AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maria rolled her eyes. “Seriously, a flesh wound.”
“You both look like shit,” he said, greeting Maria with a fist bump and Teag with a handshake.
Maria glared. She thought they’d cleaned up rather well, all things considered.
“Glad you’re still in one piece,” Tank said, sitting back down.
Both Maria and Teag took seats around the table.
“Okay, where are we? Any sign of Ivanovich?” she asked into the room.
Cam had a whiteboard set up at the head of the conference table, and everyone on the team had their laptops open. Jake’s face smiled out from the screen when Maria sat next to Tank and looked over his shoulder.
“The FBI knew the safehouse had been breached pretty quickly. They got the signal about the downed power and cut camera feeds from the security system. You guys were gone by the time they got there, and so was Ivanovich.”
“Did he leave any evidence behind?” Maria asked. Like blood, because maybe I shot the fucker, she thought but didn’t speak aloud.
“The Feds wouldn’t let us onto their scene, but Mike unofficially heard that the place was clean. No fingerprints other than yours and FBI personnel. Not that we’d expect much.”
Maria nodded her agreement.
“However,” Cam said, a tight grin on his face. “Jake pulled up all traffic cameras in the area around the timeframe of the breach, and we found him.”
“No shit?” Maria exclaimed, leaning to look closely at the video feed on Jake’s screen share.
The clip wouldn’t be enough to identify Ivanovich in a courtroom, since he wore a balaclava over his face, but they didn’t need to prove it was him to anyone. They just needed to figure out where the bastard had gone.
“I ran the plate, and it’s a rental. Bogus name and address. Stolen credit card. But all the cars have GPS trackers in them.” Jake’s grin was feral.
Maria glanced at Cam, whose expression became stoically unreadable. He played above board most of the time, but this was what he meant by going hunting, his way.
“I’ll get back to you as soon as I access that GPS and have a location for you guys,” Jake said. No one bothered to tell Jake to cover his tracks. He could do shit like this in his sleep.
“This is good,” Maria said, leaning back in her chair. “Finally, we’re a step ahead of this asshole.”
“This asshole who shot you,” Cam said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Anyone have an extra shirt I can borrow?” Maria asked, plucking at the stiff fabric and ignoring Cam’s glare.
“I can run out to pick up a few things for you guys,” Tank offered.
“That would be great. We had to ditch our go-bag while making our great escape,” Maria said, smiling gratefully at Tank.
She knew Cam wasn’t pissed at her. She’d done her job and, with Teag’s help, kept them both alive. Cam probably wouldn’t even be that pissed about her deal with del Fuego, considering the less than straight-and-narrow path he was taking to find Ivanovich. Cam was a protector, first and foremost, and he couldn’t stand it when someone got hurt on his watch. At some point, he’d demand the details of their getaway, if only to see what he could have done to prevent her getting injured on the job. Still, she wasn’t looking forward to the conversation.
She was saved from having that chat immediately when his phone rang. His whole face changed, lightened. “Hey, Liss,” he said, walking into one of the bedrooms for privacy.
“There’s a Target a few blocks from here. Make me a list of things you guys need, and I’ll head out,” Tank offered.
“Thank you,” Maria said gratefully.
A few hours later, after eating their fill off the room service menu, Maria and Teag sported clean shirts and sweatpants, and full bellies. Cam had holed himself up in one of the bedrooms, working on contracts and other TSI work, while the rest of the team entertained themselves by cleaning their weapons, yelling at the ball game on television, and picking at the leftover food.
A low-level hum of energy flowed through the room, the tenor of that energy a combination of excitement and tense anticipation. It reminded Maria of those moments when her unit knew they’d be heading out on a mission.
Teag sat on the couch, watching the game, and surreptitiously watching Maria. She caught him glancing her way a few times and gave him a small smile. Her mind had wandered ahead to what the team would do when Jake sent them intel on Ivanovich’s whereabouts. She didn’t have to wait very long.
Jake texted a little after seven pm, and the team reassembled around the table. I’ve got an address for you.
