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Manu stammered, “That is—I mean— Oh fudge. I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but I figured it was okay with you guys, right? It’s okay isn’t it, Mac?”
She nodded. “Just don’t mention it to anyone else.”
“Oh, no, of course not.” Manu smiled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Jace called, “Hey, Manu, would you like a doughnut?” He pointed to the box on the counter. “Why don’t you come pick one out.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Manu got up and went over to peruse the box.
“So where did you learn all this computer stuff?” Jace asked.
“University.” Manu leaned over the doughnut box.
Mac turned back and met Dane’s gaze. His eyes were back to being ice chips. “I’ll ask again, what do you know about the missing weapons?” His tone was serious.
Mac wanted to curse. It had been a long fucking day, and she’d just found out that her boss was the one who’d tagged Dane’s car without permission. Things weren’t looking good.
“John Cross, the Deputy Director of CGIS, told everyone this morning about the Navy’s missing weapons. Everyone is all fired up to find them since he essentially said it would be a big win for the Coast Guard if we found them. People want to get into his good graces. Careers could be made on something like this.”
“Fucking hell,” Koa mumbled. “That just made our job a lot harder.”
“What do you mean? What job?” She stared at Dane, who’d taken his seat beside her again.
He glanced at Cain, who nodded and said, “You might as well tell her.”
“We were told the same thing this morning. Admiral Bertrand tasked us to find the weapons. I doubt he knew Cross was blabbing it to the world. It’s supposed to be hush-hush. Anyway, that’s what we were doing at Owens’s secret apartment tonight. This was the first opportunity we had to search it. We think he might have something to do with the missing weapons.”
“Why? Why do you think Owens was involved?”
Cain spoke up then. “That’s classified as need to know, and at the moment, I’m not sure you need to know.”
Heat crept up Mac’s cheeks. Her hands shook, and her heart hammered into her ribs. Where did they get off cutting her out of the loop? “Wait a goddamn minute. I’ve been open with you. I expect the same courtesy.”
Dane crossed his arms over his chest. “Mac, you have to look at it from our point of view. Your boss just tried to track me. He was, apparently, with the guy at Owens’s secret apartment. We don’t have enough details to know what’s going on, but it’s obvious something at CGIS is rotten.”
“And you think it’s me?” she demanded.
Dane cocked an eyebrow. “You broke into Owens’s place, too, remember? You didn’t show up with a team and a warrant. You had a flashlight and a pair of gloves.”
She closed her eyes.Fuckity. Fuck. Fuck. He had her there. How was she going to explain this? She opened her eyes again and took in the room. Jace was showing Manu something on a computer on the opposite side of the hangar. “Wait, Casper showed up at the apartment after me, which means he was probably following me. Would he bother to follow me if we were on the same team?”
“If he was sending you in undercover, he might. Besides, how do we know he followed you? Maybe he showed up there randomly and recognized my SUV.”
Mac snorted. “That’s a line of bullshit and you know it. You know he probably followed me.” She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “It does beg the question of how they found your SUV, though.”
“I think someone was watching the security feed at the apartment building, just like we were,” Cain said. “Whoever it saw Dane and Koa enter the apartment. Probably that’s how they found the SUV. Pretty sure they’d have used the external security cameras to see if anyone else, like you, came in. Then they sent their own guys down there. The two men in hoodies.”
Koa frowned. “But then they would’ve known we hadn’t left yet when they arrived. Why didn’t they look for us?”
“That’s a good question.” Cain shook his head. “I’ve got no idea.”
Dane narrowed his eyes. “Because maybe someone told them we were there. Maybe it wasn’t a tap on the security feed but a physical person who spotted us and called someone.”
Mac blinked as it clicked. “You’re thinking one of Owens’s team. Cameron and Grady were watching the apartment for some reason, and they made the call.”
“Yeah,” Dane agreed. “We didn’t notice anyone, but we weren’t being particularly subtle. Didn’t think we had to be.”
Koa shifted in his chair. “So, say it was one of Owens’s team. They see us, make the call, and Casper and his co-conspirator show up in hoodies. Then the other two, Cameron and Grady, from Owens’s team show up later, but why the delay?”
