The Bait and the Hook
The heavy, soundproof door to the luxury lounge clicked shut behind them, instantly cutting off the jubilant sounds of the Lances and the Patricks' quiet celebrations. Dan, Samuel, and Virginia stood in the sterile, high-end quiet of the House of Mercy hallway. The air here—smelling of a unique combination of eucalyptus and key lime—felt different: colder, sharper, and vibrating with the kind of tension that usually preceded a corporate raid or a police sweep.
Samuel didn't waste time. He held his secure phone out, the screen glowing softly in the cheery hallway light. He showed them the image the Blue Serene security manager had sent just minutes prior. It was a macro shot of the electrical junction box in the Sensory Immersion Lounge. Tucked behind the heavy-duty wiring was a fiber-optic lead, thinner than a strand of hair, spliced with surgical precision into the resort's primary data hub.
"It's not just an audio bug," Samuel whispered, his voice low and vibrating with a suppressed fury. "It's a high-bandwidth visual feed. They aren't just listening to the ambient sounds of the spa; they're watching it in 4K. It's a dedicated line. I've already got my tactical security team on standby. One word, and they're going in to rip the walls out of that lounge and scan every square inch of the resort."
Virginia's jaw was set tight, her eyes flashing with a predatory, dangerous light. "It's going into the data hub for the entire resort." Her eyes flicked over the image several times. "Do it. This person, or people, have access to audio and visual of all of Blue Serene Resort. You should scrub other facilities as well. I can redirect a team to help. I still have a few favors floating around."
"Wait," Dan said.
The word was quiet, but it had a new, steely resonance that made both Samuel and Virginia stop and turn to him in genuine surprise. They were used to Dan being the "builder," the steady, supportive husband who stayed out of the Lance family's tactical-espionage world. But the man standing before them now looked like he was calculating a hostile takeover.
"Leave the bug," Dan said firmly.
Samuel frowned, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Leave it? Dan, this is a total breach of privacy." His eyes flicked down the hall to where his sister and Albert Cummings were. He was happy for Jessica, but Cummings was still an anomaly that needed to be watched. "Not to mention, this is currently the core of Amber's empire—her pride and joy. If word gets out that the Blue Serene is being watched, the brand is dead."
"If you pull it now, the person on the other end goes dark," Dan explained, his mind clearly moving through tactical scenarios with the speed of a high-end processor.
"For all we know, the tech was already seen. Even if it is not known now, a review on their end will soon give it all away. Not reacting could set off an alarm as well." Virginia's brow was furrowed as she spoke, as if she were considering the viability of Dan's words.
"They'll know we found them for sure if we remove it. They'll burn their hardware, vanish into the shadows, and just find a deeper, more dangerous way back in next time. Right now, we have the only advantage we might ever get: they think they're invisible—or at the very least, they feel they can maybe bury themselves. If they are just a bit more cautious, we have a better chance at finding them. If they scrub it all and bury themselves deeper, our job becomes more difficult."
Virginia narrowed her eyes, studying Dan as if seeing him for the first time. "You want to play a game of 'I-Spy' with a professional intruder in our own house?"
"I want to feed the hook," Dan countered. He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a level that made the hairs on Samuel's neck stand up. "Think about it. We have hundreds of employees at the resort and the various Trace and Blue Serene facilities. The intruder can't possibly know every single face on our payroll. We have the security manager tell the tech that the issue will be resolved by security. Then, we have our internal security team rotate through that lounge as clients, but not too many—we don't want to alert them with a sudden high influx of clients."
Dan paced a small circle in the hallway, his hands moving as he mapped out the plan. "We need to search the rest of the resort, the laser tag facility, the salon, and the mental health clinics as well. For now, we focus on the projects that Amber is involved with. But it needs to be done on the quiet. I am tired of my wife being targeted, and I do not want her stressed."
He looked up to his in-laws, his family. "I don't want her to ever know the loss of another child again."
Virginia let out a short, sharp laugh, a genuine look of impressed amusement crossing her face. "Dan, remind me never to try and low-ball you in a business deal. You're more of a Lance than I gave you credit for." She put a hand on his shoulder. "I am also very glad that you finally know my sister's worth."
Samuel nodded slowly, the logic taking hold. "Okay. We will try it your way, for now. Blue Serene Security is an extension of Lance Secure, so if anything goes wrong, it is essentially on me." He looked at his phone again, his thumb hovering over the call button. "I'll call the head of security at Blue Serene. I'll tell her to have the tech fix the issue with the lighting and act natural. Then we can put a wireless tap on the line by the end of the hour."
Dan looked toward the lounge door, his expression softening only slightly as he thought of Amber inside, navigating the family drama. "Let them watch us," he said, his gaze turning back to his siblings-in-law with a chilling focus. "While we watch who's watching."