Rising (Anderson Special Ops #2) - Melody Anne Page 0,94

buy a chance to stand next to a decision maker so they can whisper in their ear.”

“I probably don’t need to ask, but I can’t help myself,” Chad said as he looked at Brackish. “Are we going to have the ability to record faces, voices, et cetera?”

Brackish was shaking his head in disbelief before he looked up with a smug expression. “Chug, come on, who are you talking to? I have all of that covered and so much more. I received the news last week about the event before I left on my trip and gained access to all the CCTVs in the building, the street cameras around the location, ATM cameras within five blocks of the site, and even have a couple of little toys for you two knuckleheads to use tonight.”

“I figured as much, but if I don’t ask, I don’t know all of the crap you’re capable of doing,” Chad told him. “I’m just damn glad you’re on the good guys’ side.” He meant every single word of that sentence. Brackish could easily be the top billionaire in the world if he chose to use his powers for evil. It was a good thing he didn’t do that, because Chad was sure no one would be able to catch him.

“No one will ever know what I’m fully capable of,” Brackish said, his smugness in full force. The men chuckled. But they knew he was correct. They all had genius level IQs but next to Brackish they sometimes felt dumb.

Brackish continued. “We’ll see every person who enters and exits the event. I’ll have facial recognition uploaded into my system before they’re able to blink. Every open-source information on all who attend will be dumped into a pool. The best part is that if any close associations are found, they’ll be highlighted. One of the toys, if you want to know, is a device that rips data from every phone that Smoke or Green stands within three feet of. It takes approximately thirty seconds for us to have every single phone number, calendar schedule, photo, video, and website the attendees have visited. It also downloads their social media, even those messages they thought were forever gone.”

“You scare the hell out of me,” Chad said, once again grateful Brackish was on their team and not rooting for the bad guys.

The team sat back in a bit of stunned silence after Brackish finished speaking and Chad made his comment. Brackish was a mad genius. It was hard to follow up with anything after that little speech. But of course, if anyone could change the tone of a moment, it was Smoke.

“All I heard you say is that you have some little toys for us to use. I hope you washed them after this weekend,” Smoke said.

And just like that, Chad knew the men were done with the meeting. The volley of jokes, insults, and overall commotion grew at such rapid-fire succession there was no way to keep up with everything being said.

Chad, however, did notice Sleep was relatively quiet on the subject. Maybe the fact he was now engaged had subdued him, or maybe he was staying away from the firefight before the bedroom secrets of him and his future bride were exposed. Whatever it was, this was the first time in months that Sleep was tight-lipped. It made Chad laugh internally.

“Let’s break this meeting up,” Chad said as he stood. “You all have your assignments and Green and Smoke have a party to attend.”

“Roger that, boss,” Smoke said. “I need a run. If I have to dance like a monkey for the crowds, I need to burn off some adrenaline first.”

Smoke was the first to exit the room. The rest of them cleared out soon after, and Chad called it a day. They had the mission down to a science and they’d rehearse some more later that day. He could kick back, relax, and have a bottle of wine with his wife, and maybe even his own afternoon delight. He walked from the building . . . and dialed Bree, telling her to get naked and put the wine on ice. She quickly agreed, and it was a race to see who’d be the first one home.

***

Green and Smoke walked up to the entrance of The Ruins at 1900 hours, wearing tuxedos that had heads turning in their direction. They were large, great looking men, and in a tux, they were showstoppers. If they chose to, they could easily model