Asher saw the sheen of perspiration on the pregnant woman’s forehead as she took a step toward a hallway. Nic, Raiden, Cullen, and Max all began talking at once. They were volunteering to get the food if she would just tell them what to get, and Cullen coaxed her into a large plush chair. Lenora laughed.
Great, I totally missed the mark on that one. This head injury must be worse than I thought.
“Nic, you and Raiden go get the food, and bring back ice for Leo,” Max directed. “Asher get over there with Kane. I want you checking out the entry points of the bank. Cullen, go park the truck around back so that it can’t be seen from the road.”
“The gate is very high, it should be fine,” Lenora Azua assured Max. Max gave a chin tilt to Cullen, who then left to go do what Max had requested.
“Señora, I’m sure it will be fine, but I’m just the overly cautious type. Ezio, when Cullen’s done parking the truck, I want the two of you to scour the outside perimeter and report back. I want to make sure that everything is as secure as it seems.”
Ezio nodded and went after Cullen.
Asher started over to the other corner in the room where there was a huge monitor. Two laptops and papers piled precariously on every other remaining flat surface. Rafa was pointing at something and Kane was nodding.
“Asher, wait a minute, what’s your status?” Max asked. Asher stopped mid-stride.
“I’m fine,” Leo said.
“Is your name Asher?” Max growled. “If not, sit your ass down, put your leg up, and shut the hell up.” Leo planted himself on one of the two sofas in the great room, and Kane absently kicked over an ottoman from where he was sitting next to Rafa so that Leo could prop up his leg.
“Now, Asher Thorne, answer me, how are you doing?” Max looked closely at Ash.
“The headache comes and goes. It’s a mild concussion. I’m going to cut out video games for a while—too many blinky lights will probably aggravate the symptoms.”
“Smartass,” Leo said from his position on the couch. “I bet it’s worse than it is, Lieutenant.”
Max ignored him. He gave Asher one more hard look.
“Serious, Lieutenant, I won’t put the team in danger. If it’s a problem, I’ll be the first to bench myself.”
Max’s lip ticked up into a half-smile. Which was really saying something. Then he dropped his hand on Asher’s shoulder. “I know I can count on you, Ash. I need you, but only if you can perform.” He gave a head tilt toward the computers, and Ash continued over to look over Kane’s shoulder.
Shit, the kid really was good. Besides the floorplans, he had the electrical and the security system. But Ash saw immediately what Rafa meant about security sucking. Yeah, the gates might be reinforced steel all along the perimeter, but it didn’t go deep enough into the foundation. Anyone with a little bit of C-4 and a willingness to crawl could easily break in.
All he had to do was point on the screen and Kane nodded.
“Let’s just hope that the secret police force is lazy.”
“What? What are you seeing?” the kid asked.
“We need to call your aunt,” Asher said without answering his question. “We need to find out what the situation is like on the inside.”
Raiden and Nic came in carrying some food that they passed out to everyone assembled around the room.
“Kid, call from your phone,” Asher said. “Then we’ll arrange something more secure.”
He dialed and set his phone down on the table and put it on speaker.
A strong, self-assured woman’s voice answered. She had an American accent. “Rafael, are they there?”
“How’s my aunt?”
“Who’s this?” Asher asked.
“I’m Eden York. Your aunt is doing pretty good, don’t worry. Her throat is swollen, so she’s writing things down for me.”
“We can’t talk on this line,” Rafa said without giving anything away. “Somebody else is going to give you some instructions, okay?”
“Yes,” came her immediate reply.
“Ma’am, I need you to work with someone who has a phone that isn’t being tracked. When you find that person, call back this number. We’ll take it from there.”
“Won’t they track it once they call Rafael’s phone?”
“We’ll take care of things,” Asher assured her.
“Okay. Give me a few minutes, and it will be done.” She hung up. Asher liked her. No fuss, no muss, just down to business.
Raiden and Nic came back with a second load of empanadas and succulent shrimp wrapped in corn pancakes. Now that his head wasn’t hurting as much and his stomach had calmed down, Asher was starving, and he was ready for more. Raiden must have read his mind, or heard his stomach growling, because he shoved a plate into Asher’s hands.
“Eat.”
Raiden then pushed another glass of ice water his way. “Drink.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Leo snickered up until the point that Raiden crouched down to check his knee and started whispering to him. At that point, all humor left Leo’s face. Asher knew what was coming. Max strolled over to where the two of them were talking, and then he called Kane over. Yep, Leo had just been benched, and he was hating life.
Leo was not someone who stayed behind the scenes and did coordination, he was the jump-out-of-the-seat-early action dude, which is what got him in this predicament in the first place. Now he was going to have to stay behind and man the fort.
He got up from the couch and attempted to walk without a limp to the table. He did a pretty good job but fooled no one. He sat down between Asher and Rafa, and Kane stood behind the three of them. Rafa started pointing
