Kane walked to the door. “Thanks for the beer. I’ll be in touch.”
“Is there any way I can contact you without having to go through your brother?”
For a second, Brad thought he’d give him his number. Then Kane shook his head. “It’s for your protection, Donnelly. And mine.”
*
Sean’s cell phone vibrated on the nightstand. He opened his eyes. It was still dark. A nightlight in the bathroom cast shadows around the room. He grabbed his phone. One in the morning.
It wasn’t a message or phone call, it was his security system alerting him to movement in the pool house. His security alarm hadn’t gone off, but someone had broken in. He pressed a button for the camera angle, but it came up black.
Not good.
He glanced over at Lucy and considered waking her up, but she was finally sleeping soundly, and so far she hadn’t been disturbed by dreams. He slipped out of bed, grabbed his nine millimeter as well as a butterfly knife, and crept out of their bedroom.
He didn’t turn on any lights, but left by the side door, reengaging the system in case this was a trick to get him out of the house in order to get inside to Lucy. Some people might think his system was overkill, but considering Lucy’s job—and some of the people both Lucy and Sean had pissed off over the years—he wasn’t taking any chances.
He stayed in the shadows. The pool house lights weren’t on and the blinds were closed, so he couldn’t tell where the person was.
Sean walked up to the French doors and looked at the keypad that controlled entry. The alarm had been disabled. He typed in a code—if he didn’t disable the code in ninety seconds, SAPD and the FBI would be notified.
He opened the door and listened. Water ran in the bathroom. He crossed to the bathroom door just as the water turned off and the door opened. He stayed out of arms’ reach of whoever was in there.
“Move and I shoot,” he said to the dark figure.
“It’s me,” Kane said.
“Fuck, Kane!” Sean hit the light switch. Kane blinked in the brightness.
Furious, Sean walked out, disabled the code, and came back in. “Why didn’t you call me first?”
“You put in motion sensors. Smart.”
“Don’t fuck with my equipment again.”
Kane smirked and helped himself to a beer. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“Instead, you risked being shot.”
“You’re too good to shoot blindly.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.”
Sean reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Royal Lochnagar and two glasses. He poured shots for both of them.
“Where the hell did you get this?” Kane asked, looking at the light amber Scotch.
The twelve-year-old single malt was rare and hard to come by, especially in the States. “Eden sent it to me for a housewarming present.”
Kane scowled and sipped. Liam and Eden Rogan, the twins, lived in Europe and weren’t on the good side of RCK right now. Sean tried to stay out of it—he still talked to them, while Kane and Duke had all but cut the two out of their lives.
Sean asked, “You just get in?”
“A couple hours ago. Paid Donnelly a visit first, then needed a place to crash.”
“What’s going on?”
Kane sat and downed the shot. Sean followed suit, poured them each another, and waited. Kane would talk only if he wanted to. It could be annoying, but Sean was used to it.
“Donnelly’s working a case that’s bigger than he knows.”
“You alerted him?”
“I don’t know enough to help, but not for lack of trying. Tobias is a fucking ghost. He is so far under the radar I wouldn’t even think he existed except that Lucy saw him and overheard his conversation with Trejo. And that’s what’s really bothering me.”
“He doesn’t know Lucy saw him.”
“But Donnelly had her look at photos. He’s kept it quiet, he put in the report that he had eyes on Tobias, but if they have yet another traitor inside, Lucy could be at risk.”
“I’ll protect her,” Sean said.
Kane didn’t say anything.
“You look worried,” Sean said. “You don’t get worried.”
“Worry is a useless emotion,” Kane said. “It fucks with logic. I’m bothered that I can’t get a line on this Tobias.”
“Is that why you broke into my house?”
“I didn’t break anything. And no. I was on an assignment in Colorado and after I got your message decided to stop here on my way back south.”
“Colorado? What sent you there?”
Kane didn’t like talking about his jobs, partly because what he did wasn’t always legal, but partly because he didn’t want people thinking he was a hero when he thought of himself as simply doing a job that needed doing. He said, “A buddy needed help getting his little sister out of some serious trouble.” He didn’t say anything more about it. “I’ll be out of here early in the morning to meet with a snitch down south.”
“Stay for breakfast.”
“You’re not letting Lucy cook, are you?”
Sean grinned. “I’m not going to tell her you said that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT