by Cara Adams
Dakota truly appreciated the men’s concern for her, but she knew what she was doing and what’s more, she wanted to participate in exposing Hamilton for the charlatan he was. “I’ll stay alert, don’t worry.”
Dakota pushed away from both men and jumped into her car. She’d already checked that her tires were properly inflated and she had almost a full tank of gas. She wasn’t carrying a purse into which someone could drop an electronic eavesdropping bug. Her cell phone and her wallet were in her front jeans pockets and she had copies of her grandmother’s medical assessment on her cell phone as well as the ones she’s already e-mailed to the well-being center.
She’d dressed as if she were going out on a job but not wearing a uniform. Her hair was tied tightly in a knot that wouldn’t give an attacker anything easy to grip onto. The same with her clothes. They were form-fitting, not loose and flowing, to make catching onto her a challenge. She had nothing she’d need to stop and put down or pick up. Her car keys would fit in her jeans pockets with her cell phone. Her front jeans pockets. Not the back ones where she might be tempted to take them out and put them somewhere if she sat down and wanted to be more comfortable.
It helped that she was a professional security guard. She knew how to look after herself and that was with her attitude as well as her clothing, not to mention her brown belt in martial arts. Dakota smiled. She was as ready as she could be for this assignment. “Jackson Hamilton, your days as a torturer of innocent werewolf shape-shifters are fast coming to an end.”
It was a long way to the clinic. Dakota thought it was interesting that it wasn’t particularly near a big city. Was this because he wanted to be away from public attention, or was it simply because he’d owned the land there? That was not a question she’d be asking him. She didn’t want him to think of her as anything but a doting granddaughter looking for a nice place to leave her grandmother. “I wonder if Harry Harrison’s team looked at that, though. I’ll mention it in my report to him tonight. Likely he already knows, but hey, I thought of it, too.”
As she drove, Dakota found her mind wandering to memories of two men kissing her all over and two men touching her. Having four hands stroking her most sensitive skin had been an amazing experience. Talk about emotional overload! She’d certainly appreciated their gentle yet arousing attention. “Next time we’ll fuck,” she promised herself.
And what would that feel like? Two men fucking her? Dakota wiggled her ass on the seat and deliberately pushed those thoughts from her mind. She needed to stay in professional mode, not to arrive all hyped up with damp panties and tight nipples.
The clinic was not signposted but Jackson Hamilton had instructed her where to turn, and Lewis had drawn her a map which she’d memorized and left behind. She certainly didn’t want to be discovered with anything linking her to him. She was a few minutes ahead of time and drove past the clinic for another few miles, checking the names of the next few side roads. If there was a TV monitoring her she could easily say she’d missed the turn. She pressed the buzzer at the gate precisely on time.
“Yes?”
Dakota instantly knew the disembodied voice was a robot not a person.
“Dakota Rutherford. I have an appointment with Mr. Hamilton,” she said in a crisp clear tone designed to make it easy for a robot to understand her.
The gate opened silently and she drove through. It was already shutting behind her the moment her trunk passed through. She drove slowly up a long winding driveway which hid the well-being center from the road. She noted the high brick wall Lewis had scaled to escape. He must be damn fit. No matter how fast she ran she wouldn’t be able to jump high enough to reach the top of the wall and pull herself up. It had to be at least eleven feet high, maybe even twelve.
There was a small parking lot out front of the building and deliberately Dakota chose a space where she could drive forward over the grass and get away if someone parked behind her to block her in.
She locked her car, slid the keys into her pocket, and hurried up the front steps. The door was locked but there was another buzzer to press here. A woman in navy pants and a white shirt with well-being center embroidered on the breast pocket in navy opened the door for her.
“Ah. Ms. Rutherford, please come in. We were expecting you. You found the place without any difficulties?”
“Thank you. The instructions were helpful.” Carefully Dakota didn’t exactly answer the question in case they’d seen her drive past.
“Mr. Hamilton with be with you in a short while. First, would you like to see around the center?”
“Yes, please. My grandmother is still reasonably active. It’s important that she be able to settle in here and be happy.”
The nurse, if that’s what she was, since she’d never actually introduced herself, walked Dakota past a few rooms which were clearly offices, then she punched a code into a keypad on a door across the hallway. She blocked her actions with her body, but Dakota deliberately made no attempt to try to see the numbers. Once past that door they were in a large, light living room. Several elderly people were sitting in big soft armchairs watching a huge television. Another younger man was dozing in a chair beside the window which looked out into the garden.
Against one wall was a piano, with music resting on the stand, and the back wall had a giant fish aquarium against it, with dozens of tiny brightly colored fish swimming around. Dakota smiled, “Grandma would like this place.” It was the truth. Her grandmother would sit and watch the fish for hours.
They walked past four rooms, all with the doors wide open. “Your grandmother can choose to bring her own furniture. We encourage our clients to surround themselves with familiar items. This is Jessie’s room. Jessie is the lady in pink, watching television.”
The room had a window out into the garden, an en suite bathroom, a bed, chair, and chest of drawers, all engulfed in family photographs. A hand crocheted blanket covered the bed, and another, similar one lay across the back of the chair.
Dakota nodded. It was exactly what she had expected to be shown. They passed another room with the door closed. “Norm is asleep. He doesn’t get out of bed unless he has visitors coming,” explained the woman.
She took Dakota into a room with only a bed in it. The bed was a hospital one that could be adjusted to suit the needs of the person sleeping in it.
“This room would be your grandmother’s. She faces the garden, as do all the rooms on this side of the house.”
The woman stood back and let Dakota walk around. The room was much the same dimensions as Jessie’s room and the view was of grass and trees. The woman opened the door to the en suite bathroom, and again, it was exactly what Dakota had expected. A sink, a toilet, and a shower with grab rails for an elderly person to hold onto, a built-in seat, and the floor flat just sloping slightly toward the drain. The walls were a neutral lemon color as they were in the bedroom.
“That all looks very good, thank you. Where do the residents eat?”
“We’re about to go there, now.”
They passed a few more rooms and the hallway opened up again, this time to a dining area with four tables, each set for four people. A serving hatch opened into this area but the nurse took her around back through a swing door into a commercial kitchen all gleaming metal workbenches, cooktops, and appliances. “I’ll take you to Mr. Hamilton now and you can ask him any questions.”
“Thank you for showing me around.”
The woman knocked on a door before pushing it open and directing Dakota to go inside. Jackson Hamilton was sitting behind a desk. There was no computer on it, or any paperwork at all. Either he was a believer in the “tidy desk, tidy mind” theory, or else he didn’t want anyone to know what he was working on. Dakota suspected it might be the latter.
“Have you any questions for me, Ms. Rutherford.”
“I’d like to see a list of your fees and charges please. This seems to be very much the type of place where Grandma would be comfortable.”
> He opened a desk drawer and passed across several sheets of letterhead paper, with list of costs and services on them. Quickly, Dakota ran her finger down the list. Again, everything seemed quite reasonable, although a little more expensive than the already expensive facility where her grandmother was living.
“That looks acceptable. Now what about when Grandmother doesn’t remember how to eat? Do your staff feed her? And she loves gardens. Will a staff member be available to walk with her in the garden most days?”
A few minutes’ conversation with the man and Dakota understood him perfectly. A client could request anything they wished and would be told they could have it for an extra fee. Feed grandma? Of course, fifty dollars a day. Take grandma into the garden? Not a problem. Twenty dollars for half an hour. Either his staff had to be the best paid aides on the planet or else Jackson himself was raking in the cash. But Dakota just smiled and thanked him. Finally she stood up. “You’ve been very helpful. I’ll contact you in the next day or two with my answer.”
He hadn’t expected that. His eyes became hooded and the sides of his mouth turned down, but he just nodded and stood up with her. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
They walked back down the hallway. Nothing had changed. Everyone was exactly where they’d been when she arrived. Dakota realized that while the nurse had been showing her around she hadn’t seen any other staff members with the other elderly people. She wondered if, in fact, Jackson and the women were the only staff. At the front door she smiled and thanked him again, then left.
That fit with what Lewis had said. He’d only ever seen two security guards apart from Jackson. Presumably the nurse stayed with the genuine guests and the security guards dealt with the other people.
Dakota slid into her car and started the engine. And that was another thing. It was lunchtime and there’d been no catering staff at work in the kitchen and no smells of anything being heated up or cooked anywhere else either. Most institutions served their main meal in the middle of the day because it was cheaper on staffing. Yet there wasn’t even an aide heating up pre-prepared meals in a microwave oven. Now that was interesting. Yes, and there’d been seating at the tables for sixteen residents but she’d only seen three. Four if she counted Norm whose door had been closed.
The gate opened automatically for her and Dakota left the property, looking all around her carefully, but she wasn’t able to discern CCTV cameras anywhere. Nonetheless she waited until she was five miles down the highway before texting Andreas and Lewis that she’d left, then putting in her earbud and calling Cadfael Hanson on her cell phone to tell him about her visit as she drove home.
* * * *
Andreas had left Patience and Amity in charge of the gym. The sisters worked reception for him, as well as doing just about everything he didn’t do including mailing out accounts, some bookkeeping, caring for equipment, and anything else he asked them to do. He knew they were total treasures and he hated asking them to do anything extra, but they never complained.
“Hey, I’m happy to help. I work in a gym. I can swim or ride the bikes or use the weights any time I want to. And Amity is always sneaking in the back of Marbella’s classes,” said Patience.
Shaking his head at them he hurried down to the third level to the camping store. If sex on a blanket on the roof had been good, real full-on sex in a tent on the roof should be even better. At least the flimsy structure would offer them privacy to remain naked. Oh how he wanted to be naked to worship Dakota’s body. He’d been worried sick about her visiting Jackson Hamilton. Even though everything had gone perfectly smoothly he still hated that she’d walked alone into the lion’s den. Besides, it wouldn’t surprise him if she planned to head back and do it all again. He’d be trying to dissuade her if he could though. Surely she’d learned everything she could so far. The business obviously had a very good front for customers, and quite likely those old people were regular clients and looked after appropriately. But what was the deal with the werewolves? Why had he captured Lewis and the other people Lewis had heard in the area where he’d been locked up?
Half an hour later he had everything he thought the three of them could need and he texted Lewis.
Can you please take me up to the roof?
I’m there already. What floor are you on?
Eight.
I’ll be there in a few minutes.
Andreas slung the tent pack over one shoulder and picked up a duffle with other things in it and the blankets, slammed his apartment door behind him, and walked to the elevator. Fortunately it really only was a minute or two before Lewis arrived and held the elevator door open for him to load his gear onboard.
“What’s all this stuff?”
“My brilliant idea. I’ll tell you when we’re up there.”
“Okay.”
Andreas liked that Lewis was so quick to pick up nuances. No, there wasn’t anyone else in the elevator, and likely there wouldn’t be either. But Lewis understood he didn’t want them to be talking privately and risk someone overhearing them. He was able to lock down his curiosity and wait patiently. Andreas really appreciated that in the other wolf. The more he knew about Lewis the more he realized he wasn’t a fearful person at all, merely someone who’d been treated appallingly and thrown into a situation he’d never known of and had no means of dealing with. Yet he’d triumphed over it and was very deserving of his new happy life.
Lewis held the elevator door open for him at the roof, and said, “Where do you want to go? I’ll carry some of the luggage for you.”
“I don’t really know. Away from the entry. Somewhere we can be private I guess. This is a tent.”
“Oh! I like the way you think. Just leave it all here for the moment then and walk with me.”
Intrigued, Andreas dropped the tent to the concrete of the roof, laid the blankets on top of it so they wouldn’t get dirty, and walked after Lewis. Lewis led him right to the end of the roof, to what was the very back of the professional suites, and stepped behind a head-height wall.
Sure enough there were no buildings near them. There was the roof of the mall itself seven floors below them, then some ground level parking around the edges of the mall, then just streets and other buildings. If he looked straight ahead there was nothing nearby, just structures in the far distance in another part of town.
“This is where I want to build my home. This wall will be hidden by trees and I hope no one will even know my house exists.”
“What is that wall? And how will you get to your house without a pathway or gate?” Andreas was almost certain he’d never been over here before.
“The old air conditioning units used to be attached to it, but the mall is temperature controlled by a much more modern system now. And I don’t know yet but my plan is that most people won’t think to go past the roof garden or the wolf run trail. Especially if my home is not easily visible. Now, where do you want to put up your tent?”
Andreas patted Lewis on the shoulder. “In the future I hope we three get plenty of use out of your home, so perhaps we should pitch the tent there. Lay claim to the land as it were.”
Lewis helped him set up the tent and it was completely hidden behind the wall. Of course a house would be taller. They had to be able to stand up and walk around in it, but it didn’t have to be particularly high, and they could easily have trees big enough to hide the roof line. “I think your plan will work. You’ll need some bigger trees, but yes, it’s workable.”
“The trees will grow but their growth will be limited by the winds across the roof in winter. I was thinking of not getting them enormously high. Bigger trees will be more expensive as well. But what I could do is have the pots on stands so they hide the house, and as the trees do grow, instead of risking their tops getting burnt off by exposure, I simply lower the stands until they’re eventually resting on the ground and still tall enough to cover the roof line.”
“That’s a damn good idea. You really have thought about it a lot.”
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Andreas was filled with pride for his friend. Lewis would build a truly amazing roof garden. He was confident of that. And they’d have a nice little retreat up here where they could make love under the stars in the summer, and under a glass roof in less clement weather.
“I suppose we’ll have to stay in my apartment in winter. I don’t spend much time there so likely you and Dakota will need to renovate it somewhat. But we can work all that out later. When are you going to start building your house?”
“I’ll do it simultaneously with the roof garden and running track. That way it won’t be so obvious what’s happening, I hope. Everyone will just think it’s part of the garden.”
“Good point.”
Lewis walked him back to the elevator and swiped the door for him, and Andreas went back to the fitness center. After tonight Dakota would be on the midnight to eight shift, which was going to make it hard for them to spend time together. By the time she came off shift she’d be tired, and he should be at work already, yet they couldn’t spend too much time together before she went on shift as they didn’t want to wake her up too soon or exhaust her before her working day. At least they had tonight though. Tonight they would make love to her under the stars and explain how very much she meant to them both.
* * * *
Lewis stayed up on the roof for the rest of the day, taking measurements and making detailed plans. He’d now almost filled a sketchpad with meticulous designs of every garden bed, and of the winding path the running track would take. It would split in two with an optional “obstacles” loop for the wolves or those runners who were feeling more energetic. There were some long straight stretches almost the full length of the roof, and some chicanes, S bends, and tight corners as well as the obstacles, which were mostly going to be rows of plants in pots and a few low fences to jump over. It wouldn’t be a complete workout, of course, but that was what the fitness center was there for. It would be an opportunity to run outdoors though, and the more energetic males could always go around the circuit three or four times if they felt it was too short to use up all their excess energy.