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I take a breath. Sling open the closet door and grab some clothes. “Fine. Call with any update.”
This time, I end the call. Sure, Erik’s a partner at Arrow and I’m acting like he works for me, but I don’t give a damn.
My next call is to Ryan. Family time be damned.
“Hey. Head to the helipad.” The man is succinct.
Every exhausted muscle tightens as if lit by a live wire.
“What’d you find out?” I ask as I rush through the house like I just got an order to be wheels up in thirty.
“Confirmation on hotel location. No sighting of Sophia, but analysts say there’s no way Gemma will be acting alone. If they have her, Rafe and his men will be involved.”
“So, we’re going down to San Diego?”
“Based on the timeline, they’re probably still in transit. We won’t be far behind.”
At the helicopter pad, Ryan asks, “Anyone follow you?”
“No.”
He’s already got it ready to go, and I jump in. The second our headsets are on, his voice comes through the mic.
“Tell me exactly what happened yesterday.”
“We both sent in updates.”
“I want to hear it from you.”
“I wasn’t with her. I was with Rafael. She told me she ran into a friend. Lauren.” I stare out ahead of us, trying to calm the rush of adrenaline to remember exactly what she said. “I’m not clear why she was there.”
“Should we put surveillance on Lauren?”
I try to remember what I know about Lauren. She was one of Sophia’s close friends, so we had a full background on her. More than once my team helped Sophia get a drunken Lauren home. Nothing suspicious. Normal college behavior. What did she major in? English?
But what did Sophia say? She played along?
“I think it’s a coincidental run-in.” I cringe as I say it, because no one in our line of work thinks much of coincidences. “When Erik checked Sophia’s phone log, did he mention if she talked to Lauren?”
“She did. Five minutes and twenty-five seconds. But Lauren called her multiple times last night. Doesn’t appear she answered.”
I think back on last night with Sophia. No, once we entered the house, we weren’t on our phones. A visual of Sophia’s flirty smile and her straddling my lap hits hard, and I snap my eyelids closed.
“She probably explained to Lauren what was going on.”
“You think she looped her in on this op?”
“No. Nothing like that. Sophia wouldn’t break protocol. If anything, she told her she’s UC FBI. Sophia hasn’t shared with any of her friends that she's working for the CIA. They think she’s in finance.” Sophia and I didn’t discuss what she’d say to Lauren, and we probably should have. Why the fuck didn’t I think about that? But no, Sophia’s a professional. “You can set surveillance on Lauren, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“We’ve already got surveillance on her.”
“And?”
“She’s still in her hotel.”
“Back in Santa Barbara?”
“Yep.”
