“So who does the building checks, inside and out?”
Russell’s mouth dropped open. “Shit, Ari. No one.”
“Then that’s our priority. Starting now, we patrol the exterior. We’ll secure the interior with a room-by-room check. Every box, every bag, check all the original doors into the warehouse and make sure they’re secured. Check everything. I want to know this building hasn’t already been compromised.”
They dispersed, and within an hour they’d swept the building for unfortified entrances or dangerous objects, including explosives. Several items were removed, including two battered gas cans, and two doors required additional bracing. Nothing looked deliberate or suspicious and the building was cleared, except for the locked storage next to the security office. Ari was tempted to break down the door but decided it would be prudent to wait for Andreas and the key.
Russell volunteered for the perimeter checks. He slipped out for a circuit of the building every hour the rest of the day. They kept planning, tossing around possible scenarios and solutions, so caught up in their work that Andreas’s arrival surprised everyone. In fact, they’d just been discussing how the vampires might react to the changes when he strolled in the door. Ari figured they all looked guilty as hell.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A slight smile played at the corners of Andreas’s mouth as he watched the team scatter. Whatever had put him in such a good mood, Ari hoped it would make him open-minded to the changes she wanted.
No one on the team said a word about their plans as they passed him on the way out. They trusted her to deal with Andreas, and she hoped she could pass this first hurdle. If she couldn’t, they’d never respect her as team leader.
“They cleared out in a hurry,” Andreas said when the door closed behind the last of them.
“Guess they had plans.” She knew exactly what those plans were. They were scaring up more firearms. She’d asked them to bring whatever they were comfortable using, and extra ammo. Natural abilities were great; weapons added another dimension.
“Any problems I should know about?”
“No, everything went smoothly. Got some ideas for improvements.”
“Would those have anything to do with Russell being outside the building so often?”
“Who told you?” Ari demanded. “You’ve got someone spying on us?”
He gave her a smug look. “No one told me. I saw him.”
“You couldn’t have. You were asleep.”
“I still saw him.” Andreas’s eyes crinkled with humor. “Come, I’ll show you.” He led her into the hallway and stopped in front of the locked storage room, producing a key.
When he swung the door inward, her mouth dropped open. “Wow, what is all this?”
The center of the room was filled with shiny equipment. A set of large screens covering all four walls displayed multiple views inside and outside the building. Andreas pushed a button and a picture of Russell walking up the alley appeared on one of the screens. The time and date displayed at the bottom. A different screen picked up Russell’s image each time he turned a corner.
Andreas grinned at Ari’s reaction and pushed more buttons. Hallway scenes began playing of the earlier building search.
“There are cameras all over the place.”
“They automatically record hallway and exterior activity each day. I often review the recordings by remote, like today.”
“And your security team knows nothing about this?” She frowned at him. Ari was incredulous—and indignant.
His mouth quirked. “They are now called the security team?” Not waiting for a response, he went on. “The camera system is new. Installed after the attack on the prince. By that time, we did not trust anyone. Only Daron, Lucien, Carmella, and I know about it.”
“So you were spying on the guards.”
Andreas shrugged. “I was being careful,” he said. “Of everyone who came near or into the building.”
“Can’t believe we didn’t notice the cameras.” As a matter of fact, Ari was more than a little embarrassed. True, they’d been looking for explosives hidden inside the rooms, not surveillance equipment in the hallways, but it was a bad start.
“You seem upset,” Andreas said. “I would be disappointed if you had found them. The cameras were designed and installed by surveillance experts with the latest equipment. The system was intended to be invisible.”
“Still…” Ari shook it off. “We can put this stuff to better use. The team should take over running it. And there’s other technology to consider, some that works for you, some that we need to guard against.”
She talked about cell phones, motion sensors—he’d already arranged to have