James put the small earbud in place. It wasn’t completely invisible, but it was nude-colored so it would blend in, for the most part. If his “boss” noticed it, there would be questions, but he needed to be able to talk to Jennifer while she was inside.

“Weston, we have you online,” said Toni into his ear. “Can you hear me? We have a visual. If you can hear me, scratch your nose.”

James gave his nose a quick scratch.

“Got it,” she said. “I’ll let you know when Jennifer makes her way in.”

He looked around, trying to figure out which camera Toni was using to watch him. He was on the street in front of the Cordon Enterprises building. He didn’t see any noticeable traffic cameras, but that hadn’t stopped her. He wasn’t a fan of working in a group, but it did make life easier to have eyes in the sky. While looking for the camera, he noticed Benedict on the street corner. He was in a utility uniform and had parked a rental truck with a magnet for a gas company on the side. He was set to stay outside unless they needed to get in. If everything went right, only James and Jennifer would actually be going into the building.

He heard the footsteps before he heard the voice behind him. “You good?” asked Hart.

James didn’t turn to look at him. “It’s an easy in and out.” It was true. There was barely anything to prep for, let alone to worry about. Even so, it wasn’t as if he was going to admit his fears to Hart.

“I wasn’t talking about this. I was talking about the girl.”

James stiffened as though someone just put a gun to his back. He fished the earpiece out of his ear so the rest of the conversation would have some measure of privacy. “Toni talks too much.”

“Toni didn’t need to say a damn thing. That girl looks at you like you’re the fucking sun in the sky, Weston. I want to know what your game plan is.”

“I think you’re reading this wrong.”

“It’s my job to read people for a living.”

“Was your job. It’s been a few months since you’ve had a badge, right?” James knew that dig was a mistake the second he finished saying it. Lashing out at Hart was the best way to prove that Willa really was a variable to him. He tried to cover by saying, “I’m here. I’m helping. What more do you want from me?”

“You know what I want. We get dirt on Jadon and he leads us to Sterling.”

James nodded. “That’s why you’re here. You’re worried I’ll kill Belli before he can lead you to your guy.”

“I think that Willa’s main goal is punishing her father. I don’t give a damn what happens to him. All I want is Sterling. If he goes to prison after giving us what we want, if he’s rotting six feet under, if he retires on a beach in some non-extradition country, I don’t care. All I want is Sterling. Toni and Jennifer back me on this.”

But Willa wouldn’t. Willa didn’t care about the faceless man who had killed Isobel Murray and Catherine Hart. And if Jadon survived and knew that Willa had turned on him? She might never be safe. “Jadon will give you the information you want,” assured Weston. “And after that, he’s never going to bother anyone ever again.”

“And if you have to choose?” asked Hart.

Weston didn’t look at Hart. “Leave it, Hart. This is all going to work out.”

He thought Hart was going to keep pressing for an answer, but instead Hart started to back up and pointed to his ear, signaling to James that it was go time.

“Swiped an access card,” said Jennifer into the earpiece as James finished putting it back in.

“I’m going in,” said James. “The card will get you through the first turnstile, but my access will get you to the top floors.” He walked in and gave a quick nod hello to the security guard.

Out of his peripheral, he saw Jennifer. Her hair was twisted up in a tight bun and she wore oversized glasses that did little to obscure her face. She wore a suit jacket and some loose pants that made her long legs appear longer. She didn’t look at him as she swiped the stolen card and made her way to the elevators, stopping right before the elevator bay to check her phone.

Once James was in and past Jennifer, she put her phone away and stood a good distance away from him as they both waited for the elevator. When one hit the lobby, James, Jennifer, and one other person both stepped on. James ran his card over the security pad, which gave him the ability to enter in the number for the third-to-top level. One other person had come into the elevator and he hit his button, which didn’t need any keycard to access. Jennifer awkwardly made her way between them. During her little shimmy against him, James slipped his card into her hand. So when she swiped it and hit the button for the top level, where Jadon’s office was, it looked completely legit. And if anyone looked at the footage, it would look as though she’d stolen it from him, with him being none the wiser.

The stranger got off about midway up the building and James took his exit on the security level. He didn’t look back as the doors closed and Jennifer was on her way up. Now he was mostly on standby. Because Jennifer now had his access card, he’d have to get a new one. Luckily he knew where the easiest mark in the building was. And he happened to be in the room without security cameras.

James walked into the main security office to find Ike Shriver surrounded by a sea of empty coffee cups and takeout boxes. The room smelled rank, as if Ike had been there for days without leaving.

Ike stiffened when James came in, but when he saw who it was, he sat back down. “Oh, it’s you, New Guy.”

In terms of nicknames, James could think of millions more creative. But Shriver wasn’t exactly the most creative guy. “I wanted to check in.”

“Babysitting boring? I heard Willa can be a bitch. If you need help tag teaming her, you let me know. I know we’re shorthanded, but I’ll figure something out.”

He really didn’t want to know, but he found himself asking anyway. “Tag teaming?”

“You know. You’re on guard duty and I rough her up a bit. Nothing too bad. Just enough to get her to follow orders like a good girl, you know?”

James closed his eyes and pulled on all of his self-control to keep from punching Shriver right in his face. “I can handle her on my own, thanks.”

“Just offering.”

James picked up one of the containers of food and eyed it warily before he tossed it into the trash. “So have you been working overtime?”

“Not sure if you heard, but they’re outsourcing. I want to make sure I’m here when the new guys come.”

Outsourcing. The last thing they needed. Hopefully they’d be long gone before the new help got in. “What do we know about the new guys?”

“Drake Securities,” said Shriver. “Besides that? Nothing. They’re nowhere online. They came very highly recommended, whatever the fuck that means. They’ll be looking at our system from bottom to top. I think you’ll have the easiest time.”

Shriver was probably right about that. If James were legit, as the newest member of the team he could plead ignorance to anything shady that happened in the past. Though if they looked too deeply, they could also discover that all the shady dealings that Jadon had discovered were planted by Toni.

He would have to get out sooner rather than later.

“I’m in Jadon’s office,” said Jennifer in his ear.

Which meant it was about time to head upstairs. As worried as Shriver was about this new security team coming in, he wasn’t doing a damn thing to be more secure. His badge sat right on the outside of his jacket, which was on the back of his chair. He didn’t even have to try to be subtle as he picked it off the jacket.

“I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you think,” said James, lying. Shriver’s job would never survive a thorough look-through.

Shriver scoffed. “Sure. Sterling’s guys aren’t known for being forgiving,” he said under his breath.

“Sterling?”

Shriver rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Forget about it. I never said anything.”

“James, what’s your position?” asked Toni.

“I have to head out. Hang in there.” James left and made his way to the door.

“You never told me what you were doing here,” said Shriver before James could make a clean break.

“I’m in the safe,” said Jennifer.

Fuck. It had only been a few minutes and she was already in the safe? “I’m just here to check in. I needed a break and the backup showed up at the girl’s apartment.”

He put his hand on the door when Shriver’s phone started to buzz and Shriver cursed. James debated just leaving but decided against it. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a break-in. Someone’s in Belli’s office. Let’s go.” Shriver pulled his jacket on and James let the keycard fall to the ground so Shriver wouldn’t know it was missing.

“What do you mean someone’s breaking into Belli’s office?” said James loudly.

“I’m on it,” said Austin. “ETA is three minutes.”

James had no idea how Austin thought he was going to get past security and up that fast until Toni said, “They know they’re compromised so I’m about to take over control of the elevators. Austin, you make it there and I’ll take you up.”

“Getting down will be harder though,” said Scott, who was probably in the van on the street with Toni. “James, we know every aspect of this security system. I need you to figure out what tipped off Shriver.”

James and Shriver were both getting on the elevator. “So we should be there in what—sixty seconds?” he said, letting Jennifer know what kind of time she had. “What was the notification you got?”

“There was an advanced scout from Drake here earlier. He beefed up everything. And it was his system that was tipped off, not ours. Fuck.”

James took out his sidearm and loaded a round in the chamber. “I can subdue and you can call the police.”

Shriver waved a hand dismissively. “The cops are never going to make it here. Drake’s guy should be there any second now.”

“What?” snapped Austin.

“Aren’t there cameras in Belli’s office?” bit out James.

“No!” yelled Toni into his ear. “It’s a dark zone.”

“There’s someone here,” whispered Jennifer.

“James, you need to be up there now,” said Austin.

“Weston, you’re going to get there first,” said Hart, the only one left who seemed to be keeping a cool head. “The second those doors open, make a run for it.”

And then the doors opened and James ran. He already knew right where Jadon’s office was. He slammed into the door and saw the strange guy in the middle of it. “Drake Securities, right? Where’s the intruder? I thought you were supposed to have him in custody already.”

“I’m going to be there in twenty seconds,” said Austin.

“Jennifer, I want you to make a run for it once Austin is close. Weston, I want you to clear the way for Jennifer to make it to the elevator. It’s more vulnerable than the stairs, but you’re too high up for the stairs to make sense. We’re going to shut down the elevators once Austin and Jennifer are clear, so get ready to deal with the fallout, Weston. If things look too heavy, get out with them.”

While Hart was giving orders, the Drake Securities guy was talking, but James only caught every other word. The gist of it was that he was still clearing the room. “Shriver will be here in a few minutes,” he said to Austin and the Drake man. “If I were hiding, I’d try to get to another room.” James glanced around, trying to figure out where Jennifer would be. “Have you checked out the attached conference room yet?”

The security man shook his head. “I got here too fast for that. I would’ve seen. Let me do one more sweep around the room.”

“Austin’s coming up on Shriver,” said Toni in his ear. “Weston, clear a path for Jennifer now.”

Damn it. Weston hated to do bad at any job, even a fake one. But the second Jennifer popped out, James threw himself between her and the new security guy. Jennifer didn’t kid around and slammed her elbow into his gut. Normally he’d be able to shrug it off, but he made his grunt believable and fell back against the new guy. It was shit for a tactic, but it was just enough to let Jennifer and Austin make a run for it. James got up and ran after them, hopping over Shriver’s limp body. Whatever Austin had done, it had knocked him out cold.

James pointed his gun at the elevator as Austin and Jennifer got on. Jennifer was already pulling at her jacket and pants, changing her outfit so when she stepped off the elevator she’d probably be unrecognizable. To make it look good, James aimed his gun in the general direction of the elevator and fired off a few wide shots.

He didn’t take a fully deep breath until the doors had closed.

Fuck. So much for an easy job.

––––––––

––––––––

Willa sighed as she took another drink of water. Yet another day that would be better with alcohol. Considering how often she was thinking that lately, she was going to have to be in a twelve-step program.

“Earth to Willa. What’s going on?” Stephanie was tossing her salad on her plate and looking rather unimpressed. Willa wasn’t sure whether her friend’s dejected expression was because of Willa’s distant behavior or the fact that the salad was eighty percent dressing and twenty percent greens.

“I’m sorry.” Willa checked the burner phone Toni had given her one more time. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. “I’m a little distracted.”

“Gee. If only there was someone you could share your problems with. Maybe over a lunch at the newest and apparently overrated cafe in town.” Stephanie threw her fork down, giving up on the salad. “Please make me feel better about the shitty food by telling me about your problems.”

“At least my pain can bring someone else joy.” Willa pushed her own dish aside. The chef must’ve screwed someone to get this job because it sure as hell wasn’t their cooking skills keeping them employed. “Steph, I really don’t want to get into the details. I don’t want to think about my problems right now.”

“Well, I don’t want to think about mine,” she said in a slightly annoyed voice.

Willa immediately felt guilty. She might be going through some first-class, serious stuff, but that didn’t mean she had to act as if she were the only one with problems. It wasn’t as if she could help any of the Murray family. “Well, if you want to talk about anything, I’m here.”

“Let’s just pay the check and leave.”

Useless in taking down her father. Useless as a friend. James had liked her French toast, though. So she had one thing going for her. She could cook basic breakfast foods. Yay her.

The waitress brought the check and Stephanie picked it up before Willa could, slipping her credit card inside.

“Where is AJ today?” asked Willa, deciding that changing the subject was the best idea.

“I don’t know. He hasn’t been talking to me much recently.”

Well, apparently trying to change the subject had led her right back to Stephanie’s problems. “Are you two fighting?”

“No. It’s not me. It’s....” Stephanie took a deep breath. “If I tell you this, you need to swear yourself to secrecy.”

Willa leaned in. “You know I’ve got you.”

“Fine. Well, just between you and me, my mom found Jesus.”

“Your mom found religion?”

“I wish. No, she found the pool boy. Jesus.”

“You know that’s not how you say that name, right?”

“The comedic factor of saying my mother found Jesus is literally the only good thing about this situation. Please let me have this.”

“For screwing your mom, he deserves his name mispronounced.”

Stephanie let her head fall in her hands and her shoulders shook. For a moment, Willa thought she might be crying, but it turned out to be sad laughter. “It’s so bad, Willa. It’s not like Mom and Dad were ever that close, but she was caught in the locker room of the club by a bunch of her frenemies. Everyone knows, so now Dad is leaving her for the principle of it and they’re fighting over everything. You think this wouldn’t be a big deal since I’m a grown ass woman, but I’m getting calls from them constantly to bitch at each other. I just... can I stay at your place for a little bit?”

Willa stuttered as she tripped over her words. She absolutely wanted to be there for her friend but there happened to be a criminal base sitting right under her apartment right now.

“So can we go?” asked Stephanie, already grabbing her purse and standing up.

“I... can’t think of a good reason to say no.”