“Don’t you want to take it out here?”Jared said, scowling at Cam with thinly veiled hostility.And suspicion.
Becca snapped her fingers.“Give me the damn phone.”
Reluctantly, he handed it over and Becca shooed him to the door.She waited for him to pull it shut, then brought the phone to her ear.“Yeah?”
Cam couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, but whatever the speaker said caused Becca to straighten and remove her hand from his crotch.
Playtime was over, thank fuck.
“We weren’t planning to move until tomorrow night, after the soft opening like we’d discussed.”Another pause, forehead wrinkling.“Yes, we know the museum layout but we just brought in a new B&E guy.”Her eyes cut to Cam, staying there as she spoke.“Double my fee.Half now, half on delivery.”After a couple of seconds, her mouth stretched into a satisfied smile.“Tonight it is.”
She ended the call and pocketed the phone.
“No day off, then?”Cam said, thankful for the extended reprieve.It didn’t last long, Becca kissing him hard.“I’ll be holding you to that victory celebration,” she said, once she pulled back.
“And I’ll be expecting a similar deal.Up my fee, half now.”
She considered him, eyes searching, then believing whatever she saw, she nodded and stood, drawing Abby toward the door with her.“You drive a hard bargain, Brady.”She eyed his still interested cock.“Will expect you to drive something else hard tonight.”
She pulled the door closed with a wink and “Downstairs in ten,” and Cam fell sideways onto the mattress, muffling his frustrated groan in the pillows.At least this would be over tonight.Much longer, and he was afraid even Nic wouldn’t be able to pull him back over his line.
Line.
He needed to let the team know the estimated timeline had been accelerated and that Becca was definitely taking orders from someone.He grabbed his wallet first, though.Everything was in its place, just as he’d left it.More likely than not, his cover held.Snagging his phone next, he turned it on and the picture on the screen flickered like it was shorting out.Maybe Brady Campbell wouldn’t know what that meant but Agent Cameron Byrne, best friend of former cyber agent and hacker, Jameson Walker, knew exactly what that brief interruption meant.He would make no calls and send no texts, messages, or emails from that phone.
He had to trust Lauren to see the extra deposit coming sooner than anticipated.To tell Nic and Aidan and for them to realize the robbery was going down tonight.
Thirteen
“Motion denied.”
The judge’s gavel fell, smashing some of Nic’s confidence with it.All he’d asked for was to push the preliminary hearing from Monday to Friday.A routine motion, uncontested by the attorneys representing Mike and Scott.After a week of questioning and plea negotiations, it had become clear their clients weren’t talking because they didn’t know jack shit.Becca was the crew’s mastermind, not Scott, who was as surprised as them when she’d turned.As such, they and their attorneys were on board with more time for the FBI to prove they hadn’t called the shots, especially the one that had killed Anica Kristic.
The motion should have been granted, given the circumstances.Their star witness was MIA on the government’s behalf in what, if things went according to plan, was a sting that would wrap this case up tight, with all the suspects and players in custody.But according to the judge, those circumstances were outweighed by others.
A development Nic hadn’t foreseen.Hadn’t had any warning about.And not even questioning Harris or Percy earlier in the week had prepared him for this.
Fuming, he waited for the judge and bailiff to exit, for Scott and Mike to be led out, and for their attorneys to follow, scurrying to their next hearings, before he drove his hand into his pocket for his phone.
“No need, Price,” came a voice behind him.
Nic spun, finding Aidan at the back of the magistrate’s courtroom where they were hiding again from the hounding press.Nic pushed through the swinging galley door and charged between the rows.“Did you know about that?”
“I got a call fifteen minutes ago.I sprinted up the stairs to tell you, but the judge had started early.”
“Kristic’s doctors cleared him to travel?”
Aidan shook his head.“Against medical advice.”
The judge’s ass had barely hit the chair when he’d been handed a statement from the clerk.From the Serbian embassy on behalf of its citizen Stefan Kristic.The letter stated that Kristic would present himself for testimony and questioning on Monday, as scheduled, but a matter of state and personal security required him to fly home that same evening.
Nic had countered but his argument had been a thin one.They had no basis to keep Kristic here.He wasn’t a suspect or person of interest, merely a witness, who could provide a written statement if he didn’t want to testify.
They could try to compel him, hold him in contempt of court, but he was a grieving widower who wanted to take his wife’s body home.He wanted to do right by her memory—have the show and the fundraiser, which was a special cause to her—then he wanted to be on his way.How would throwing him in contempt look in the court of public opinion?Bowers would have Nic’s ass.Hell, they were lucky Kristic was sticking around at all.So when the judge had given him the option of Kristic’s testimony Monday or no chance to question him at all, Nic had to take the opportunity, which meant he had to keep the prelim scheduled for Monday.
Which meant even more pressure on Cam to get them what they needed, to make the bust this weekend.
The one thing Nic could do to help Cam, to take some of that pressure off and protect his family, and he’d failed.
