AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grinned. “I’m glad we understand each other. See, this truce is going to go swimmingly.”
We both smiled as we walked away from our exchange. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I answered on the first ring. I stepped into the staff room and closed the door behind me.
“Calling you back, as requested,” TJ’s smooth voice whispered in my ear.
I lay down on the sofa and pulled an afghan—courtesy of Jayna—over me. “Perfect timing,” I said. “I’m just lying down for a nap.”
“It’s about time. Do you need a bedtime story?”
I’d never heard that question sound dirtier. “I think I’d better pass if I hope to get any rest. Can I take a raincheck on that, though?”
“Absolutely. There’s one more thing before you go. In the interest of full disclosure, we’re going to increase the physical presence around your building tomorrow morning before the FBI and Interpol raids. We’re going to cut the heads off this hydra, but it will take weeks, maybe months to shut down all the far-flung cells.”
“Which means we could be in danger.”
“Let’s hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. The HEAT teams will stay in place until the article is published and you’re ready for me to take you home.”
“Hmm, I like the sound of you taking me home. But tomorrow will be a regular workday. The weekend skeleton crew working on the sixth floor hasn’t been a problem, but dozens of employees will be coming in and out of the building in the morning.”
“Penn is on the phone with your managing editor as we speak,” he said, “finding out about your building’s high-security protocols, and arranging to keep everyone off the fourth floor until you’re done.”
I took a deep, shaky breath. I’d talked a lot of shit about my job preparing me for potential danger, but now shit was getting real.
“You’ve got this,” TJ told me.
I closed my eyes and let his voice and words wash over me.
“I’ve got you,” he told me. “My whole team is looking out for you. Just do what you were born to do. Write your heart out, and put that truth out into the world.”
“Bedtime affirmations might even be better than bedtime stories,” I said sleepily. “But I’m still cashing in my rain check for my story the first chance I get.”
We said our goodbyes, and I settled down into the cushions. Tomorrow night at this time, I would be lying in my own bed with TJ curled around me. And the world would be a little safer because of the work we’d done together. I fell asleep knowing Aiden would be proud.
* * *
TJ
The team had been sleeping in four-hour shifts, but at 0500 hours on Monday, everyone who wasn’t watching The Sentinel offices gathered in the gym of the HEAT building. This group of warriors didn’t need any further instruction. They knew the playbook cold, and if things went sideways today, I was happy they would have my back and Ashlee’s.
“We leave in five,” I told them. “Jensen will do a final check on everyone’s comms.”
Bond stood beside me while everyone prepped their gear. “The van is all set up with medical supplies.” She glanced at me. “You don’t really think they’ll be necessary, though, do you?”
Her question was rhetorical. Or maybe it was more wishful thinking because she knew the answer to that as well as I did. The team had spent the weekend gaming out the ways Calder could learn what Ashlee was doing and how he might retaliate because he was the one we would have to worry about when the news of Kovac’s arrest hit the news. That information would get out immediately, hours before Ashlee and her team could release the article that would provide cover for her.
We had assessed that the real danger would come when the reporters started calling people who would be name-checked in the story for comment. Ashlee’s editor had agreed they would avoid calling Calder and his staff until after the first iteration of the story was online, but that didn’t mean someone somewhere wouldn’t give him the heads up.
Hours later, early in the afternoon, my phone rang. The number was from the cell phone Jensen had set up for Ashlee.
“This is the call,” I told the team. “Everyone on high alert from here on out.”
I picked up the call. “Hi, Ash. How are you holding up?”
“I’m great. We’re all great.” She sounded hyped up on adrenaline, which wasn’t surprising. “The lawyers have signed off on the story. We’ll start making final calls in fifteen minutes, and we should be able to publish by 4:00 p.m.”
“1600 is the magical hour,” Jensen relayed the message to the team.
“And no one else is working on the fourth floor today, right?” I asked her. It was important to confirm information early and often.
