The Reed Security Relationship Manual: A Reed Security Romance, Giulia Lagomarsino [acx book reading .txt] 📗

Sinner waved me off. “That was for murder. If she had to use the machine gun, it would be in self-defense.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better!”

Cap whistled loudly. “Guys, let’s get back on track here. I think Jules is right. We need them to be able to defend themselves, but sending them with RPGs is just a little too drastic. We have the alert buttons, trackers in everyone, the vehicles are all equipped with GPS tracking…I think we’re covered.”

“That’s because you’re thinking like Maggie’s not going. Now, if Maggie was getting in that vehicle, what would you do?” Jackson asked.

Cap’s eyes widened and he nodded. “You’re right. We need to scrap this and start over. Burg, have Cazzo load up the back with at least ten smoke grenades, a case of tear gas, four handguns a piece— along with enough ammo to take out a small army.”

“Got it,” Burg said, standing to walk away and call Cazzo.

“Alright, Derek, you connect with Becky. After we have the schematics of the building, I want to know every blind spot. Then get on the phone with security and make sure that any room that’s not needed for the convention is locked. I don’t care if it’s the fucking janitor’s closet. The last thing we need is one of them going missing. Also, I want to know every sniper point from every surrounding building, and then all the backup spots if those are taken.”

Derek nodded and pulled out his phone, turning slightly away.

“Jules, get on the phone with local P.D. and coordinate for us to have eyes and ears on things from here at all times.”

“Why don’t we just go with them, Cap?”

He stared me down. “Somehow, I don’t think they’re going to allow us within fifty yards of the convention with weapons, but if we have local P.D. on our side, we stand a chance of having the appropriate backup. Make sure you make a hefty donation in our name to the police department.”

I didn’t like it, but as I looked over at the women, I realized they wouldn’t have let us come anyway.

“Jackson, I want every single one of the women to have extra trackers put in before the trip. They’re leaving in five hours, so get Hunter up here and get those trackers installed asap. Cara’s pregnant, so she needs the all clear before she even takes one step toward that vehicle. Also, I want current bloodwork on all of them. Any signs of a problem, and they’re not going. No mistakes. Also, get hair samples.”

“You want fingernail clippings while we’re at it?” Jackson asked. Cap glared at him. “What, it was a joke.”

Sinner raised his hand. “Can I just say that I think you’re all overreacting? It’s a sex toy convention. There’s nobody after us. It’s basically been boring around here since the whole senator situation. Honestly, just relax. Everything will be fine.”

Cap glared at Sinner. “Our women are going out of town and you think everything will be okay?” he said slowly. “Your wife is pregnant.”

Sinner nodded with a bored expression. “Honestly, we’ve been training them for years. They’ve got this. They’ve all had the best defensive driving classes. They can all fire a weapon really well, with the exception of Raegan—“

“Thanks, man,” Jackson said.

Sinner shrugged. “It’s true. She can drive or something. Besides, firing weapons is cathartic. You should be happy about this. And you don’t have to worry about Cara. She’s got this. Hell, if it’ll make you feel better, send Vittoria along.”

“Yeah,” Cap snorted. “I’d like to see you tell Gabe that. Or Isa for that matter.”

“Look, I’m just saying, the kid has talent. He’s going to have to get used to that fact sooner rather than later. Besides, Knight’s been training her on the side. There’s no stopping that kid.”

“He what?” Cap exploded.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” Sinner held up both hands. “It’s not like I suggested it. I mean, I didn’t exactly tell him not to do it. Think of a female assassin around here. Tell me that wouldn’t be beneficial to us.”

“If I wouldn’t let my wife go to a sex toy convention by herself, what makes you think I would ever want a female assassin working here?” he exploded.

“Well, why don’t we just poll the ladies about what they think about that sexist comment?”

We all swiveled around in our chairs to find the other end of the conference room empty. I stood when I saw a single sheet of paper at that end. Picking it up, I read it over with a laugh.

“See you in three days.” I looked up at all the guys. “I guess that means they didn’t like our ideas.”

Chapter Nine

Craig

“I can’t believe Cap sent us out on a job right now,” Rocco muttered. “He knows I’m trying to finish that damn rulebook.”

“Frankly, I can’t believe that he put the whole company on working on the manual,” Florrie snapped, irritated with his ramblings.

He had been going on and on about the manual for hours now, and the drive was becoming more irritating by the second.

“Would you just let it go?” I snapped. “No one cares about the stupid rulebook or the manual.”

He slowly turned his gaze on me. “What did you say?”

“Look, you’re freaking out over nothing. So what if Brooke is pregnant? Do you really think that creating a rulebook is going to do you any good?”

“I have to agree with Craig on this one,” Florrie said.

“Right? You’re going about this all wrong. Compliance doesn’t come with being nice. You have to take what you want from her.”

Florrie shook her head slightly. “That…wasn’t what I was saying.”

I shrugged. “I’m just saying, out of all of you, I’m the only one that had the nerve to do what needed to be done. Reese didn’t seem to be coming around, so I made sure she saw things in a different way.”

“No,” Rocco shook his head. “I don’t want to force Brooke to