Wired

My hands shook as I quietly slipped into the back of the van. The team sat frozen, eyes glued to their screens. No one spoke. I wasn’t sure if their headphones drowned out the noise or if they just didn’t care that I was back. I got the feeling none of them were thrilled to be here. With the fighting and territorial arguments Evan always talked about, I was amazed that this group was able to coalesce into a team, but so far, they were playing nice together.

The door creaked softly as Evan followed me in. I leaned closer to the nearest screen. I couldn’t look at him, not yet. He could read me too well. I didn’t want him to know how shaken up I really felt.

“Do you think he knows you were wired?” His voice was right beside me.

“If he knew I was wired, I’d be dead.” My eyes stayed locked on the screen, studying the GPS map and the little blue arrow moving through it. “He bought it. How’d you get the GPS on his car?”

“We didn’t – Keith hacked the one that’s built in.”

I nodded as if hacking a GPS and tracking a criminal were just normal parts of my life. This whole thing was insane. There were so many reasons I could have been killed tonight. If they had found the wire, if they had caught me spying on them through the crack in the wall when I stepped out of the meeting, if they had seen the surveillance van…there were too many ifs.

Evan put his hand on my shoulder. “Casey?” I reluctantly turned to meet his gaze. That look, those deep brown eyes full of concern – I almost came unglued. “Are you okay?”

I tried to tell him sure, I’m fine, I always risk my life by walking into meetings with murderous crime bosses. But my sarcasm couldn’t cut through the fear settling over me. I nodded. “Sure,” I whispered.