Page 57 of Operation: Sharp Angel

“Sure, no problem. I’m sorry if I was keeping you from your work.”

“Not at all,” Angel assured her.

***

Tessman and Briana got back to HQ just after the lunch order arrived. Jackson and Smith were still near the Hoch house, watching the feed. They’d described how things had gotten tense when Jacob re-entered his house. Simone made herself scarce, obviously staying out of his way as much as she could, and she was nearly a mute when she was near him. He was looking for a fight and trying to provoke her into doing or saying somethingthat was deserving of a beating, in his mind anyway. While they watched, Simone admitted to being stupid about things, not caring enough, and being a lousy wife, promising to do better.

Hearing what was going on in that house made Tessman sick. No one should have to live like Simone Hoch was. And knowing they needed proof of Jacob Hoch’s abuse, as in footage of him actually hitting her, Tessman couldn’t help but want to camp out right outside of the Hoch’s front door. He wanted to bust in and defend Simone when Jacob would eventually strike out at his wife.

Tessman and Briana caught up with Becca in the kitchen on the fifth floor. She sat at the table with Michaela and Angel. Their plates held the remnants of their lunches.

“Mexican, yay!” Briana squealed when she saw the offering. “Thank you, Angel.” She went to the counter and grabbed a plate.

“I thought today was Greek day?” Tessman said, his gaze on Angel. He was disappointed.

“Tomorrow,” Angel answered. “How’d it go?”

“Show her your video, Moe,” Briana said. “The piece of shit took a swing at me.”

Becca was shocked to hear her say it, and she said it so calmly, almost jokingly.

“He didn’t actually hit you, did he?” Michaela asked as Tessman handed his phone to Angel, who sat beside Michaela.

Briana flashed her an ‘oh come on’ grin. “Hello, your Lambchop taught me hand-to-hand. Of course, he taught me how to evade a punch.”

“I thought I taught you that,” Madison said, coming into the room as Angel and Michaela viewed the video.

“You did too,” Briana said. “STO extraordinaire.” She giggled.

Becca listened to the exchange and picked up on the friendly teasing. She saw the pistol worn openly on this woman’s belt.And she was also beautiful. Was that some sort of requirement for working at this agency? She wondered if this was Madison.

“You must be Becca. I’m Madison. I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hi,” Becca greeted. “I’ve heard a little about you as well. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Let me see how she did,” Madison said, reaching for the phone. She replayed the swing, deflection, and faceplanting that followed. “Oh, nicely done!”

Briana beamed proudly. “Thank you. I would have liked a reason for a throat punch, but that didn’t present itself.”

Everyone in the room laughed. Becca couldn’t help but smile and chuckle along.

“She handled herself like a pro,” Tessman said.

“Aw, thank you, Moe,” Briana said, wrapping her arms around him. “We made a good team.”

The people in the room continued to laugh and conversations broke out. When Tessman pulled himself from Briana’s embrace, he went over close to Becca. “I’m going to get a plate. Will you stay with me while I eat?”

“Sure, I have nowhere else to be. I went through everything one more time while you were gone. I still can’t find anything worth killing over.”

“You’ve checked the contents on all thumb drives or other external storage?” Madison asked.

“Yes,” Becca answered.

“Brielle is convinced they have to have an account someplace that we don’t know about where they stored things. She is shocked by the lack of stuff in their cloud storage accounts,” Tessman said. “She and Smith have gone over their laptops and browsing histories but can’t find a trace of it.”

“What if they used their work computers?” Madison asked. “When I was in the private sector, people stored all kinds ofpersonal shit on their work computers or the cloud storage attached to their work accounts that they shouldn’t have.”

“Then we’ll never see it. Well-Life has already wiped it, I’m sure. If they aren’t guilty of something, they’re sure acting like it,” Tessman said.

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