Page 27 of Play the Game

When Tam looked down at the faraway ground, Alder was bent over with her hands on her knees. She was sliding toward a panic attack. She shouldn’t be in the field, and I’d damn well known it. I’d let Tam have her way because of everything I’d fucked up, and now things were only getting worse.

I typed a message to Li, which would translate into voice directly in her ear, then spoke to my IT crewmate. “Alder! Kate! I know you hear me, Kate.”

She stood up straight and nodded.

“You have one job right now. Get that vest to Sparks.”

“Alder, I’m a minute out from the parking lot,” Li said. “I’ll tranq the guy if he comes back too early, but you have to do what Jensen says.”

“Come on,” Tam coaxed. She climbed down a couple of feet to make the throw easier.

Alder bent at her knees and jumped as she threw her arms and released the vest. Tam caught in one hand, then scrambled back to the top of the fence. Seconds later, she had first the vest and then her body over the barbed wire, then scrambled down inside the fence.

Alder was recovering. “Remember how to set it,” she was telling Tam. “Just like I showed you on the drive here.”

TJ covered his mic. “Get Li on a separate channel.”

I did as I was told and listened to Tam and Alder while simultaneously following the second conversation.

“How far out is he, Jensen?”

The foreman was back in his truck. “Four minutes. I’ll make it six, but that’s the best I can do.”

There was one stoplight between the warehouse and the store, which blinked yellow at this late hour. I watched until he was rolling up on it, then switched it to red. He squealed to a stop. Meanwhile, Tam had set the device and was scrambling back up over the fence. It would be tight, but they might make it back out of the building in time.

“Should we try the rear entrance?” Tam asked.

“With all the vines and overgrowth?” Alder asked. She’d studied the plans closely, too.

“I feel better about the front,” TJ said. He and Bond exchanged a glance.

I knew what that meant. Alder’s vitals were tacking off the chart and if we stressed her in one more way, Tam might have to sling her over her shoulder and carry her out of there.

The foreman was on the move again, and while he’d sat obediently at the red light, his obvious annoyance led him to speed the rest of the way to the building.

“How much time until he’s back?” Alder asked as she followed Tam to the front of the warehouse.

“Can I talk to Alder?” Li asked.

TJ nodded, and I changed her mic settings.

“Li, you’re live.”

“Alder, I’ve got you covered, okay? I’m right outside with the tranq rifle. If the timing is off, I’ll knock him out, then we’ll drag him inside and set him up at his desk with his lunch, and he’ll think he blacked out.”

“We’re almost to the door,” Tam said.

Unfortunately, so was the foreman. He turned off the deserted street and pulled into his parking spot. Tam and Alder were three feet from the front door.

“Sparks, hold your position,” TJ said.

Off to the side of the lot, in the shadows, Li dropped to a knee and scoped the foreman. He climbed out of his car, then looked around the empty lot and peered out at the road. This was no fucking time for him to develop some sort of spidey sense about the sniper who had him in her crosshairs.

He closed his truck door, then took a step away from it. He was also moving away from the warehouse entrance. I, along with everyone else on the team, held my breath as he walked to the edge of the lot opposite from where Li was crouched. Then he unzipped his pants and pulled out his dick.

“He’s taking a piss,” I announced.

“That’s just unhygienic,” Bond whispered to me. “There are restrooms in the building. He couldn’t wait two minutes?”

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