Eight
When Cam helped move Mel and Danny into their South Park condo, he never imagined using his friends’ loft as a command center, but it was perfect for this op.Situated on the two floors above a street-level design firm, the condo with its floor-to-ceiling windows and private rooftop provided clean sightlines of the lamp-lit green.Good thing too, as their surveillance van would have stuck out on the single-lane loop around the park.
Granted, Cam would have rather been on the ground himself, directly able to counteract any variables that arose, but from this vantage point, he could view the entire field of play.He’d be better able to direct the agents hiding in cars along the loop and those in the cruisers covering each outside corner of the block.Short of stationing an agent in front of every building, which would be too obvious, he had his bases covered.
Mel and Danny’s place was also big enough, with its open floor plan and giant windows, shades pulled back to let in the moonlight, to accommodate their command team traipsing around in the shadows, Lauren’s wide array of surveillance equipment, and one very agitated Assistant US Attorney.
A casual observer wouldn’t know it.Nic appeared his usual calm and collected self, a tall dark-suited form by the window speaking quietly with Mel.But Cam recognized the tension in his frame.The rigid, slightly lifted set of his shoulders, his hands clasped behind his back, his moonlit eyes glowing eerily as they tracked Bowers around the room.
Mel was even unhappier about their uninvited guest.Bowers had shown up an hour ago, silently looming over the op as if he were waiting for them to screw up again.Danny, for his part, was making conversation with Percy, one lockpick to another.Cam appreciated the younger Talley’s attempts to ease the jittery kid’s nerves.But as the midnight hour approached, not even ringmaster Danny could hold Percy’s attention, his gaze jumping everywhere, always landing back on the clock by the door.
Keeping an eye on all the moving pieces, Cam shuffled into the kitchen Lauren had claimed as Command.She moved back and forth between the long granite countertops, assembling Percy’s accessories in the dim glow cast by the under-cabinet lights.Standing behind her row of open laptops, Cam zeroed in on the screen with the interactive satellite map.He touched his ear, activating his comm.“Teams, report.”
Alpha team in the cars closest to the center of the park radioed in first, their position lighting up on the map.The rest of the teams—around the oval, on the roof, outside the perimeter—cycled through their checks, ending with Cam in Command.“Snipers in place.Next report before go in fifteen.”Cam toggled the comm off, staring at the screen as boots shuffled overhead, their lookouts shifting as the snipers moved into position.
“Everyone’s set, boss.”Lauren stood beside him, tightening a screw on a pair of glasses exactly like the ones Percy was wearing.“Being real, I’m more worried about a fight breaking out in here.”
He ignored her very real, very accurate assessment of the tension in the condo.“This needs to go off without a hitch.”
“Couple of hours, we’ll have Becca in custody, Abby safe, and you and Nic can ride off into the sunrise together.”
“I hope to God we’re not here until sunrise.”
“True dat.”
Cam was still chuckling as a narrow-eyed Nic rounded the dining bar into the kitchen.“Finish wiring Percy,” he said to Lauren.“It’s almost time.”
She grabbed her gadgets and ducked out of the kitchen.
“I don’t like him here,” Nic said.
Cam didn’t have to ask whohimwas.Nic’s gaze drilling holes into Bowers’s back was indication aplenty.“I don’t trust him either.”Cam clicked through surveillance feeds on the computer, checking positions again.
“Why aren’t you more worried?”Nic asked.
He was worried but one of them had to keep their shit together.And this was far from the most high-risk op he’d coordinated.“You’re worried enough for the both of us.”
Letting out a low huff, Nic turned and rested his ass against the counter.“Didn’t think I was showing it.”
Cam glanced up.“Most people don’t see through the mask.”Their gazes locked, held, tension of a different sort filtering in, only broken when a chair scraped across the floor.
Nic twisted, looking over his shoulder at Bowers, who stalked toward the windows.Nic righted himself on a curse.“There’s no reason for him to be here.We can run this operation.He’s gonna fuck it up.”
“So we run it.”Cam paired one of the spare comms by the computers and handed it to Nic.More information, more control over the situation might help him settle.“And we roll with whatever curveball Bowers throws at us.Better to anticipate it and plan for the worst.”
Nic tucked the device in his ear, one corner of his mouth hitching up.“You’re good at this.”
Cam met the half smirk with a grin of his own.“This is my domain.”
“Well, technically,” Mel interrupted, her high heels clicking on the hardwood as she approached, “it’s mine.”
Danny twisted in his chair, playfully glaring at his wife.“Hey now!”
Their banter acted like a valve, releasing some of the pressure in the room, but not for long.Charlie team radioed in from the roof.“We’ve got movement at the west end of the park.”
It ran against Cam’s every instinct not to rush to the window, not to look out and assess the situation with his own eyes, but the shadows could only conceal so much.A herd of people standing next to the condo’s glass would stand out, even in the moonlight.
Cam activated his comm again.“Local?”He wouldn’t put it past one of the neighborhood millionaires to take a late-night stroll with their pocket-sized pooch.No doubt why Becca picked this location.The cover of normalcy, together with plenty of exits, witnesses, and objects she could use as roadblocks if a chase ensued.
