Page 248 of Rival Hero

Disgusting.

I shake off the morose thoughts and refocus. Sawyer’s knocking at the door, and my heart threatens to beat out of my chest. I’m usually amped for this type of thing, but this one is different. It’s personal.

I adjust the headset, increasing the volume to hear what’s being said on the other side of the door.

A figure crosses on the other side of the room at the edge of my periphery. I glance quickly from the screen to notice Charlotte meandering across the room.

Simultaneously on one screen, Sawyer barges into Tony’s hotel room, and the team disappears from the hallway cam, drawing my attention back to the op.

I shift my sight to Jonesy’s cam footage. He’s the only one we wired with a camera. Since we were going for incognito to get through the hotel unnoticed, we couldn’t outfit them all. But Jonesy’s ball cap made for a nice hiding place.

There’s a scuffle, capturing my attention, so I careen my neck to see what’s happening. My fists pulse and unclench as adrenaline zaps through my bloodstream.

Sawyer pins Tony at the same time as Charlotte waves her hand near my screen, stealing my attention.

Holy shit.

Klein’s mother opened the front door to let in the intel director of the FBI. Tony’s boss. The woman who sent me away with promises to investigate him further.

Well, she failed. Clearly.

I pull my headphones off, set them beside my laptop, and glide around the table. “Lisa? What are you doing here?”

My scalp prickles, and the hairs of my arm stand on end as the shock of seeing her recedes and gives a wide berth to fear.

Not for me, but for Charlotte.

I shift my eyes to Klein’s dear mother, and although she seems a bit confused, she answers my unspoken question. “She knocked. She’s Calvin’s friend.”

Bad, bad, bad. This is all bad.

I must not have heard her knocking on the door with the headphones cranked up so loudly. Son of a bitch.

There is no good reason for Lisa to be here.

With a calm voice, I reassure her that everything is fine. “Thanks for letting her in, Charlotte. This is my friend Lisa. Why don’t you have a seat on the couch while she and I catch up?”

“Something to drink?” she offers Lisa.

Her answering smile is plastic. “That would be lovely. What do you have?”

Why didn’t I ever notice how evil she looks?

A wave of confusion slips over Charlotte’s kind face, and she glances at me, silently asking for help.

My number one mission is to get her away from Lisa. I don’t trust this woman any more than one trusts a viper hanging out in your commode.

“Charlotte, would you go into the kitchen and make Lisa and me some tea? Your electric kettle is beside the microwave on the counter.”

She blinks and nods, then retreats in the wrong direction.

Dammit.Too much is different today. Too many stressors in her environment. Her routine is shot to shit. She’s going to spin out. I sense it coming.

A few seconds later, the sound of her opening and closing doors in the hallway reaches us.

Good. She’s out of the way.

Stay down there, Charlotte. Don’t come back out here, please.

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