Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (19 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Campbell

Over the next few days in the clinic Campbell commandeered Jay the IT guy to help install cameras. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, asked good questions, and he was super thankful for the extra hours and the shared testosterone. They were finishing up after hours so they didn’t have to be worried about wires dangling and ladders in everyone’s way.

As Campbell terminated the next to last camera in Natalie’s office, he handed the tools back to Jay who handed him the camera in trade. He’d booted Natalie out to the front section so he could finish up in her space.

She didn’t like the feeling of being watched but she begrudgingly acknowledged the need for it.

Jay got the next set of termination ends ready and asked more questions. “You said this system has remote access to it. From anywhere?”

Campbell connected the cables, protected the ends, mounted the camera, and adjusted the lens. “Exactly. It’ll connect into the high-speed internet in the IT closet. Natalie will have access to it from anywhere and any computer, laptop, Mac, whatever.”

“And her phone?”

“Yep. Through an app I’ll program with the connect info.”

“You’ll have access too, right, and get all the motion alerts you set up earlier?”

Campbell nodded, pocketing the security screwdriver made specifically for the cameras so regular bits didn’t fit them. “I’ll have 24/7 access to this place.” He climbed down the ladder and folded it up, getting it ready to move it to the final camera area.

“Good.” Jay buttoned up the toolkit with everything they needed to terminate the cameras, tossed the second to last camera box in the garbage, and snagged the toolkit while Campbell hauled the ladder.

He called out to Natalie. “We’re all done in your office. You can have it back now.”

She appeared at the end of the hall almost immediately. “Thank heavens. There’s only so much solitaire a woman can play before going mad.”

Campbell grinned and stopped at the corner of the hallway as she approached her office door. “You played what? Two games?”

She glanced inside and wrinkled her nose at the camera. “Three. It was horrible.”

“We’re almost done. One more camera and an hour or so of setup on something else. You okay staying a bit longer? We can catch dinner on the way home.”

Home. Something funny fluttered in his chest and he swallowed it down.

“I could order out. Have it delivered. I have enough work to do for several hours more here. That way neither of us have to worry. Work for you guys?”

Campbell looked at Jay.

“Fine with me. As long as it’s not that spicy noodle crap you love so much.”

“But it’s sooooo good,” Natalie countered. “What about Italian? I’ll order a few dishes and we can share it all.”

Jay nodded.

Campbell did too. “Works for us.”

“I’ll call you guys once the food is here.”

“Beforehand,” Campbell reminded her. “You don’t get the door by yourself anymore. Not after hours like this. Or ever. Got it?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She rolled her eyes and disappeared in her office.

Moving along the corridor to the back door, he stopped on the far end of the hall, trying to get his libido under control. It hadn’t been more than a few hours since he’d had her and he already wanted her again. Needed her.

Damn.

She was fast becoming closer to an addiction.

Thankfully Jay spoke up and pulled his attention back to the current task at hand. “I had another thought on the remote access last night after we talked about it.”

“What?”

“You can have up to what, twenty-five users or something like that? Why not give Detective Wyatt access to it as well?”

Campbell set the ladder in the hallway and opened it up under the last bare piece of cabling sticking out from the drop ceiling. “I’d thought the same thing. The more eyes we have on this place the better. Especially until we catch the Dicknose Turd Biscuit that keeps fucking with her.”

“Nice one. Pompous Shart Goblin?”

Campbell grabbed the right tools and headed up the ladder. “Lazy Douche Pirate.”

“We should totally write this shit down. We’d be famous.”

“Ugh. No thank you. After seeing what Angela and Natalie have to deal with I’ll pass.”

“Amen to that.”

Campbell stripped off the outer vinyl on the cabling, slipped on a ferrule, trimmed the center conductor on the coax, and finished the connector with two hex crimps. “I have a question.”

Jay handed him a pair of power wire strippers before he even asked.

“Why are you working here?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not married, no kids. You’re pretty good-looking for a tech geek.”

Jay chuckled.

“Do you have a video game addiction and you’re secretly in a relationship with some chick in Taipei named Ning Wah? Who’s really a dude named Charlie in Pittsburgh?”

Jay laughed again. “No Ting Wang or whatever her name is. I do like my video games but the good stuff like Mario Brothers and Halo.”

“Good man.” He took the last camera and finished the install. “So what gives? Your background check is clean. You don’t even have a lead foot to speak of. You’re like the model New Yorker. You’re an alien. Fuck. I knew there was something wrong with you.”

“Naw, nothing like that. I, uhh…” Jay rubbed a hand over his hair and looked a bit shy.

Campbell stopped what he was doing and waited. He honestly didn’t know what was coming but was completely intrigued to say the least.

“I’m a throwaway.”

Nothing else came, and neither did Jay’s gaze meet Campbell’s again. “A throwaway?”

“Parents didn’t want me. An accident. A disaster. Unexpected to say the very least. My mother left me in a dumpster when I was just a few days old. I was born in December, in New York, so you can imagine the outcome they were hoping for.”

“Jesus.”

“So this clinic, giving women options that don’t involve a black trash bag and a twist tie, it means something. I could go to work at some corporation putting patch panels together or wiring up a new phone system for some Fortune 100 company down on Wall Street. But this place? It makes a difference in people’s lives. News crews will never be here doing some broadcast on all of the futures this place affects. Not even with Natalie’s family name tied to it. But this place matters. And I like being a part of it.”

Campbell wasn’t struck speechless very often. But that story did it.

They finished hanging the camera in silence while Campbell thought about the reasoning behind Jay’s calling to work there. To help them.

Natalie had a similar story, which he’d just learned about the week before. He wondered how many more of the employees had something in their past leading them to work there; to spend their time and hours and sweat making it a success. Taking care of people and giving them other options that wouldn’t be at their disposal if something happened to the clinic.

Those were the kinds of things he couldn’t pull up from a database on a background check.

Campbell nodded as he stepped off the ladder with the last camera hung and in place. “You’re all right by me. There should be more people in the world with your convictions.”

Jay shook his head. “I’m no one special. Just trying to make an honest living and hopefully make a difference while I’m at it.”

Not one to normally have a bromance, Campbell collapsed the ladder and nodded to the toolkit. “Grab all of that. Let’s get back in the IT closet and I’ll walk you through playback and all the bells and whistles.”

“Sweet.”

The guy didn’t linger on the past, didn’t whine and ask for sympathy or perpetuate drama. Wasn’t asking for a hand out or even a leg up. He was just doing his job and trying to maybe put some good karma back in the world. Campbell could appreciate that.

Maybe more than most.

* * * * *

Forty minutes later the digital video recorder was completely set up, recording and transmitting through the clinic’s high-speed internet.

Campbell had Jay pull it up on his phone and continued the tutorial. “Click here to bring up multiple cameras. Tap the picture for full screen.”

“And here for playback?” Jay pushed a couple buttons, brought up a calendar which only had several days of recordings on it, selected a day, an hour, and the infrared camera feed filled the screen for all sixteen cameras.

“You got it.”

“Awesome technology.”

“And these cameras have the newest 1080p technology. Think military grade.”

“Wicked,” Jay praised. “I was looking up info on them a couple nights ago. These aren’t scheduled to be released until summer of next year. How’d you get a hold of them?”

“It’s all about who you know.”

Jay nodded with a smile. “Ain’t that the truth.” He pushed a couple more buttons and flipped through two screens before shutting his phone down and pocketing it. “I can check the playback faster on the system, right? So each morning I can run through it all on 300x speed?”

“Exactly. Much faster here.” Campbell glanced at the standard display mounted at the top of the IT rack above the DVR. “And if you have a problem you just make a backup of it through the DVD or USB devices attached to it.”

“I’ll play with it over the next week and make sure I have it all down. I’ll hit you up if I have any questions.”

“Sounds perfect, and how many people have keys to this room?”

“Natalie and I do. That’s all I know of. You need a key?”

“I’ll get one from Natalie. No worries.”

Jay jotted down several more notes on the pad he’d kept since they started. “I’ll get all of this typed up and over to you to review. Make sure I don’t miss anything. Then I’ll get it to Natalie.”

“And a copy to Detective Wyatt, too.”

Jay nodded. “Okay. I’m looking for suspicious people hanging around, any kinds of vandalism that we haven’t had since the fire, people in Natalie’s office who aren’t supposed to be there. Anything else?”

“Why’d you say it like that?”

“Like what?” Jay looked up at him.

“Vandalism since the fire. The fire was ruled an electrical problem.”

“Yes it was.” Jay lifted an eyebrow, skepticism dripping from his expression.

“You don’t believe that.”

“What I believe apparently made no difference.”

“How so?”

“I spoke with the fire marshal after it happened. I had concerns. Didn’t seem to make any difference.”

“Why not?”

“The city had a rash of arsons around that time, and the fire marshal was getting ready to retire. My concerns couldn’t trump his desire to close the case.”

Campbell scowled, not that he was surprised. “Anything suspicious since?”

“No other fires if that’s what you mean. And I’m a world-class geek but I know little to nothing about fires. Without the department looking into it further there was nothing I could do. Or…”

Nothing else came. Campbell prompted him to continue. “Or?”

“Or the marshal knew exactly what it was and it was covered up. Money talks. Natalie taught me that a long time ago.”

“Money.” Campbell shook his head, tired of the assholes of the world screwing over good people like Natalie with good causes like the clinic. “That brings me back to my next point. Well, person.” Campbell brought up files on his phone and selected a picture. Holding it up, he flipped it around, allowing Jay to see it.

“Who’s the suit?”

“His name is Braden Currings. Recognize him at all?”

Jay’s mouth twisted and he shook his head. “Nope. Doesn’t look familiar at all.”

“He’s someone I think is tied to all of this. Not exactly sure how yet, but I want you specifically keeping an eye out for him.”

“Will do. Just email me the pic and I’ll make sure I check all the guys fitting his description. Shouldn’t be hard to spot. He’s not exactly our typical clientele here.”

“True enough.” Campbell cleared his screen and pocketed his phone. “I think that’s it. The cleaning people are going to hate us for all the little pieces of cabling and vinyl around the past few days.”

Jay chuckled. “I’ve had an ear full of it the last week.”

“Why hasn’t anyone said something to me?” Campbell scowled.

“Ha!” Jay guffawed and closed up the toolkit before putting it on a shelf at the back of the room “You’re kidding, right? The women here wouldn’t hurt your feelings for anything.”

“Uhh… Why?”

“Because you make Natalie happy, which is something none of them have ever seen before. They don’t want to do anything to run you off.” Jay shrugged. “When we all found out what was happening, we were freaked out. Scared for her. Upset she didn’t trust us with the info.” Jay rushed on as if he’d said something wrong. “She’s a very private person, which we all knew even before they took their jobs here, but we want to help. It’s family, you know?”

“I most certainly know.”

“We’ve all been pissed off since we found out somebody was messing with her. She does her best. Helps a lot of people and then someone’s trying to hurt her. It sucks balls.”

“Their jobs here?”

“What?”

“You said their jobs here. Not our jobs here.”

“Oh yeah. I was already here when she bought the place. Things took a complete one eighty after she took over. It went from an afterthought to someone’s passion. You can tell she cares about this place. The people. She’s kind of a mother hen to a lot of the girls who come in here. I don’t know if she set out to be that kind of influence but she is nonetheless.”

“Do you know much about her parents?”

“I know they’re made of money and they’re probably two of the most horrible people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. Her hatred of them is completely well founded. They showed up here once. Right when she first bought the place. I knew who they were from newspaper articles and stuff but I’d never met them in person.”

“Bad in person?”

“Awful. And working here I do my absolute best not to be judgey and to make my own opinions. I think I wanted them to be awesome for some reason.”

“Not awesome?”

“Horrible. They were the worst kind of snooty, rich, stereotypical New Yorker people. They showed up to see Natalie, unannounced of course. She was busy so I tried to help. Might as well have just been a bug. Pretty sure the mother got a migraine afterward for how hard she was looking down her nose at me. Horrible shitty people. And Greta ended up having to get Natalie out of a meeting to deal with them because the father was making a scene. Several people left. It was really bad. They’ll do anything to keep her out of her inheritance. That was what they came to talk to her about. Money.”