Lacy stood below him.
"Careful," she whispered.
Randy looked down.
"You always this bossy?"
"Only when people are about to fall."
He grunted.
At the beam, he reached for the device.
His fingers stopped.
"Damn."
The word echoed through the garage.
Dean McCrae, president of the Iron Jaws, stepped out of his office.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and carried himself with the quiet authority of someone who didn't need to raise his voice.
"What is it?"
Randy climbed down with the device in his hand.
Dean studied it.
"That's not ours."
"No," Randy said.
He placed it on the workbench.
A tiny red light blinked.
Gary Worthington was called twenty minutes later.
Gary was Lacy's father.
He was also one of the best electrical contractors in the county.
He walked into the garage, saw his daughter, and immediately frowned.
"Lacy."
"Hi, Dad."
"Why are you here?"
"I found something."
Gary sighed.
"That sentence worries me."
Dean showed him the camera.
Gary's expression changed instantly.
He opened the casing.
Inside was a miniature circuit board, a relay antenna, and a power connection spliced directly into the overhead electrical system.
"This is recent," Gary said.
"How recent?"
"Two weeks. Maybe less."
Dean folded his arms.
"Can you trace it?"
"Not tonight."
Gary looked at the ceiling.
"I'll need equipment. Frequency detection. Signal mapping. Maybe access to the panels."
Dean nodded.
"Do it."
Gary glanced at Lacy.
She was staring at the camera.
"Why did you notice it?" Dean asked.
She shrugged.
"The dust."
Dean smiled.
"You've got good eyes, Eagle Eye."
Lacy blinked.
"Is that my name now?"
"It is."
Someone handed her a cup of hot chocolate.
Another biker pulled an old Iron Jaws patch from a drawer and pinned it upside down to her hoodie.
Randy pointed at it.
"Probationary."
"What does that mean?"
"You don't get to wear it straight until you prove yourself."
Lacy grinned.
Gary didn't.
He stared at the camera with a growing sense of unease.
On the drive home, the device sat inside a sealed evidence bag between him and his daughter.
"You know you weren't supposed to walk into that garage."
"I know."
"You could have been hurt."
"I know."
Gary was quiet for several seconds.
Then he said softly, "But I'm proud of you."
Lacy turned toward him.
"Really?"
"Really."
She looked out the window.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think somebody is trying to hurt them?"
Gary tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"I don't know."
He looked toward the road ahead.
"But if someone is watching them..."
His voice dropped.
"...they're probably planning something."
The Signal
The next morning, Gary returned to the Iron Jaws garage before sunrise.
He brought equipment.
Frequency scanners.
Signal detectors.
A laptop.
A collection of cables that made Randy joke that Gary carried an entire laboratory in his truck.
For hours, Gary searched the building.
No other cameras.
No obvious transmitters.
But the original device had been powerful.
"Wherever it was sending the footage," Gary explained, "it wasn't far away."
Dean looked through the garage windows toward the street.
"Local?"
"Definitely."
Then Lacy walked through the door.