“You’ll see tonight,” he growled. “What’s your user name?”
“Deanna dot Harrison twenty-nine.”
“Got it. I’m going to add you to my contacts,” he growled. “Talk to you tonight. Take care, kitten.”
“You, too, Jonas,” she said, her voice a little unsteady.
After they hung up, Jonas went into the storeroom and grabbed the small wireless camera, complete with audio, off a shelf, and a few other supplies, then headed for the door. With any luck, Jonas would be able to catch Valdez doing something illegal. It wouldn’t be admissible in court since he’d be obtaining the information by illegal means, but it would be a place to start. Anything was better than the nothing he had now.
Ray’s son, Cade, was a little trickier. Jonas had a feeling that the only way the kid was going to keep away from the allure of Valdez’s money was to have his life or freedom threatened. Jonas would have to tread carefully there. He couldn’t let Cade meet with Valdez on Friday. One way or the other, Jonas had to teach the kid a hard lesson.
He had an idea about Cade, but for now, Jonas had a house to break into.
Jonas’s back was cramping up and he had pine needles sticking into his ass. “Damn it,” he mumbled as he checked his watch. “I freaking hate surveillance work.”
He wanted to get the job done so he could go home and wait for Deanna’s phone call. Hiding behind Valdez’s evergreen bushes wasn’t his idea of a good time. He had plans for Deanna. Hot, erotic plans. H
e might not be able to see the woman in person, but Jonas was nothing if not creative. Hell, with today’s technology, there was more than one way to go on a date.
After Jonas had left the office, he’d gone home to change and grabbed his knife; then he’d driven to the address he’d gotten from the DMV database. But he’d been sitting in pine needles for the last two hours watching the man’s house, hoping for an opportunity to slip inside and plant the camera.
Jonas was just about to give up and head home for the night when a balding man with a potbelly walked out of the front door, a woman on each arm—both of whom looked half the guy’s age—and got into a black BMW. Valdez. Once the car pulled out of the driveway, Jonas stepped into action.
Jonas found the house perfect—secluded on a two-acre lot; no snooping neighbors around to see him and call the police. The place Valdez called home sweet home happened to be a massive three-story estate large enough to house three families. A beautiful structure, no doubt about it, but to Jonas’s way of thinking, built on the backs of the innocent kids he’d addicted to his damn drugs.
It was dark as Jonas moved across the neatly trimmed lawn and slipped onto the back porch. All the money the guy had and no cameras or spotlights in sight? Jonas shook his head in disgust. What a dumbass. The man was so confident he couldn’t be touched that he’d left himself completely vulnerable. That’s what having an inflated ego did for you, Jonas thought, made you feel invincible.
It took only a few minutes to bypass the alarm system. Within seconds, Jonas slipped into the living room. He looked around until he found what he needed along the south wall near the ceiling—an air-return vent, the perfect place for a hidden camera. Jonas took out a small pack of tools and the pinhole camera he’d brought along and went to work.
After Jonas had Valdez wired for video, he looked at his watch—eight minutes and twenty-two seconds. Not bad. Not his best time ever, but nothing to laugh at either. Jonas went out the way he came in, through the back entrance, then sprinted back across the yard to his car. He’d parked half a mile down the road to keep Valdez from noticing anything suspicious. By the time he reached the sleek, black machine and got in behind the wheel, Jonas’s adrenaline was pumping hard. Nothing new there, but Jonas didn’t think it had anything to do with the job. This time his blood was pumping hot in anticipation of Deanna’s phone call.
Picking up the monitor that came with the camera, Jonas took a moment to test the feed. When Valdez’s living room came into view, Jonas was satisfied he’d done all he could for one night. Unfortunately, having the camera in place was only the first step in the plan. He still needed to stay close in order to capture the feed, which meant more surveillance work, and more time away from Deanna. As his cell phone started to ring to the tune “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” thoughts of drug dealers quickly disappeared.
He picked it up off the dash where he’d left it, flipped it open, and said, “Hi, kitten.”
“Hi,” she said in that throaty, bedroom voice that Jonas loved so much. “Sorry I’m late calling. I got busy talking with that client and lost track of time.”
“No problem. I was doing some surveillance work anyway.” He took his keys out of his pocket and revved the engine. “Where are you?”
“In bed working on the computer.”
Jonas thought of Deanna in bed and asked, “Are you wearing those little black pajama shorts you had on this morning? The ones with the tiny red hearts all over them?”
“Yeah, why?”
He had to suppress a groan as an image of Deanna in the barely there pj’s sprang to mind. “You’re killing me, woman.”
She was quiet a moment, and Jonas was afraid the call had dropped. “Do you like my pajamas, Jonas?” she asked finally.
“Yes, a little too much,” Jonas growled as he took off down the street.
“Hmm, good to know.”
“Little tease,” he murmured as his cock stood at attention. “Are you tired?”
“Not really. I’m sort of wired from my meeting. It’s always exciting to start a new project.”
“Do you have to give her a bid, or did she hire you right out?”