Page 19 of Play the Game

She shrugged. “Sometimes too good. Hazard of the profession.”

It sounded like there was a story there, but she didn’t seem interested in sharing it. I understood the sentiment, so I didn’t ask.

I glanced at the map on her computer screen. “Have any towns flooded recently?”

“Something’s always flooding. So, you and Jensen...”

My heart kicked against my rib cage. The way she’d trailed off like that indicated she knew something. I waited a few beats, then replied calmly. “What about Jensen and me?”

“Oh.” She glanced at me. “You’ll need to go set up remote relays as soon as possible, right?”

We would need those signal boosters once he was inside the warehouse with the other hackers. He would override one of their firewalls and create a tiny pinhole in one of their networks so he could feed us constant data.

I nodded. “That’s a little dicier, though. You and I will need to identify the best potential locations to install the devices, then run surveillance on those spots tomorrow to track foot traffic, see the visibility from the street, and determine the likelihood that we might be detected while we install them. We’ll take Kessler and Li.”

“I’ve already ID’d locations with Penn’s help.” Hart smiled. “Bond eased off some of his meds last night and asked me to work with him to distract him.” She handed me the list of six locations within a two-block radius of the warehouse that would work best for our purposes. Once we were on the ground, we would narrow it down to the three best spots.

“Good woman,” I said. “He’s a cranky patient.”

She shrugged. “Well, you had your hands full with the resident bad boy, so it seemed like the least I could do.”

I stared down at the list, hoping she wasn’t looking at me closely enough to see my blush. I’d had my hands full, all right, and in all kinds of places I could never discuss, even with my best friend. Especially with my best friend. I was sure that after the way I ran off to hide in the bathroom, he would never want to speak of last night again. I regretted that for so many reasons, not the least of which was that being intimate with Jason was the best time I’d ever had with a man, and we hadn’t even done half of what I’d wanted, which was no one’s fault but my own.

I added the list of potential relay locations to my pile of papers. “Get the list to IT so they can identify any technical issues and draw up the equipment specs. After that, keep working on identifying the most likely entry points from Canada for smuggling in a dirty bomb.”

“God, I forgot how stressful it is working on the homeland side.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “This is why I spent so many years in Europe.”

I sat up straighter and observed her. The last thing we needed on a mission with stakes this high was a team member melting down. “Are you going to be okay to work this?”

“Absolutely.” She stretched her neck from side to side. “I swear, I’m fine. But I am still jetlagged. That overnight flight to get here from Istanbul was brutal. I probably need a long, hard training session to work out the kinks.”

For tactical operatives, intense physical exercise, up to and including hand-to-hand combat with enemies, was the answer to everything that ailed them. I had to remember I was working with a cross-trained agent.

“We’re ahead of schedule on the logistics plans,” I told her. “Why don’t you join Kessler and Li for their morning workout?”

“Really? That would be great.”

I nodded. “We’ll get back together after the team meeting.”

She shut down her computer and stacked her files neatly in front of it, then slipped out the door quickly, probably worried I’d change my mind.

Bond poked her head in the door. “Hart doesn’t scare easily, so what did you do to make her run that fast?”

I grinned. “She doesn’t want to miss the chance to play with her tactical counterparts.”

“Physical exercise is very important.” Bond entered the room, closed the door, and sat down across from me.

“I have a workout on my schedule for this afternoon, if that’s what you’re here to find out.”

She smiled. “I’m not worried about your training regimen, Sparks.”

I didn’t return her smile. “But you’re worried about something.”

“Jensen.”

My pulse throbbed in my throat, the way it had when Hart had mentioned him. But she hadn’t known anything about last night, and neither could Bond. I stared down at the papers on the table and waited for her to finish her thought.

“Sparks, give me your arm.”

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