Page 63 of Wicked Games

“Zapped?” Percy asked, sounding alarmed. Carmen bounced another grape against the upper railing, and it exploded. “Fuck me!” Percy shouted. “I want to avoid that at all costs.”

“That’s the first stop on our tour this morning,” Carmen said, rising to her feet.

We followed her to a large office deep in the house where Draco sat behind a computer. Three walls consisted of computers, monitors, and various other pieces of equipment I’d never seen before. The fourth wall was glass and overlooked a high-tech conference room featuring a navy blue and white marble table with a teleconference station in the center. Around the table were eight white leather chairs with a laptop and tablet placed in front of each one. A large flat-screen television took up nearly half of one wall. It was one hell of a command center. Carmen Santiago wasn’t playing around.

“Draco will run scans and updated our system to identify you as friendlies, and you won’t get ‘zapped’ as Ryder puts it.”

“I nominate Percy to test out the fences first,” Ryder said.

“Damn, this is starting to sound like aJurassic Parkmovie,” Dev said dryly.

“No fucking way,” Percy said to Ryder. “You go first. You’re much bigger and can sustain more voltage before your heart explodes. I’m dainty and precious.”

“Just use some of the gunk you put in your hair as a barrier,” Ryder said. “That way your fingers slide right off.”

“Yeah, right. With my luck, it would act as a conduit.”

Draco stared expressionlessly at the two men like they were part of a circus act for a few seconds before an odd rumbling noise came from his chest. I started to think Carmen was right when she said he might not be human. The noise got louder, pulling everyone’s attention to him. Draco’s head fell back, and the noise burst from him, and I realized it was laughter.

Dev leaned into me and said, “How long do you suppose it’s been since the last time the man has laughed? My grandfather had a very old car he liked to tinker with, and it made that same rusty sound when he fired it up.”

“We don’t get much entertainment around here,” Carmen said. “All work and no play has made Draco a very dull boy.”

“After this, I think you need to take your people on a long holiday,” Dev suggested, nodding at Draco. He’d knocked the rust out of his pipes and sounded almost human while continuing to laugh over Percy and Ryder bickering back and forth.

“I’ll test the fence,” I said, breaking up the argument. “Time is wasting, and I have better things to do than listen to you guys argue.”

“Okay,” Percy said, shrugging.

“Works for me,” Ryder agreed.

It took another hour for us all to get scanned into Carmen’s fancy system then we all went back out to the pool area. Ryder walked with me to the far side of the pool but stood a few feet away.

“Good luck, baby,” he said.

I looked over my shoulder at Carmen, who gave me two thumbs up and said, “No worries, Lucky. I have bigger fish to fry.”

“Ha ha ha,” I said drolly. I took a calming breath, said a prayer, and slowly reached toward the fence.

“Wait! I love you, Lucky.”

“Aww,” I heard Dev, Percy, and Carmen say.

“I love you too,” I replied.

“This is better than a movie,” Percy said. “Let’s hope it’s not a tragedy.”

“Use the back of your hand so your fingers don’t accidentally grip the fence if it doesn’t recognize you. I’m prepared to knock you off the fence in case of an emergency,” Ryder told me.

I had a choice to make: quickly touch the fence to demonstrate it’s okay or put on a show. There really was no decision. I grabbed the fence, started making a loud buzzing noise, and convulsed like a powerful current was going through me.

“Not funny,” Ryder said tersely.

Percy and Dev laughed their asses off while Carmen just shook her head.

“Why are you mad?” I asked him once I released the fence. “I’m the one who should be upset.”

“How do you figure?” Ryder countered, crossing his arms over his chest.