Page 80 of The Twilight Theft

Shove it in the locker, Drew. There are men up there taking care of it.

What if they missed something? What if another suspicious character distracted them? What if Noah had so many co-conspirators crawling through this building we were chasing ghosts?

Jayce placed a gentle hand on my chest. “Breathe.”

How was the chaos monster the calm one?

“I can barely hear anything over your heart racing.” Her words were so quiet, hand so light.

I gripped her hand, pressing it against my chest. Against my heart. Itwasbeating too fast.

We had to finish this job so I could say goodbye to her for good. So I could start focusing on my job. On the world around me. On something other than this woman in her pink dress who wasn’t just standing still for once, but was helping me relax.

The CIA trained me. I was in control under every circumstance—in every situation I found myself in—except around her.

What was it about her?

“Scarlett and Malcolm are on the ground floor.” She tapped two times with her index finger—Go forward—despite not needing the hand signal. “The thief’s approaching where they’re building the bar. Looks like he’s heading for the entrance by the fountain.”

The lower floor had been an office space, then a coffee shop, a casual restaurant, and was currently being converted into a whiskey bar. The in-progress construction would provide hiding places, but considering the thief carried Jayce’s tracker, the hiding places wouldn’t be enough.

“Scarlett and Malcolm will come in through double doors by the elevator at the west end,” she said. “They’ll hold that entrance, and we’ll either catch the thief or flush them out. Good?”

“Good. And the rest of your team?”

“Emmett and Zaria are working with Craig to get the cameras and your comms back up.”

“And Noah? Do you think he hamstrung both of our teams simultaneously?”

“Yes.” Jayce opened her eyes and shifted her hands to the door handle. “I’m going first on three. One.”

“No. I’m going first.” The last thing I needed was for someone to swing that metal dragonfly’s head and smash it into her skull. I wanted her out of my life, but not that way.

“Now is not the time to be second-guessing me. The way you clomp around in those shoes, they’ll know exactly where you are.” She glowered at me, lifting her phone to show the tracker had stopped moving. “Me, on the other hand? I’ll be able to sneak up behind them and—”

“Get your head bashed in by a solid metal sculpture?”

“This is why I didn’t want to work with him,” she said, obviously bypassing me and speaking to her team. “This is the same shit you pulled on the Harrington job. I know what I’m doing.”

I stopped her before she opened the door. “This isn’t about capability. It’s about keeping you safe.”

“Before you say something else that will force my team to put me on mute again, this is about a job. This is about stopping Noah from screwing us over.”

It wasn’t even about the chip. She didn’t care about that.

She cared about her team.

She’d put herself in harm’s way for them.

In some circles, that would be called admirable. In our current circle, it made her weak and ensured she made stupid decisions.

In exactly the same way you’re making stupid decisions around her, Drew.

“You’re the subject matter expert.” I took my hand off the door. “I’ll be directly behind you.”

With a nod, she eased the door open and slipped through it. I followed, remaining almost as quiet as she did. The soles of her shoes were an uncoated leather, silent against the poured concrete floor. Fortunately, the band was still playing upstairs despite everything.

At the far end of the open space, the lights from the fountain around the square shone through white paper blocking the windows. Unlike the restaurant above, the wall facing the river was just that—a wall without an exit.

---