Page 51 of Asher Black (The Five Syndicates)
Eddie Rickenbacker
It’s quiet when Xavier and I get home.
Home.
I tremble at the word.
Xavier helps me carry my things into the master bedroom. We work silently, hanging my clothes in a corner of the closet that I cleared of Asher’s clothes. Other than my laptop, chargers and school stuff, I don’t have much else. I left my bedding behind for Aimee, because she’s always liked my bed better. We both know it’s because hers is a mess. In a week’s time, my old bed will be the same way.
My stomach grumbles. The sound of it is the only familiar thing about this place. I sigh and go downstairs to make dinner. The kitchen is stocked, which is a nice surprise. Vaserley Hall doesn’t have kitchens. All of the residents eat in a communal dining room that serves food buffet style. Having food whenever I want was nice at first, but I eventually got sick of the limited choices. It’s nice to be able to prepare food for myself for a change.
I pull out the ingredients for a lasagna, along with a knife, a wooden cutting board and a large pot. I mince some garlic and fennel seeds, dice an onion, and chop some parsley, oregano and rosemary. I sauté the onions in olive oil and add the garlic, fennel seeds and some ground chicken. After adding the rest of the ingredients, some spices and a shit ton of red wine, I turn the stove to a simmer and wash the tomatoes out of my hands.
Xavier follows me upstairs as I grab my textbook. By the time the sauce is done, I have finished most of my homework for the week at the kitchen table. I beat an egg into the ricotta cheese and add some parsley. Then, I grab a large baking dish, shredded mozzarella and some gourmet no boil lasagna noodles I find in the hidden butler’s pantry. I layer the lasagna and put it into the preheated oven.
I try to finish my stats homework, the only homework I have left for the week, but fiduciary inference is kicking my ass. I push it aside, giving up, and turn my attention to Xavier. He’s sitting next to me at the dining room table, his arms crossed ov
er his chest and his eyes focused on the front door.
Periodically, he has been getting up to scan the room and walk around the house, probably searching for threats. It’s a pointless effort, though. This place is like Fort Knox. The Secret Service can probably learn a thing or two from Asher and his security team.
Earlier, I passed by the security room and saw four security guards sitting in there, looking at more than a dozen flat screens filled with live, HD video of the building. There are cameras positioned at the hallways for all floors of the entire building, all around the exterior of the building, in the parking garages, and in all the public areas inside the building. I even saw some camera angles that had to be taken from the buildings across from ours.
Looking at the footage, I learned that there’s a communal theater room and gym in the first floor of the building, too, but judging by how crowded the tower’s gym is, I don’t fault Asher for wanting his own. Plus, for security reasons, the only entrance into the penthouse is from the elevator in Asher’s private garage and the emergency stairwell next to it. Both of these can only be accessed from the penthouse and from the garage.
It would be annoying to take the elevator downstairs, walk through the private garage to the residents’ garage, take an elevator into the lobby, and then walk to the gym from there every time I want to work out. The walk there is enough of a workout for my lazy ass.
“How are you not bored?” I finally ask Xavier after watching him scan the room with his eyes for the millionth time.
“Bored?” His brows are drawn together. “Why would I be bored?”
“Because you’ve been sitting there, doing nothing.”
“I’m doing my job.”
I sigh. “What’s up with the security? I understand the heavy security at the club, but here, too?”
“The security guards at the club belong to the Romano family. Mr. Black never fired them when he got full ownership of Rogue. It would take too long to train new guys, and he already trusts the ones working there. Plus, the guys like it. It’s much safer than a security detail at one of the other clubs would be.
“Only Mr. Black’s personal security team has access to the VIP level of the club, this penthouse, and personal security details anyway. You can tell us apart by our ear pieces. Theirs are coiled and visible, whereas ours are skin-toned to be covert.”
“Oh,” I say. “Why are there so many of you?”
“There’s usually not so many of us. There’s about twenty-six of us in total that rotate from shift to shift. You have a night guard for when I’m not here. His name is Wilson, but if you keep regular sleeping hours and nothing bad happens, you’ll probably never meet him. The guards stay in the security room at night, only leaving when they do their rounds. They never go into the bedroom, though.”
“Rounds,” I repeat. “Is that when you press those button things?”
I noticed that when Xavier does his “rounds,” he presses little buttons in each room. They’re super small and the color of the walls. I wouldn’t even know they’re there if I didn’t see him press them.
“They’re another security precaution. I have a ten minute window to press them during each of my scheduled rounds. If I don’t press them in time, an alert goes out to the entire team, all twenty-six of us. There are protocols for when that happens, but it never has before. It’s not always me doing the rounds either. When I’m not here because I’m off shift or out with you, there’s always three people in the security room. One of them does it then.”
“Wow,” I gasp.
I’ve never heard of such heavy security for one person, especially one that can take care of himself. Is all of this really necessary? He says he’s not in the mob anymore, but how can I believe him when he has more security than the mayor?
I eye Xavier, wondering what detail I pulled him from. “What did you do before you were assigned to me?”
“I got pulled from my old rounds in the security room to work your personal detail, so they’re training a newbie right now. That’s why there’s four guys in the security room instead of only three.”
