TrackingDesire (4 page)

“How can you tell from those squiggles that it’s heating and
not a cooling system?” Will asked as he chewed his cigar.

Liv pointed out certain markings on other sections of the
blueprints.

“Here’s the evaporative cooling system for the upstairs,”
she pointed out, “and down here, this is where their main central air is. See?
They would have to tap into one of these, or have another cable running from
here, their main source of power to the mansion. This system is completely
separate from it. And look at these wire capacities. You don’t need numbers
that high for cooling, only heating.”

Will continued to chew thoughtfully on his cigar as he
puzzled through the logic in her statements and the blueprint findings.

“Okay,” he conceded. “You’ve half convinced me, but are you
just blowing smoke up my ass or do you have a solid basis for this knowledge?”

Liv flushed and cast a cautious glance at Julian before
answering. “I dated a spark—an electrician—for a few years at the Academy. I
helped him on more homework assignments than any Retriever should ever be
exposed to. That, coupled with having read blueprints for years with Kelly when
we were teens…well, I learned quite a bit.”

Will snorted and Liv caught an amused glance exchanged
between Matt and Julian. She continued quickly before they could digress. “What
I can’t figure out is why they’d have this amount of wiring down in their
basement. A wine cellar is logical, but I’m pretty sure they’d need it cooled,
not heated. I don’t know what they could be holding down there that requires
humidity and warmth. Eggs of some sort, maybe? Or, hell—maybe they’ve put in a
private sauna and not told anyone or got permits? It might be innocent.”

“Could be any number of things, babe,” Julian replied as he
leaned over her shoulder to stare at the blueprints on the coffee table. “Man,
look at all that extra wiring. You’re right, Liv, it does look strange. We
should definitely check it out, or at the very least see if Blade and Flame
know anything more about it. It might be covered in their briefing about the
mansion—maybe an explanation of what the room is used for would help us to
decide whether it’s worth our time looking into it or not.”

“Okay, then,” Will said. “Matt and Kelly will split off upon
entering and go and check out the master bedroom. Julian and Liv, you’ll head
down and check out the basement. Now if I’m reading this right, Blossom’s study
is off the conservatory. For now I want to assume they’re not going to have
guests in there, as it would be easier and more logical for them to close off
the corridor here and keep everyone in the ballroom, dining room and outside
patio area over here. Julian and Olivia, if you’re not hampered by milling
party guests you’ll check that out once you’ve been through the basement. That
leaves Erik’s study on the second floor for Matt and Kelly.”

They nodded and talked amongst themselves as they traced out
different routes, figuring out which rooms were likely to be occupied by the
party-goers and which ones should be left empty. After a time they had two
plans of attack. Which routes they would use would depend on where exactly the
charity function was held. They also discussed a vague back-up plan in case
something changed on the night, so they wouldn’t be left stranded, or worse,
cut off from the main areas they needed to search.

“We’ll need to confirm everything after we hear from Blade
and Flame,” Kelly finally summarized, “but I think our best point of entry is
here, through the side entrance that probably was an old servants’ entrance.
It’s out of the way, it’s discreet and a good distance from the main driveway,
which is where we presume the guests will be entering and leaving.”

They followed Kelly’s finger as she traced their main path
should everything go smoothly.

“Also,” Kelly continued, “this area is not too close to the
outside entertainment area. If it’s a nice evening they might decide at the
last minute to open these French doors
here
and
here
, which would
leave all this area open to wandering guests, or worse, wizards watching the
areas where we need to move. Especially with Blade and Flame as one of the
patrols, I think it’s a logical solution to use this side area, and if we’re
lucky we can even get them to help to rotate the shifts away from there for
long enough for us to enter and leave without being caught.”

“We can also easily get comms that are compatible with what
they’re using,” Matt added. “All we’d need is a variable frequency device so we
can talk on one band amongst ourselves and still check in and exchange
information on the Enforcers’ frequency.”

Will made another notation on the growing list in his
notebook.

“From there,” Kelly continued, “Matt and I will head
straight up to the third floor. We’ll search the master bedroom, then the en
suite, and try to work out what that extra room is used for. From there we’ll
stop off on the second floor, search Erik’s office area and collect whatever
data or samples we can, and rendezvous back at the side entrance.”

Julian picked up where Kelly finished. “We’ll hopefully
branch off from the side entrance and head past the conservatory and through to
Blossom’s office. That’s contingent on the west hallway being closed and the
party concentrated on the eastern side of the mansion. We’ll search through the
office, then retrace our steps a bit and go down to the basement and search
that. We’ll rendezvous back at the beginning unless we change our approach on
the night over the comms.”

“Perfect,” Will said. “Blade and Flame will be your backup.
We’ll go through this again once they’ve had their final briefing to confirm
routes and the mission as a whole. Until then, we’ll work with the plan and the
alternate routes we have. Matt, I want you to get us comms from the Enforcers.
We’ll need five sets. Use your discretion as to whether you think we’ll need
backups or anything else you can grab from the lockers. We have until tomorrow
evening to get this nailed down and just because it’s only half the team I
don’t want us to get sloppy and miss anything. We’re better than that. Sound
good?”

They agreed with nods and murmurs. Will stood and collected
his laptops and papers, indicating that the meeting was over. For a few minutes
they discussed copies of the blueprints and took notes on the routes they were
planning on taking. Kelly finished by saying she would collate everything and
courier it out to each of them by lunchtime the following day. That gave them
almost six hours to study everything and raise any concerns about holes in
their theories and routes.

“We can assume the charity dinner will start around 8:00
p.m. tomorrow,” Will said. “These things usually do. Pre-dinner drinks will be
well underway an hour or so before then, so expect to be contacted early
tomorrow morning about a late afternoon meeting with Blade and Flame to go over
the final times and preparations. I would expect the best time for us to hit
them would be around nine. Kelly?”

“Nine or nine thirty,” she confirmed with a nod. “We want
the party advanced enough everyone has a few glasses of wine or scotch in them
and they’re sitting around eating dinner, but not so late that people have lost
interest and are wandering around searching for entertainment or having a look
around the house. That’s our best bet in terms of the perfect window.”

“Then that’s what we’ll work with,” Will replied briskly.

“Julian, are you still good to give me a lift back to my car
at the station? I’m happy to catch a cab if…other things have come up for you,”
Will said with a barely concealed grin. Liv blushed lightly as Julian glanced
at her and raised his eyebrow in a silent query. Embarrassed but trying hard
not to show it, she shrugged and smiled at him.

“We’ll catch up tomorrow morning,” she offered as a simple
way out. “We’ll need to go over these plans and I’d like to be there when we
touch base with Blade and Flame. They’ve not met Kelly or me, and since we’re
going to be working together as a team I think it would be best if we all meet
unofficially before we need to begin the job.”

“Good idea,” Will agreed. “I’ll try to contact them later
tonight and go over everything with them so they know exactly what information
we need to gather and we can decide on a central place to meet before they have
to start the security job tomorrow night.”

“Then it’s all settled,” Matt replied, and they made their
way to the door.

Liv and Kelly hugged briefly. Liv nearly choked when Kelly
whispered in her ear, “You’ll have to tell me about the kitchen later.”

Liv swallowed hard but nodded. She didn’t trust herself to
say a word since her body was already wound tight with unfulfilled desire and
the three men were standing well within earshot.

Kelly grinned saucily and squeezed Liv’s hand. Liv said her
farewells to Matt and left the apartment with Will and Julian.

Will started down the stairs and, as Liv brushed past Julian
to follow the larger man down the staircase, she felt a warm, solid pat on her
ass. Freezing, she turned and saw Julian’s eyes dancing with barely repressed
laughter. He was utterly silent, but the evident amusement in his eyes and his
twitching smile said plenty.

“Love that ass,” he mouthed silently at her. Liv’s jaw
dropped, but with Will barely a dozen paces away she couldn’t think of anything
suitably tart to reply with that wouldn’t give them away. A bubble of laughter
welled in her chest and she had to place her hand over her lips so it couldn’t
escape.

“Can’t wait,” Julian whispered again, then waved a hand to
indicate that she should walk down the stairs.

“I’ll get you back for that,” she whispered so softly that
if Julian hadn’t snorted she couldn’t have sworn he had even heard her. Liv
started down the stairs and Julian followed her. After they had descended the
first flight and were turning the corner, Will finally looked behind him and
eyed them speculatively.

“Are you children sure you don’t want to stay and play?” he
teased them in his forthright manner. “I’m not so old and decrepit that I can’t
catch a bus or a taxi back to my car.”

Liv laughed and pretended her face was not tinged with what
she could feel would be a delicate pink blush. Despite the fact that she did
indeed want very badly to drag Julian back to her apartment, strip him naked
and fuck him until they couldn’t walk, pride had her shaking her head in answer
to Will’s repeated offer. She wasn’t some hormone-riddled virgin desperate to
get her cherry popped. She could wait a day or so for some time with Julian.

Probably.

Julian had promised to make it worth her while and, despite
her reluctance to place her heart in his hands, she believed him completely.
“No, that’s fine, Will,” she assured the captain. “I’ve got things to do,
anyway. If we’re going to break in to one of the most important wizard’s
mansion late tomorrow night, I need some bits and pieces to prepare myself.
I’ll catch you both tomorrow.”

They exited Kelly’s apartment building, but before Liv could
turn and head toward where she’d parked her car, Julian caught her arm. He
tugged her to him and she didn’t resist as he pressed their bodies sensually
together then dipped his head and kissed her ferociously. Their tongues
instantly tangled and she moaned at the now-familiar taste of him.

She had been craving him, even after their all too brief
taste of each other earlier in the kitchen. This man was getting under her skin
so quickly it made her head spin. Part of her couldn’t really believe they’d
only met a few times and only spent any real amount of time together today. And
they’d been basically brainstorming. It hadn’t precisely been a first date.

Liv reeled as Julian pulled away and she looked up at him
with what she knew must be half-drunk, lust-filled green eyes. She felt rather
as if she had swallowed a whole finger of Scotch on an empty stomach. Just
another immediate, intense reaction of her body to this man.

“You take care of yourself,” Julian insisted gruffly. Liv
smiled softly, surprised but pleased by the rough, masculine concern he showed.
She stroked his cheek then lifted up onto the tip of her toes to press a quick,
chaste kiss to his soft lips.

“Always,” she replied lightly. She reached her thumb out to
stroke his soft lips, caress him even as she craved touching him far more
intimately. “Call me tomorrow? We can hook up a little earlier. Maybe grab some
coffee or lunch or something?”

Julian nodded curtly and they reluctantly pulled apart. Liv
cast a look at Will, who appeared incredibly interested in the side wall of the
apartment building. Liv couldn’t help but enjoy the man’s personal code—anyone
who would courteously look away to give them some semblance of privacy as they
left each other had more than a few chivalrous bones in his body.

“You take care of this guy for me, Will Allcott,” she
ordered naughtily, laughter in her tone. Will jerked his head back at being spoken
to like that, looked from her to Julian then back to her again. With a quick
salute, he grinned at her.

“Absolutely, ma’am,” he replied jovially. “Always been one
of my best men, Julian has. It was a no-brainer to demand to have him on my
team when the idea of this group was initially put to me. No one I’d rather
trust to have my back, or with the lives of those under my command. You can
trust him with anything—that’s a promise.”

Feeling oddly touched by his assurance, Liv grinned and blew
Will a kiss. “I’m certainly thinking about it, Will. Thanks. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

Julian and Liv exchanged one last heated glance before going
their separate ways. She puffed out a hard breath, her body excited and wound
up, not just from Julian and his touches but also from the knowledge that in a
little over twenty-four hours she and Julian would be guarding each other’s
backs as they—along with Matt and Kelly—broke into a mansion to search for
drugs and other information they could steal.