There was a brisk knock on the door and then they weren’t alone anymore. Drake strode in.
“I’ve walked the dungeon and I still want to put some cameras in,” he announced.
Kay frowned his way. “Absolutely not. I told you that was a hard no. The people in this club voted. No cameras. They will allow you to work your op here, but you’re going to have to keep eyes on the subject.”
“Subjects,” Deke corrected. “I don’t know that I trust this Jane person either. Where’s MaeBe?”
“I’m here.” MaeBe pushed through the doorway, a flush to her face. “Sorry. We were looking around.”
“Getting a lay of the land.” Kyle strode in behind her.
“They were playing around.” Boomer seemed to have found the snacks. He had a bag of chips in his hand. “Did you need to test the spanking bench to make sure it worked?”
MaeBe’s flushed deepened. “We were just joking.”
“Trust me when I spank her, she’ll know it.” Kyle had a smirk on his face like that day was coming and fast. “Did he ask about the cameras? Because I already told him you would say no.”
“I can’t go against the club’s rules.” Kayla was obviously standing firm. “Not even for an op. Now if you want to put this off and bring in your own crew, then we’ll allow you to use the facilities.”
“Byrne would know if we brought in a bunch of strangers,” Drake argued. “He already knows some of the members here. If he doesn’t see them, he’ll figure out something is wrong.”
“He’s aware that Josh and I are members. If we agree to take the chance that those tapes could get out in the public, would you bring in your own people?” Kayla asked.
Her offer was generous and would work, if not for one problem. “He’s expecting to come in tonight. I don’t think we have time to bring anyone in. Besides, I suspect he knows who plays here and who doesn’t. He’s got resources most people can’t imagine.”
“Yeah, like a couple billion of them.” Money could buy Byrne a lot of information, even the kind no one should be able to find. No matter how hard The Reef tried, there would be some people willing to talk about the membership for the right price. There were other ways as well. A very good PI would potentially be able to piece together a list.
Drake sighed. “Can’t we put him off?”
“He’s too smart. He’ll figure out something’s wrong.” He hated every day he sent Maddie into that building because he was more and more certain she was going to get hurt there one way or another. “We need to keep things running so there’s no question Byrne has that party come Saturday night.”
“What exactly are you worried is going to happen, Drake?” Kayla studied the CIA operative.
Drake shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
Kay nodded. “Okay, I understand that you need to trust your gut, but it’s hard because you won’t tell me what you think is going to happen, and I suspect you’re not willing to tell anyone else or you would have backup.”
Drake’s jaw tightened. “There’s nothing to tell. Look, I’m worried because I had an operative go bad a couple of years ago, and I think this is the group that turned her. We haven’t been able to get any ID on Byrne’s contact with the organization, and that could be bad. What do we know about Byrne’s girlfriend?”
MaeBe stopped trying to slap Kyle’s hands away and got serious. “It’s all in what I sent to Kay. Jane Adams. She’s thirty-three. She’s a consultant. She basically helps companies streamline their processes in order to cut back on payroll.”
“I bet she has a ton of friends,” Boomer said with a shake of his head.
“Not according to her social media,” MaeBe continued. “I’ve sent you all the relevant data—her birth certificate, social security number, where she went to school and so on. All of it checks out. I even called a guy I know at one of the main social media sites to make sure the timeline was clean.”
“What do you mean?” Deke didn’t always understand MaeBe’s methods.
“She wanted to make sure no one faked the timeline,” Kyle explained. “That the posts were made on the days reflected.”
MaeBe got the silliest grin on her face. “Oh, you do listen.”
Kyle shrugged. “Not according to my uncle, but I listen to you.”
Big Tag was right about the puppy love thing being a little nauseating. “So she’s on the up-and-up? What else do we know? Anything about an ex-boyfriend?”
MaeBe patted her laptop bag. “It’s all in the info I sent you. Her profiles are public, so you can go look at them. She’s had one account for twelve years, another for ten. She’s got a handful of friends and followers. She lost her mom when she was twelve and spent the rest of her time in the foster system. She managed to get a scholarship and some loans to go to college. She got an MBA in finance while she was working. From what I can tell she does almost everything remotely.”