“Are you sure it’s safe to leave the guy all alone for this long?” Agent asked Nero.
“He’s not getting out of Vire’s restraints,”
“You really need to learn to stop bringing work home with you,” Wilanna scolded Regg.
Regg looked a little sheepish, but only shrugged. Wilanna was really not very surprised that things had turned out like this. Just the other day she had been thinking about how the apartment complex had been relatively quiet as of late. She should have knocked on wood or something, but it most likely would not have done much good.
They had had two move-ins recently: a family with two teenagers, and a recently retired couple who had decided to move to the same city as their five children. The retired couple was medically trained. The older man was a surgeon while his wife had been a pediatric nurse part-time. When it came to Nero’s part-time agency, the retired couple seemed very supportive of helping the government. Of course, that was why they had been allowed to move in. As much as Wilanna wanted to just let anyone move in, she could not deny the fact that the apartment complex would not allow just anyone.
The family with the two teenagers seemed to be doing well, though how much they actually knew about what was going on had yet to be determined. The man was an actor and had met his wife when she was assigned as his make-up artist one time. The teenagers seemed sufficiently put out with having to move, especially since there were not many children in the apartment complex. It was the children that Wilanna did not want to involve in the agency. Tech had been an exception because he over heard most everything anyway.
“Gregory, stop pouting,” Susanna, the make-up artist, told her fourteen year-old. “This place has a pool, a nice lobby, and it is close to the theater.”
“It sucks,” the boy said. “There’s only old people everywhere.”
“That family has the cutest little girls,” Susanna said as she pointed at the Faber’s. “And I helped that other teen and his brother with some costumes they were working on.”
Wilanna raised her eyebrows a little before she figured out that Susanna was talking about Tech and Carmine. Both looked younger than they actually were, but not quite related. Still, she wondered what strange idea those two had come up with that required costumes. It was unfortunate for young Gregory that there were no other children his age. His older sister was spending the entire meet-and-greet on her cell phone.
“Why do I have to be here?” Gregory demanded. “Even Dad’s not here.”
“Your father’s with Carmine and Tech at the moment,” Nero said, startling the boy. “Carmine is the darker skinned lad and Tech is just getting ready for college. But don’t worry, he’ll come by often enough. In fact, he can probably show you how to hook up the screens here in the lobby to your favorite gaming system before he goes.”
“Dear,” Wilanna sighed. “What is Mr. Salazar doing with those two?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Nero shrugged. “They just said they needed a good actor to help with their interrogation idea.”
That comment did not faze half of the lobby, while the other half looked more than a little surprised. Marissa, the daughter, actually looked up from the text she was sending to try to confirm that she had actually heard correctly. Wilanna sighed and lightly slapped her husband on the shoulder.
“Do not scare our tenants, dear,” she chided.
“We already told them that I work part time assisting the government in saving the world,” Nero grinned. “They’re trustworthy. They won’t tell anyone. Will you?”
“My dad is interrogating?” Gregory asked, wide-eyed. “That’s so cool. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. What’s he doing?”
“Mom, what kind of a freak place have you brought us to?” Marissa demanded.
“You’re dad is actually just there for show,” Nero assured. “Don’t worry. There are several trained professionals in this place.”
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