Page 34 of Play the Game

A chill ran through me. How had I missed that obvious truth? I’d been excited for Tam. I believed in her ability to lead, even if she wasn’t yet sure of it herself. I wanted everything for her. But I didn’t want her to leave Alpha Team, and I couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from her.

“Oh, Jensen.” Hart touched my shoulder. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive. I know she’s your best friend, and it will probably suck not to see her as much, or very often at all.”

Hart was a great colleague, a warm acquaintance, and probably a future good friend. But at that moment, I just wanted her to go the hell away. I was about to suggest that she round up the rest of the team while I finished making breakfast when our phones dinged in unison. We glanced at each other, then pulled our phones out of our pockets.

“Fuck me,” I muttered as I read the text. “I have to get to my computer.” I dumped the second batch of French toast on top of the first, shoved the tray back into the oven, and turned down the heat on the sausages, all in about five seconds’ time. Who the hell knew when we would actually get to eat. “Make sure everyone’s up and has seen this text,” I called over my shoulder as I dashed for the barn.

TJ, who’d probably been up and working for a couple of hours by now, met me on his way out of the building and on my way in. “The team—”

“Kat’s on it,” I called as I ran past him.

He followed me into the IT room. “What did we miss?” he asked as I woke up all the machines in the room.

“Everything.” It all clicked into place. Pasco had been contacted, and probably Lockerbee aka Bee, as well. “We have one FBI team watching Bee, but we need another.”

“You think she’s next?”

I shook my head. “Not in the way you think. But we’ll need X and the FBI director and the field teams who were watching Pasco and her all on a call as soon as the team gets here.”

TJ was already on his phone.

I signed into a secret online chat I hadn’t visited in years. This was where Pasco would come, the place he would leave me a message. The place where, hopefully, he would be able to tell me what had happened because, for the life of me, I did not know how he had disappeared right out from under his FBI surveillance team, but he had.

Jack Pasco was missing, and I knew the Carbonados had him.

* * *

Tamela

I was half-dressedwhen the text message arrived from the FBI surveillance team that Jack Pasco was missing. When he’d failed to leave his house following his usual morning routine, they’d used infrared to try to detect him inside his house, which was empty. Then they’d pinged his phone and learned it had been turned off around 2:30 a.m., which meant the Carbonados had snatched him around that time and now had a five-hour head start.

“This is why Jason hates working with other agencies,” I muttered to myself as I pulled on the rest of my clothes. “He and Alder would have been monitoring all Pasco’s devices, but no, HEAT had to stand down and let the FBI surveil him, and nowthishappens.”

I ran down the stairs and found Bond and Hart in the kitchen.

“We’re bringing breakfast to the barn,” Bond said. “You go ahead. Kessler and Li are already halfway there.”

“And I’m coming,” Alder called as she ran into the kitchen. “Jensen has already sent me ten texts of instructions about what I need to do,” she told me as we jogged across the lawn. “He’s working even faster than usual.”

That told me that Pasco’s disappearance was more than a professional blow to him. By the time we reached the barn, the moveable wall around IT had been pulled away, and the large conference table, lined with multiple computers, now faced Jason’s and Alder’s side-by-side workstations. She slid into her chair and started working on her computer, jumping right into following Jason’s orders.

“Catch them up,” TJ told Jason. “X has me on hold, but we’ll be patching in her and the FBI team on the conference line in a few minutes.”

Bond and Hart trotted in with food, coffee carafes, and dishes balanced on multiple trays. They set up a buffet on a smaller conference table pushed against the wall.

Seeing the food Jason must have been preparing when he’d received the text made me realize he’d been taking care of his team, per usual. Now it was time for us to take care of him in any way we could. He caught my eye, and I was sure I blushed. Fortunately, no one else was focused on me. Jason gave me a small smile and noticeably relaxed upon seeing me, unclenching his fists at his side and taking a deep breath. I wanted to hug him and tell him we had this and we had him, but that would have to wait for a private moment at some unknown time in the future.

“Everybody, grab a plate while Jensen explains the operation,” TJ said.

We all obeyed except Jason and Alder. Kessler and I exchanged a glance, and each grabbed a second plate to fill for them.

“We know it’s the Carbonados who snatched Pasco,” Jason said, “but all we’ve told the FBI is he’s been targeted by terrorists. X has read the director the riot act, so now they know to follow our instructions to the letter and not ask any more stupid questions.”

I took that to mean the agents on the ground had shown resistance to his directions.

“Bee hasn’t been taken,” he said, “but now I’m sure she was contacted. Not electronically, but we know the Carbonados love some old-school spy craft, so maybe they dropped a note into her pocket or some shit. But now they have Pasco under lock and key, and Bee ready to do their bidding. To make it as simple as possible: they’re going to force him to hack and her to monitor him.”

“Why not take her, too, then?” Kessler asked as she placed a breakfast plate and mug of coffee beside Alder.

---