for the role of traitor. But she hadn’t expected anyone to stand out. If it had been that easy, the vampires wouldn’t need her.
When the poker game ended, Ari declined an invitation to join Benny and Russell in a game of gin rummy. She intended to check out the rest of the security area. In the adjoining room, she found Lilith refilling her coffee mug in a small kitchenette. At the other end of the room, Mike and Maleban huddled over an impressive array of computer equipment.
If there was an entrance to Daron’s chambers somewhere, it was well hidden. Another thing she’d ask Andreas.
Despite calls to update Ryan, Claris, and the president of the Magic Council on her current activities, by noon Ari was thoroughly bored. Protection detail wasn’t exciting unless something went wrong, but this amount of inactivity was bound to lead to dulled perceptions, slow reaction times. She finally brought it up over lunch.
“How do you do this every day?” she asked when the plate of sandwiches Mike had made was almost empty. He’d had kitchen duty for today. As far as Ari could tell, duties like that took up most of the guards’ time.
“Depends on what you mean?” Benny gave her a wink, which she ignored.
“It’s so damned boring.”
In the sudden silence, Benny laughed. “Yeah, it’s a cushy job without much action. But usually we’re not here every day. Not all of us. Until the attack on Daron, we came in two at a time.”
“But what are your duties? Besides fixing coffee and lunch and waiting for the bad guys to attack you?” She looked at five blank faces.
“That’s about it,” Russell admitted, his manner a little cooler than before, a little defensive. He shoved his chair back and rested one foot on his knee. “A daily report. We keep a log of visitors.” He looked at the others and shrugged.
“Did you know the vampires have had four recent breaches of security? Not all here, but each one involved the inner court members.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “The assassination attempt, an attack on Carmella, Frederick’s death, and a bribery attempt to get a map of this compound.” Their eyes were focused on her now. Mike’s heavy brows shot up when she mentioned the map. “The vampire leaders have become targets, and the enemy’s growing bolder. How do we stop him? What’s the next attack look like?” Ari’s gaze lingered on each face, pressing for an answer.
Benny chugged his soda. “Is that a serious question? The vamps figure that stuff out then tell us what to do. We don’t plan strategy.”
“Why not?” Ari gave him a sharp look. “Aren’t you the prince’s security experts? His personal secret service?”
“Never thought of it like that,” Benny mumbled.
“Well, that’s a kicker,” Lilith said, getting to her feet to dump her paper and plastic into the trash. “But, damn, I think she’s right.” She sat down again. “If we aren’t anticipating the next threat, what kind of security are we?”
“I never liked all this sitting around,” Mike growled. “We’ve kinda been rent-a-cops, but it’s not what we trained for. If we’re gonna keep the prince alive, we gotta be smarter than waiting for something to happen.” It was a long speech for Mike.
“But the vamps protect the prince,” Maleban argued. “We warn off nosey strangers. No one expects us to stop a serious assault.”
“Well, things have changed,” Ari said. “Frederick’s killer wasn’t another vamp. It was someone who struck during the day, when the vampires can’t protect themselves. It’s up to us to fill that hole. Are you telling me you can’t or won’t do that?”
Lilith put an end to the chorus of angry protests by asking the obvious question. “What do you expect us to do?”
“Be ready for everything.”
* * *
It didn’t take long to go over the current set up or for Ari to realize the vampires had depended on their reputations to protect them. The only security was the complexity of the tunnels and a simple screening process.
“We have a lot to do,” she said. “For starters, a warning system and additional weaponry. What else? Mike, how would you go about killing the prince?”
The werewolf blinked his eyes. Finally he said in that soft Texas drawl, “I’d blow up the building and torch what was left.”
A snort of laughter. Even Ari was surprised. This guy didn’t mess around, but he had a valid point. A bomb or sudden fire would be a real threat. The warehouse