Page 50 of Judgment Day

Scar

Operation: JudgmentDayhad begun.

Declan stayed long enough to help them get everything inside the cottage and do a perimeter check. Then he left and told them he’d be back in two days unless they told him differently. If he didn’t hear from them at all, he’d be there in two days. If he called and they didn’t answer, he’d be there in two days.

He made sure to reiterate that he’d be there in two days. Exa could tell he hated leaving them to handle things on their own. But, he was needed back at the safe house, just in case things went south with Zian Fang. Before leaving, Declan pulled Scar aside. The two of them stepped outside to chat.

Exa couldn’t deny that she felt some type of way when the two of them had their private conversation. She felt like she was being left out of the loop, which was strange because normally something like that wouldn’t bother her. The rational part of her knew she was feeling that way because she was keeping secrets herself.

The irrational part of her said, if he could keep secrets, she could too. That was just her guilty conscience trying to justify her withholding things from Scar. Exa pushed both feelings to the back burner.Mission first. Emotions later. It was a shame she had to keep reminding herself of that. The first thing Exa did after Declan left was placed a red lightbulb in the porch light.

“Does the red light bulb mean something?” Scar asked as she screwed the bulb in.

“Yes. There are two porch lights. This one. And the one on the other side of the porch.”

Scar followed her gaze to the light fixture that had a regular white bulb in it.

“If I need to use the porch light, I’ll turn that light on. But this red light is only used if I’m in distress. No one will see it unless they’re in the area. But if I leave it on when I leave here, they’ll know to check on the last person who’d stayed here. Usually, by the time they check in, I’m okay, or whoever was staying here and left the light on is okay. Another reason for putting the bulb in here is to let anyone who comes while we’re here know that someone is staying here. They’ll know the cabin is occupied when they see the red bulb. Therefore, they won’t just put the code in the door and come in. They’ll knock. So, red light on means danger. Red light off, but bulb present means someone is staying here. No red bulb means no danger, and no one is here.”

“That’s very organized.”

“Thanks. I wish I could take the credit for it. But it was Des’s idea. Okay, the bulb is in. Let’s head to the kitchen and get started.”

“Right behind you, boss.”

Exa grinned when he saluted her. Together, they headed inside. Scar locked the door behind them. They used the kitchen table as their command center. Scar rolled out the blueprint of the judge’s house that Seven had printed for them and started putting red stickers in the areas where the cameras were.

While he did that, Exa set up the laptops and comm-devices. Once everything was set up, she checked in with their team to make sure everyone’s devices were working. Then she and Scar walked the perimeter while Seven and Liam watched them on the cameras. Almost all cameras had a lag time. They needed to check the lag times of their cameras.

Exa waved at a camera. “Let me know when you see me waving?” she told Seven. Two seconds later, Seven told her she saw her. Exa moved to another camera. “Let me know when you see me waving at camera two. Exa waved at the camera. Almost two seconds later, Seven told her she saw her. “It looks like the lag time is two seconds.” Exa looked over at Scar. “What about you?”

“Same,” he told her. “Camera three was one point five seconds. But none are over two seconds.”

“That’s not bad. Those on the comms now know that if we issue an order, they’re to act swiftly and not wait to see what the cameras reveal. If they see someone approaching the property, they’ll know the person approaching is two seconds ahead of them. Two seconds is better than some cameras. I’ve had cams with a five-second lag. Anything over five seconds is unusable for us.”

Exa switched her comms back on and told her team they were done with the cams check and she’d check in again later. After turning the comms off, Scar spoke up.

“I can’t lie. I’m a little shocked at how much attention you all pay to even the smallest details,” Scar admitted.

Exa only smiled. The fact that his crew didn’t account for every tiny detail was the reason Nova didn’t want them helping with the Letisha mission. There was that guilt again. She shoved it aside and finished up her task. With the perimeter cams check complete, Exa and Scar headed back inside.

As they walked, Exa said, “You guys are detailed. You have Liam. Who I know pays attention to even the smallest detail.”

“Yeah, he does. We were lucky to have him join us. Without him, we’d be screwed. Sometimes, even when we plot out everything, shit still goes awry. Or someone snaps and steps outside of the plan, causing us all to have to adjust and change the plan.”

Exa stared over at him. “That happens to all teams. I’ve stepped outside of the plan before. It happened when the judge sent an assassin after me while I was working on a case. He fucked up my entire plan, and I had to adjust.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t your fault. Sometimes, our fuck ups are our fault,” he told her.

Exa changed the subject, “Are you hungry? My team packed MREs. That’s what we usually bring on short missions like this. But, on the way out, Rain gave me a bag of groceries. I haven’t unpacked it yet.”

“I’ll unpack it. You have a seat at the island and rest,” he told her once they were inside.

Exa obeyed, glad they were no longer talking about his team and the missions they’d messed up on. Exa locked the door behind them and headed over to the stool. She couldn’t sit at the table since they had made it their command center. Scar chuckled as he unpacked the bag Rain had prepared.

“She packed bread, peanut butter and jelly, fruit, and fruit snacks,” he told Exa.

Seated on a stool, Exa smiled. “She stole the kids’ snacks.”

---