there’s a lot more. Making your lips another shape thwarts several of them.”
Sloan clearly didn’t like her sharing so much, but he sat back and let her talk.
I considered how she reacted to Sloan versus Dementor, and was even more certain there was a kinky power exchange between her and the absolutely huge man she was clearly in love with.
Clearly, he didn’t interfere with her career, though, and that gave me some reassurance.
Because no man was ever going to dictate any part of my career. Magnum had his dealbreakers, but that was my biggest one.
However, it felt like Magnum was setting it up for TPE during high-protocol times, but then my life was my own the rest of the time except for sex, which he could demand at any time.
If he wanted more than that, I’d be okay with it while I lived here under the present circumstances, but things wouldn’t last beyond that.
But if we were on the same page there? Fuck, it was dangerous to fall for this man. First off, a biker in a one-percenter club, but second, he lived in bumfuck Alabama. From my house in Pennsylvania, I can be in DC or Manhattan within hours.
That wouldn’t be possible from here.