Page 18 of Operation: Reckless Angel

The team made their plan and kept watch of the cameras planted in Cameron Woods’ place. At just after fourteen hundred, Wilson yelled from the loft. “Shit! Woods just brought a suitcase down.” He and Mother were watching the house across the street and the monitoring equipment.

“Roth, head over and see if she’s getting ready to go,” Lambchop ordered. “Everyone else, get your gear. Damn, I’d prefer to do this under the cover of darkness.”

Roth turned his comms on and inserted them. Then he threw on his jacket and left. In his ear, he heard Lambchop give a report to Ops. Garcia was on with Madison. He heard both their voices in the exchange. He consciously kept his pace slow, despite the fact that his mind was telling him to hurry up and get over there. But he knew that if they happened to see him running towards them, that would look suspicious.

Golf

Briana Woods zipped her backpack closed. She was packed and ready to go. She carried it down the stairs and set it on the floor beside her suitcase. She’d pull her van into the driveway to load them first, and then load Miss Mittens and her stuff, which she still needed to gather. She had a bin she kept the litterbox in towards the rear of the van beside the cat carrier she rarely used.

It was always hard for her to say goodbye to Cam. They may video chat, talk, and text nearly daily, but saying goodbye and driving away always hurt her heart. Cam got her like no one else did. He’d eagerly jumped on board her crazy train, understanding why she needed to do what she did when she first went down this path.

Roth reached the door and knocked.

Through the peephole, Briana saw it was Sebastian. She actually was glad she’d say goodbye to him. Even though she felt suspicious of him, she was wildly attracted to him, a weird contradiction. Or maybe it was that suspicion that increased the allure.

Briana swung it open. He saw the suitcase and backpack at her feet. Cam came up behind her. “Hey,” he greeted. “I’m thinking of going back over to that bar tonight. I saw they have half price pizzas on special today. Are either of you up for it?”

“Not me,” Briana said. “Cam, probably.” She hadn’t seen him behind her.

“Yeah, I could go for pizza,” Cameron Woods answered.

“Great,” Roth said. His gaze went back to the woman standing in front of him, who was just as attractive as ever. It was no effort to flash her a smile and speak in a flirty tone. “No pizza? Anything I can do to temp you to come?”

“No, I’m getting ready to head out.”

“Heading out? As in leaving? Already?” Roth said. “I’m disappointed. Again, is there anything I can do to tempt you to stay longer?”

She smiled that beautiful, flirty grin of hers and Roth knew he’d miss it when this case was done. Damn, how he wished he’d met her under different circumstances.

“No, there’s not,” she said. “But I am glad I met you, Sebastian.” She stepped in and pressed a soft kiss on his lips with her lips parted just slightly. He didn’t return the kiss. Either he was stunned she’d kissed him, respected that Cam stood behind her so he didn’t respond, or she was wrong, and he didn’t welcome it.

Just the brief contact shot zingers through him, paralyzing him. On her lips, he tasted the sweetness of powdered sugar. The warmth of her mouth and breath heated him. The kiss was over far too soon, and she stepped back with a momentary disappointed expression on her face, which she quickly schooled.

“Goodbye, Sebastian.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye, Briana, so I’ll say farewell until,” he said, letting the last words hang. He glanced back down at the bags by her feet. “Can I help you load your car up?”

“No, I’m going to pull it into the driveway, but thank you,” she said.

“I could get it for you,” he offered.

Cameron Woods stepped up beside her. “I got it,” he said, taking the keys from his sister’s hand.

“New plan. We take Woods down in the parking lot and drive the van over with him inside to hide our approach from Briana Woods,” Lambchop broadcast through comms. “We’ll send two in through the back as well. Crash, get yourself inside with her.”

Roth wasn’t sure how he’d do that. He watched Cameron Woods exit the house and walk towards the visitor parking lot. Through his comms he heard Lambchop’s one sentence prayer.

“Keep all safe, Heavenly Father. Let calmness be the beacon of Your light as we confront these siblings. Amen.” It was short and to the point as they were sprinting down the path behind the units to intercept Cameron Woods.

Then the idea came to Roth. He stepped inside the house, uninvited. “Now that your brother is gone,” he said, closing the front door, “I’d like to give you a proper goodbye.”

Without warning, he stepped into her and wrapped his arms around her as his lips made contact with hers. He immediately parted her lips with his tongue and released himself to explore her warm, sweet mouth with an aggressive, yet sensual kiss.

He was so lost in the sensation; he’d forgotten about the operation until he heard the narrative through his comms of the team taking Cameron Woods down beside the Transit van. They waited until Moe and Taco were near the back door of the unit, before they drove the van into Woods’ driveway, backing it in.

“Keep her away from the windows and doors if you can, Crash. We want to surprise her,” Lambchop’s voice said.

It would be a surprise alright, and not a good one. Roth momentarily broke the kiss and drew her a few steps away from the door, into the short hallway that led towards the kitchen behind them. There, he pressed her to the wall and resumed kissing her to distract her from the van backing into the driveway and who would be coming through the door in just seconds.

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