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“She’s not bad,” I said when I saw the woman he was talking about. She was young, probably within a few years from my own age of thirty-three, but carried herself like she was a queen.
“Not bad?” Harrison replied angrily. “You’re fucking blind.”
“Not my type.”
“This girl iseveryone’stype,” he barked. “You sick or something?”
“He’s pining over our dear nanny,” Archer said.
He probably couldn’t see me, but I glared up to the rooftop where he was positioned. “I have been perfectly gentlemanly since we arrived.”
“It pains me to admit it, but indeed you have,” Archer replied. “Perhaps you are maturing after all.”
Harrison barked a laugh at that.
“Thanks,” I said dryly, but I was grateful for Archer’s acknowledgment. I had tried very hardnotto flirt with Trish since we arrived. Every interaction with Trish was perfectly platonic. Exactly how a guy should act around the woman nannying his daughter.
But despite outward appearances, there was definitely a deeper connection between us. After Archer and Harrison went to bed, we had been staying up and chatting until late into the night. Trish and I had undeniable chemistry, and keeping things friendly was only accentuating what I felt under the surface. Did she feel the same way, or was it all in my head?
“You see that?” Harrison suddenly chirped in my ear.
“I’m doing my job, not lusting after every woman who walks by,” I replied.
But Harrison’s voice was deathly serious now. “Rooftop. Seven o’clock. Behind the chimney.”
I cut my eyes up to the building in question. “I don’t see anything.”
“My view is obstructed,” Archer said.
Suddenly I saw it: a flash of reflected sun, as bright as a momentary beacon. “There’s someone up there. I saw a reflection. Could be binoculars, or…”
I didn’t need to say the rest:or the scope on a rifle.
I took off across the street at a dead sprint. “Entering the building. Let me know if they move.”
“I still don’t have line of sight.” Archer must have switched frequencies on the radio, because suddenly his tone was different. “This is Mathos Two. Do we have any other teams on the roofs in our vicinity?”
“Negative, Mathos Two,” came a reply. “Nearest security unit is three blocks from your location.”
“Investigating further, standby for confirmation,” Archer replied.
I was only dimly aware of the conversation as I ran into the building. It was an apartment lobby, with an elevator and stairs to my right. I took the latter rather than waiting for the elevator, sprinting up the stairs two at a time as I climbed toward the roof. The radio chattered in my ear as I ran.
“Moving another unit to the side to corner them. Watch your cross-fire.”
“Mathos Three, climbing to the roof of the neighboring hotel,” Harrison said.
“Should I hold position or get a better angle?” Archer asked.
“Hold position, Mathos Two.”
“I’m on the roof of the neighboring hotel,” Harrison said. “I’ve got eyes on—fuck, he bolted. Must’ve seen me.”
“Is he armed?”
“Unsure.”
“Does the suspect have line of sight down into the conference?”
