Page 33 of Good Enough

“On your way?” Waters asked.

There was a double tap on the passenger window.

Waters disconnected from the comm system and punched the unlock feature on his doors. Barely opening the door, Steel slipped inside, tossing him a plain white bag. “God sent it for you.” Waters reengaged the locks, then looked inside the bag.

Snickers bars.

“I hate that man,” he groaned.

Steel just smirked and helped himself to one. When he noticed Waters' really? expression, Steel shrugged. “I’m hungry.” He took a bite of the candy bar. As he adjusted his Raiders baseball cap over his black spiky hair, his ice-gray eyes were assessing his boss. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, honey.”

Steel gave a small smile. “Update?”

Slipping on his aviators, Waters snuck a quick look at Kubrick’s trailer. “She had a tough afternoon on multiple fronts.” He shook his head before collecting himself. “She’s busy gathering all her paperwork and last-minute files. On top of that, she hasn’t packed yet, and we take off from LAX at seven-fifteen tomorrow. She’ll probably pull an all-nighter, despite orders not to, so I guess at least you won’t be watching dark windows all night.”

“Cool. A home movie.” It was the closest to a joke that Steel would probably make.

“You’ve seen the house?”

“Stopped there on the way here. Did a sweep. Tripped all eyes, outside and inside, to make sure everything’s working.”

“You went inside?”

Shrugging, Steel confessed, “I’m thorough. I’m watching one of my team’s women.”

“She’s not my woman,” Waters sighed. He felt like he did that a lot lately.

“Yeah, because you put every woman up on a counter, share a glass of tequila, and then kiss her on the forehead.”

Waters bowed his head. “Fuck.”

“Live feed at all times. Your orders, even. Hermano, you’ve got to stop giving them so much material to work with.”

Some days, I hate my team.

“She was having a vulnerable moment. It’s not going to happen again.”

Steel said nothing.

“I did create a problem, though, which is I need to get her home safe.”

“You could just barrel back in there, take her home, and let nature continue to take its course.”

“I thought we were friends.”

“I’m just sayin’.” Steel shook his head in disgust. “Plan B, then. Still have my Uber sticker and app from that job last year. Tell her you have an old Navy buddy who’s an Uber driver and that you arranged a ride.”

Waters took out his phone and began to text Kubrick. “Brilliant. Plus it will force her to go home at a decent hour. I owe you.”

“I’ll add it to the list.”

Waters abruptly switched gears. “You’ve seen Big Bird?” Steel nodded. “You see him approach, call me. I don’t care what time it is. And you need to get into the room with them. I don’t care if it breaks your cover. She is not to be around that man without protection.”

“You still suspect him?”

“Yes and no. He’s definitely got it out for Kubrick, but he may not be the reason we were contacted.”

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