Page 28 of Daddy’s Oath (The Daddy Guard #2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ace was happy to see the plan progressing flawlessly.

“Lady Luck is with us today, boys,” he announced from his seat in the van.

“Don’t crack open the champagne just yet,” Stryker’s voice shot back on the earpiece. “I’m not even in the apartment yet.”

After parking the moving van, he’d cut through an alley where his disguise was hidden behind a trashcan.

There, he’d quickly changed into a worker’s uniform, put on a fake nose and mustache, and threw on a ball cap to hide his blond hair.

What Stryker couldn’t do anything about was his height, but Ace doubted anyone would use that to connect him with the guy in the moving van.

It was Jack’s voice heard next. “Tell me when you’re almost to Lana’s building.”

“I’m thirty seconds out,” Stryker replied.

Ace didn’t have eyes on Stryker right then, but he assumed he was still walking down the long alley that would put him right at Lana’s place.

That was confirmed when Stryker’s voice came back and said, “Walking up the stairs now.”

“I’m on it,” Jack replied immediately.

For this part of the plan, Ace did have eyes. He’d recalled his last drone and sent out a second one in its place, the fresh battery charged and ready to give him another thirty minutes of sight.

The scene before him was in vivid, bright color on the monitors as Jack, walking casually on the street wearing a cap and sunglasses, grinned and said, “Hey! That’s him!

The guy in all those movies. Eh… Harrison…

Trent! Yeah! Harrison Trent!” He had his cell out and aimed at Harrison as the movie star stopped walking the opposite direction on the sidewalk and grinned. “Nice to see you.”

With that, the tourists on Hollywood Boulevard swarmed Harrison and Jack.

And the U.S. Marshals’ vehicle that was parked right by them at the curb. The occupants would be pinned in for quite some time with all those people around.

Which was the plan.

Giving Stryker ample time to do his thing up in Lana’s apartment.

Thanks to the cameras Ace had placed around the apartment, he could watch Stryker as he entered.

“Maintenance,” Stryker called out.

Of course, no one answered.

Ace held his breath. This was the part that could go south in a hurry.

They figured the Marshals weren’t in the building itself.

But that was just an educated guess. No units showed up as available.

In Hollywood, apartments went almost as soon as they were listed.

Odds were small that the Marshals would have been able to secure one to set up shop.

Plus, with them parked outside, there was no need to be inside. They didn’t have the manpower to station guys both places.

But eventually, the crowd around Harrison would disperse. The marshals would realize someone was inside Lana’s unit and would rush in. Hopefully, by that time, Stryker would be gone.

“I just need five minutes at the most,” Stryker whispered, seeming to know Ace was nervous.

He wasn’t the only one. Beside him, Ryan said, “Try to get it done quicker. I don’t want you getting arrested.”

“Copy. Let me know if they start heading this way.”

Ace shifted his eyes to the other monitor where the image of a crowd around the SUV—everyone wanting autographs and selfies with Harrison—filled the screen. “We’re good right now. If anything, the crowd is getting bigger.”

“Hell yeah,” Isaiah chimed in. “Everyone comes to Hollywood hoping to see a movie star. But it doesn’t actually happen often. This is making all those folks’ trips worth it.”

“Harrison is being a good sport about it,” Ace noted.

“He always is,” Stryker whispered. “Even when we aren’t causing a distraction to cover up doing something we shouldn’t be.”

“You make it sound as if you do this sort of thing often,” Ace said.

Stryker didn’t reply.

Ace laughed. “We don’t want to know.”

He watched as Stryker found one of the cameras the Guard suspected was left by the gang, pulled out a tiny device and a laptop from the toolbox he’d carried in, and got to work.

The plan was for Stryker to fake a call on his cell.

Ace watched as he pulled his phone from his pocket, poked the screen as if answering a call, then said, “Hello, boss.” He was silent.

“Yeah. I can get to it once I leave the place over on Whitley. I just need to run a diagnostics test to check the PSI. This place still isn’t cooling down right. ”

Ace grinned, knowing that Stryker was covering his tracks as to why a repairman would have a laptop. It might not slow the Marshals down long, but it would probably work on the gang members who were spying on the place.

“That sly son of a gun,” Ace said.

“He’s good,” Ryan commented. “Makes you think he and his buddies have definitely done stuff like this before.”

Ace could only imagine how much trouble Stryker and Harrison gave their Mommies. He was glad he wasn’t in charge of them, that was for sure!

A few tense moments passed and Ace tried to remain loose. Back before he’d started piloting choppers for the LAPD, he’d done some undercover work. He knew how important it was to stay cool in tense situations.

If you freeze up, you could die.

Or in this case, Stryker could.

Ace half expected gang members to kick in the apartment’s door at any moment and grab Stryker, demanding to know who he was and what he knew.

It wasn’t likely, he reminded himself. But it was a possibility.

Thankfully, it didn’t happen. He breathed a sigh of relief when, after about four minutes, Stryker started putting his gear away.

“He must have it,” Ace said.

Though Stryker could hear him in his own earpiece, he neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he just methodically went about his business as if he were truly a repairman finishing up at a jobsite.

Half a minute later, he was out of the apartment.

“Let us know when you’re safely out of the building,” Ace told him.

After a few moments, Stryker said, “Heading out now.”

He must have taken the stairs, his long legs carrying him from the scene quickly.

On the street, Harrison said, “Alright, folks. I’m sorry, but I’m due at the studio soon. It was so nice meeting you all. I’ll see you at the movies!”

The crowd cheered.

“Smooth as a politician,” Isaiah commented.

“Maybe he should run for office someday,” Ace suggested.

He hit a few buttons to recall his drone. It only took a few minutes for the thing to fly back, land, and the roof to close over the secret compartment. “Drone secured.”

From behind the wheel, Kendrick called back, “We’re moving out.”

The van pulled away smoothly from its spot on the curb but stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Ace asked. “Someone get Stryker? Damnit! I shouldn’t have put up the drone so soon.”

The drone wouldn’t have stopped anyone, but at least the guys would have noticed faster, allowing them to spring into action.

“It’s not that,” Kendrick called back. “Ace, I think you’ll want to see this. Pull up the front van-cam on your monitor.”

Ace did so. He gasped.

“What the hell?”

He almost couldn’t believe it. But there was no denying what he saw right there on the screen in front of him.

It was Lana and Iris.

Two naughty Littles who were about to be in big, big trouble.