Page 78 of Stolen By the Billionaire
Blaze ran down the stairs behind him.
Around the first turn, Naz stopped. “Who is this?”
Naz was leaning forward, and his black-gloved hand was hovering near his sweatshirt at the small of his back.
Below them, Sarah’s alto voice said, “Um, hello?”
Blaze raised his voice. “Naz, she is a friend of mine. The computer for my security system is downstairs. Keep moving.”
“Name!”
Look, did Blaze think any of his Rogue Security buddies were rapists?
Of course not.
Were the veterans with PTSD that he counseled on the suicide prevention line impulsive and potentially violent toward themselves and others?
Yep.
And Nazariy Borysov was a new recruit. He’d seen some stuff before Rogue Sec had taken him in.
Another understatement.
Naz continued descending the stairs, keeping his head down as he passed Sarah, whose slim form was recoiled against the wood and wire railing.
She was dressed in her denim jeans and dark tee shirt again.
Good.
Not only for decorum. If Mary Varvara Bell’s muscle showed up again, Magnus would immediately evac Blaze and Sarah. She would be more comfortable if she were adequately dressed when she was grabbed and thrown in the back of an SUV, or a helicopter, or—knowing Rogue Security—a motorboat that sped them to a submarine waiting off the coast of Lake Michigan.
And after Blaze and Sarah had been secured, Magnus Jensen was the CO in charge of the operation, and therefore whatever happened, happened.
At least the hardwood floors had been resealed recently. Much easier cleanup than carpeting.
When Blaze passed Sarah on the stairs, he muttered, “Wait here.”
She gestured toward the upper floor of the house, her delicate fingers flipping in the air. “Hey, the electricity’s back on, and I heard people up there. Should I say hello? Can I get them a glass of water or something?”
He crowded her back against the side of the staircase, blocking the whole damn world with his body. “Wait here.”
“Um, okay. Jeez, Blaze. I’ll wait.”
Blaze led Nazariy to his office and logged into his house’s security system with the password and a quick retinal scan. “You okay alone?”
Naz glanced up at the window and solid walls buried underground on the house's lower floor.
Under his black hoodie, Naz wore mirrored sunglasses and a mask over his nose and the lower half of his face that first appeared to be a silver KN-95, but closer inspection revealed the material was thicker, like neoprene. The effect was almost a featureless silver oval under his hood.
The blank silver shield nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Text if you need anything, okay?”
The hood nodded, and the gleaming oval of a face turned away.
Blaze clapped Naz on the shoulder and jogged up the stairs to find Sarah.
She was on the second landing of three, eyeing the floor above. “You seem twitchy about those guys.”
