Nic smiled, small but satisfied. “So Agent Byrne it is.”
He nodded, focused again. “I’ll catch ’em.”
“And I’ll lock ’em up.”
“Enough, Dominic!”
Cam yanked a Kevlar vest on over his head, and Nic wanted to grab him by the straps and shake him. He couldn’t believe they were having this fucking argument again.
Within earshot of Jamie and other agents no less.
Cam reached for a helmet and Nic slapped down his hand, demanding his undivided attention. He was sure it drew others’ attention too but fuck it. They were already eavesdropping. “Do not leave me in a fucking van again,” Nic gritted out. Sidelined during the Kristic raid, listening as the op had gone south, had been maddening.
Dark eyes snapped to him, all business. “While it would have been unorthodox, you could have—maybe should have—led the team on the Kristic raid, but these agents don’t know you. This is my team, my people. Not yours, not Aidan’s. And this is my case, my specialty.”
The agent voice rankled, even if every word Cam said was true. It also rankled that he’d been left out of the tactical planning. Cam had probably anticipated this argument and had hoped to avoid it. Tough shit. Even if he wasn’t going in, he needed to know what Cam was charging into.
“Why are you leading this team?”
They were parked a block away from the garage they suspected the ransom call had originated from. Jamie had traced the call to a nearby cell tower, then had even better luck tracing the auto parts boxes to one of Koehler’s South End garages. While they converged on the garage, Matt was leading a separate team across town at the supposed exchange site.
Cam uncrossed his arms, a measure less defensive. “I’m leading this team because there’s nothing to suggest the people who took Shannon will actually hand her over at the exchange. She’s too valuable as leverage. They want to see that Murphy is cooperating. Following their orders with no cops or feds involved. That’s what that meet is about.”
“But there are feds there.”
Cam held up a finger. “One team. Because they’re unlikely to show there, at least not until Murphy steps into the zone and proves himself. They’ll call from a distance and ask to see proof. Then it’s an easy snatch and grab of either Murphy or the evidence they think he has. Matt’s team is there for protection and intercept.”
“And the three teams here?” Nic asked.
“Rescue, if Shannon is being held here. And this is my old hood from when Bobby and I were teens. That’s why I’m leading the team here.”
Nic dragged a hand over his jaw, scruff growing in thicker while his patience thinned by the hour. He dropped his arm and lowered his voice, imploring, “I cannot be on the other end of the line again, listening and only half knowing what’s going on. I don’t need to be the lead. Just your backup.”
“And I cannot watch you get tossed over the hood of a car again or worse.” Stalemate, which Cam broke in dirty cheater fashion. “Besides, do you want to be the one to tell Aidan you left his husband out here alone in the surveillance van?”
“Please, Jamie could drive this thing out of here before anyone ever caught him.”
Cam smiled, and Nic realized the trap he’d stepped into. “Which is why you’re staying in the van,” Cam said, victorious.
“Fuck you,” Nic spat back.
Cam leaned closer, voice a whisper. “If it keeps you alive so I can do that later, then fine by me.” He turned on his heel, grabbed a helmet, and walked over to the bank of surveillance monitors where Jamie and the other agents were checking comms.
Nic stood in his corner, stewing. Cam’s parting shot was the best thing and worst thing Nic could’ve heard right then. Cam still wanted him—good—but they were trapped in a fucking van with other agents in the middle of a time-sensitive op. He couldn’t do a damn thing about the kiss he wanted to give Cam. He could have used the raid to channel some of that energy, but Cam was sidelining him again. Frustration assailed him from every direction, boiling over as he watched Agent Byrne go through the pre-op motions.
“Everyone in position?” Cam asked into the comm mic.
Beta and Charlie teams checked in, then Matt from the exchange site. “We’re set with Murphy here,” he said. “Just waiting for your mark.”
“We’re a go in five,” Cam said, signing off.
Turning away before he did or said something he shouldn’t, Nic ducked into the front cab, collapsing into the passenger seat and staring out the front windshield. The night went from dark to darker as it slipped into the next day, no sign of life on this industrial block in the wee hours of the morning.
After another couple minutes, Cam appeared through the dividing curtain. “You gonna stay mad at me?” he asked, dropping into the driver’s seat as the curtain swung back closed.
“This argument isn’t over.”
“Says the attorney.”
