Page 6 of Guarded from Sabotage

By the time I get to the conference room, Xaver and Niall are already waiting, and Erik comes in right after me. As I settle at the head of the table, Niall catches my gaze and asks, “Everything okay? You’re usually here before everyone.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. My mom called. She just got going, chatting. Telling me about family news, that kind of thing. She told me to say hi, and that she’s sending cookies next week.”

“Cookies?” Xavier brightens. “She’s sending more cookies? Did she say what kind?”

“Double chocolate chunk.” Pausing, I take on a thoughtful expression. “Although, maybe I’ll keep them all for myself. Thosearemy favorite.”

Xavier claps his hand over his chest in mock-shock. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t what?” Rhiannon walks in and slips into one of the leather chairs. Her lips twitch. “Who’s doing something terrible?”

“Dante is,” Erik replies with a smirk. “His mom is sending cookies, and he’s going to hog all of them.”

Niall shakes his head while making ahow could youexpression. “Man. When I tell Jade she’s not getting any of Mrs. De Luca’s incredible cookies, she’s going to be so disappointed.” He pauses. “She might even cry.”

“Who’s making Jade cry?” Matt comes in, his laptop in one hand and an enormous thermos of coffee in the other. He takesthe chair next to me and looks over at Niall. “Do I need to hack someone’s computer or lock their accounts or something?”

“Probably not,” Niall replies. “It’s just Dante being selfish with his mom’s cookies.”

Matt chuckles. “Sounds like Dante. You know, this one time, his mom sent an entire cake and he wouldn’t share with any of us. And he?—”

“That’s not what happened, and you know it.” Pinning Matt with a narrowed gaze, I add, “She sent it for Enzo’s birthday. Which wasn’t for another two days. And you vultures wanted to eat it right away. OfcourseI had to hide it.”

“That was Finn,” Erik interjects. “He’s the one who wanted to search your apartment for it. We just tagged along.”

One of my former teammates and a current member of the original Blade and Arrow team out in New York, Finn is notorious for being a vulture, though you’d never know from looking at him.

“Well,” I say while giving a pointed look at my watch, “while this conversation is fascinating, we have a meeting to start. And I’m not hogging any cookies. You all know it. Once they get here, I’ll put them in the shared kitchen so everyone can have some.”

“I know.” Erik flicks a pen at me, and I catch it in mid-air. “Just messing with you.”

“I know,” I retort, then flash him a grin as I whip it back at him. “Now. We need to get started. Finn texted me earlier and he wants to call in to the meeting. He’s got a potential case for us to look into. So I want to go over our other upcoming jobs first.”

Everyone straightens and smiles shift to attentive expressions. That’s another thing I like about my team; we can joke around and have fun, but when it’s time for business, we don’t mess around.

“Okay.” I tap my tablet and flip through my files. “First, we have two paid jobs coming up in January. One’s a three-day jobin Dallas, coordinating security for a conference on renewable energy alternatives. They’re concerned about protesters, which is why they called us in to assist. I’m thinking Rhiannon, Xavier, and Erik for that one.”

“Sounds good,” Xavier says, lifting his chin.

“Same,” echo Rhiannon and Erik.

“Excellent.” I exchange a quick glance and smile with each of them. “The other job is at the end of the month. A Fortune 500 CEO would like us to work with his security team, get some of the newer hires trained up, and check his system for any potential security weaknesses. It’ll probably be a three or four day gig. Matt, Niall, and I can do that one.”

After brief affirmations from Matt and Niall, I move on. “As for pro-bono cases, we have a few requests—a stalking situation out in Corpus Christi, a woman in Shreveport who claims her boss is blackmailing her, and a possible deepfake issue in Galveston. I’d like to arrange times to meet with all three to get more information, but first, I think we should hear what Finn has to say.”

Rhiannon leans forward and rests her arms on the table. “Did he tell you anything about what’s going on?”

“Not much. Just that it’s his wife’s best friend, and it’s not the typical B and A case. He said it’s complicated, which is why he’s calling into the meeting.”

“Hanna’s best friend?” Niall frowns. “Sarah, right? We sat with her at the wedding, didn’t we?”

“Yeah.” Nodding, I add, “She lives in San Antonio, so it makes more sense for us to look into it than Finn’s team.”

My phone buzzes, and I look down to see a text from Finn. He’s asking if we’re ready to start the videoconference, so I send a quick reply saying we’re setting it up now.

Turning to Matt, I ask, “Can you start a meeting and send the invite to Finn? He just texted asking if we’re ready.”

“Sure.” Matt grabs the remote for the projection screen from the center of the table and presses a few buttons, and the large screen on the wall blinks on. Then he taps on his keyboard for a second before saying, “Okay. All set. As soon as Finn’s ready, he’ll be on.”

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