“Carefully” was all she said, then she left the room.
Evan let out a breath. “What do we do if they catch her?”
“We go rescue her,” Trevor said.
Evan seemed a little nervous at that idea but nodded. “I’ll get the computer set up. That way, we’ll know what’s happening in there.”
Taking a laptop out of his backpack, Evan placed it on the table, then slipped something that looked like some kind of wireless mouse adapter into one of the computer’s USB ports and began poking keys.
“You want to pick up the pace a little?” Trevor said. “At this rate, Frasier could knock Vivian out and drag her out to the trunk of his car before you get any sound on that thing.”
“Hold on.” Evan’s fingers flew over the keys. “I’m praying she remembered to push the adapter to turn it on, or this will all be a waste of time.”
A few moments later, muffled noise came out of the computer’s speakers along with the sound of something heavy thudding together.
Evan threw Trevor a nervous look. “What the hell was that?”
Trevor held up his hand for silence, trying to figure out what the hell they were listening to.
“I thought everyone would like some coffee and Danish,” Vivian said over the speaker. “Nothing like a little caffeine and sugar to get you through a morning meeting.”
“Thank you, Vivian.”
Thorn’s deceptively sweet voice made Trevor’s teeth ache.
“Of course, Mr. Thorn. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
“Damn, she’s smooth,” Tanner said as Vivian left the room. “John should have put her in the field.”
Trevor chuckled. “No kidding. Maybe he intended to. John was always ten steps ahead of everyone else when it came to knowing who’d be a good field agent.”
“He was good when it came to seeing other people’s futures,” Evan said softly. “I wish he had spent a little more time worrying about his own. Then maybe he would’ve foreseen somebody planting that bomb.”
The mood in the small office immediately changed as the humor that had been there a moment ago disappeared. They stared at the blank screen of the laptop, listening to the men in the conference room drink their coffee and talk about whether they preferred cheese or apple Danish.
“I’m surprised you didn’t bring Alina with you,” Evan said. “Zarina told me she helped get Sage back, so I figured she was a newly accepted member of our little rebel alliance.”
“She wanted to stay behind to take care of Sage,” Trevor said, the lie sliding wet and slimy off his tongue. Great, now he was lying to Evan like he’d lied to Alina. At this rate, he was going to end up no better than Thorn and his a-hole friends.
“But everything is good with her, right?” Evan probed. “She’s on our side, isn’t she?”
Trevor didn’t know how to answer that. His head was still advising him to proceed with caution, while his instincts shouted at him to trust her. That disconnect had him tied up in knots, not sure what to do. Why the hell did this have to be so difficult?
He shrugged. “I’m leaning that way, but in truth, I’m not sure.”
Evan frowned in confusion, while Tanner gave him a look that said he thought Trevor was full of crap. He knew the feeling. He was confused, too, and pretty sure he was full of shit.
Thankfully, the door opened, and Vivian stuck her head in, saving him from fielding any more questions about Alina.
“We good?” Vivian asked.
Trevor motioned at the laptop. “We have audio, but it remains to be seen if we’re going to grab any video from the projector. Regardless, you did good.”
Before she could say anything, the screen on Evan’s laptop flickered to life.
“We’ve got video,” the analyst announced excitedly.
Vivian nodded. “I need to go out and man the desk in case anyone else walks in late for the meeting. Hope you get what you need.”
