“Wearethe best,” Cam said matter-of-factly. “We really are.”
Rolling her eyes, she looked over her shoulder. “And modest.”
“Hey, facts are facts.” Cam grinned.
She frowned. “I expect everyone to lose this attitude before we get to Tacoma.”
“See, Cam,” Mack said. “I told you she’s stepping up.”
“Totally,” Cam said. “It’s kind of hot.”
She eyed him. “You didnotjust say that.”
“Sometimes I lose my filter.” His little boy smile beneath his blond good looks made it hard to be irritated with him.
“Sometimes?” Mack asked.
She shook her head but totally understood their joking. They all did it to combat the tension of daily potential life-ending situations. Common behavior for law-enforcement officers. Even more so for an elite team like theirs. Even when losing someone like Firuzeh. Especially then, or the on-the-job stress would render them incapable of doing their jobs day in and day out.
And as lead on this high-profile investigation, Kiley would be subjected to more stress than usual. She had to be proactive and formulate an investigative plan.
She sat back and thought ahead to their arrival at the port. First action item would be wrestling the investigation away from the agent in charge of the JTTF investigation. With this beingher first time as lead, she could only hope he was a friendly sort who wanted to cooperate—who wanted to put the investigation first and not try to claim jurisdiction. Do the right thing no matter what.
Right. And pigs flew.
“They can’t,” Evan snapped, and regretted it when Watson didn’t comment. “Sorry. I spent weeks cultivating this lead, and right when it gets interesting the RED team swoops in and takes over.”
“I’ve requested we be included in the investigation, but the ball’s in their court.”
Evan’s heart fell. Kiley would never let him work this investigation.
“You better practice playing nice, because they’ll be on scene anytime now,” Watson said.
“Here? Now? How?” Evan looked out the command truck’s window. “Takes hours just to get through the airport and security in D.C.”
“Military transport.”
Of course. The wonder team would have such connections.
“Be professional,” Watson continued, “and don’t make a scene.”
The call went dead, and a little bit of Evan went dead inside too. He wasn’t an emotional guy, not usually, but mess with his job and he could get good and mad. And losing this investigation? That just plain stunk. Still, it didn’t mean he had to let it go. He could work things on his own time even if Watson would have a fit if he found out.
And Evan wouldn’t let his irritation stop him. He wouldn’t sit inside the command vehicle and sulk. Not when he still had time to get forensic details from Philips before Kiley and her team arrived to kick him to the curb.
He stormed out the door and down the steps. The sun was climbing over the port, fingers of yellow and orange creeping over the water’s surface. He would stop to enjoy God’s beauty, but he had little time to waste.
Cartwright leaned against the truck and glanced up from his phone. “Someone take away your toys?”
“So you haven’t heard then?”
Cartwright lifted an eyebrow. “Heard what?”
“DHS’s RED team out of D.C. is taking over the investigation.”
“I thought they predominantly worked internet crimes.”
“They do. I tracked this lead on the dark web. Maybe they did too.” Evan didn’t bother to explain the dark web, as Cartwright knew all about the deep and murky layer of the internet where criminals conducted illegal sales transactions.
