Page 34 of Captured Pawn
I could tell she was nervous. Hell, if I was being honest, I was too. Sophie was bouncing her left leg in a jittery rhythm while anxiously twirling a lock of her long dark hair that she’d pulled back in a ponytail.
“I love Waterfall. I hate to miss it,” she said absentmindedly, staring out the side window to avoid looking at me.
“There will be other events over the summer. This isn’t the only night.”
“Yeah, I know, but opening night is always the best. Matty and I would always…”
Her voice trailed off. I knew it was a tradition for her and her brother to go to opening night together. He’d always insisted on having the night off and it had usually pissed me off.
Now, here I was, taking his place with Sophie, but instead of going to a fun family event, I was dragging her deeper into the dark and dangerous side of my business.
Christ, I hated feeling guilty. It was a rare emotion for me.
“You know, I think you’ve prepped me enough. When we get there, you can stay in the van. I’ll keep a live feed going so you can see what I’m doing, and you can tell me what to do remotely,” I offered.
I sensed her finally turning to look at me as she answered. “We’ve discussed this. That will never work. This is going to be hard, if not impossible, for me. There’s no way I can help you from afar.”
Pops’ voice boomed out of the walkie-talkie in the middle console, preventing me from responding. “The targets have left the building. Repeat, we have confirmed all targets have departed for the event as planned. Over.”
His update should have made me happy.
It didn’t.
We were only ten minutes away. It wasn’t too late to turn around.
Except then I thought of the fallout if we didn’t succeed. There was more at stake than only photos and flash drives, which was just another reason for my guilt.
I’d shared so much with Matt’s sister, but I still hadn’t told her the biggest secret of all—the real reason she was in danger. I’d waited for her to put it together… that there had to be something more threatening her than being the sister of some guy who’d broken into the Bishop estate. Part of me was relieved it had gone over her head, but the more I’d gotten to know her, the harder it had been to keep from confiding it.
Didn’t she deserve to know the truth—thewholetruth that even her father and brother had kept from her long before I’d gotten involved?
I pushed the thought away. Now was not the time to worry about ancient history. I needed to keep my head in the game. I was already going into this with a handicap. As capable as Sophie may be with her safecracking, I hadn’t forgotten she was a complete novice in the area of breaking and entering. There were always things that could go wrong. Situations where we’d need to think fast on our feet and not panic. Chances were good that she’d fall apart—make mistakes.
I didn’t have time to worry about the possibilities. I’d already taken our exit and was winding through the upscale suburban community of my enemy. The skeleton team of my most trusted employees had already penetrated the estate and were in the process of neutralizing the security personnel Bishop had left behind to guard his property. If all went as planned, the guards would wake up in about four hours with a major headache and no recollection of what had happened to them.
Pops’ voice crackled through the walkie-talkie again as I pulled the van to a stop a block from the Bishop driveway.
“Security sweep complete. Targets napping. Cameras and alarm system disabled. We are a go. Repeat. We are a go.”
I glanced at my watch. They were running one minute ahead of schedule, but it was just as well. The last thing I needed was more time to second guess myself.
Grabbing the radio, I answered, “Roger that. We’ll be at the meeting place in five.”
I turned to tell Sophie to insert the wireless earpiece we’d use to communicate with my team once inside, but she was already gearing up.
Christ, she’s a natural.
I pushed down the thought, inserting my own earpiece before grabbing our packed gear bag from behind her seat.
Our eyes met. There was enough light from the streetlamps that had turned on at dusk that I could see the fear in her gaze.
“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” I said, realizing how lame that sounded. I added, “All of the security guards are sleeping. There shouldn’t be any danger tonight.”
“I know. That’s not it.” She paused before adding. “I was a straight A student. I rarely drive over the speed limit, and I don’t cheat on my taxes, yet—I’m about to knowingly commit a felony. It may take me some time to wrap my head around that.”
“Yeah, well, time isn’t something we have a lot of. Can you maybe wait until later to contemplate your life choices?”
It was a shitty comment. I knew it as I said it, but it was also the truth. We were at the go/no-go portion of the mission and as much as I like being in charge, tonight, it was Sophie Locke who would make the final call. I reluctantly added, “It’s not too late. If you really are having second thoughts, I understand. We’ll pull the plug and I’ll get my men out of there.”
