“Hart’s not going to be happy.”
“Hart’s never happy,” muttered Tristan.
“I’m not happy either,” said Toni from behind them.
Tristan and Hunter both stopped before they turned to face their tiny boss. Toni wasn’t actually that short. Considering every guy here was well over six feet, she tended to look dwarfed next to all of them. But that didn’t stop her bossy attitude. A well-deserved bossy attitude, considering she technically was the boss. And she didn’t like them to forget that. “Emergency meeting now.” Before waiting for them to respond, she turned and walked away.
Hunter gave Tristan a knowing glance. “I tried to warn you.”
It had been a really fucking hard night, and the last thing Tristan wanted was an army of I told you sos. Toni hadn’t said where her emergency meeting would be, but Tristan and Hunter both knew it would be at her computer room. Now, a normal person might have a computer room in an office or bedroom, but Toni wasn’t normal. She had her setup in the main living room. There was a wall full of monitors, about four or five different desktop stands, an entire stack of laptops, and a few bins’ worth of random electronics. Organization wasn’t her strong suit, but that never seemed to stop her from getting the job done. There wasn’t exactly a lot of seating in the room, so Tristan and Hunter were forced to stand. Toni sat down at her main computer chair, and Hart leaned against the desk next to her. Also in the room was Gage, the other field member of their team. Hunter was the bulkiest of all of them, a fact he never let them forget because his weights were clanging constantly as he did his continuous workouts. Gage and Tristan had a simpler workout routine, focused more on running and less on weights. Tristan liked to consider himself brave, but in ninety percent of cases, running was preferable to physical fighting. In their line of business, the people they fought usually had guns. He didn’t need to bench-press 300 pounds in order to fight a bullet, but running fast sure as hell made a person harder to hit.
Toni didn’t pull any punches. “Do you want to tell me what exactly happened tonight? You were only supposed to be taking a look around. Reporting back how many guards there were. If there were cameras. If it looked shady. How the hell did an entire SWAT team get called?”
“I was doing exactly what you told me to. I was counting cameras and I got caught.”
“Don’t bullshit me,” said Toni. “You were inside the building when you got caught. And why didn't you use your watch to signal that you needed help?”
Because I forgot I had the watch... "If I thought I was in real danger I would've signaled for help. Besides, I was doing what you asked. Sometimes, for reconnaissance, you have to make decisions on your own. I weighed the risk and decided it’d be worthwhile.”
Hart pushed away from the desk and stared Tristan down. “You’re not working alone here. You have an entire team to back you up. If you were going to go inside, we could’ve had eyes and ears on you the entire time. We could’ve been monitoring you. You got taken in there and you were completely on your own. We wouldn’t have been able to get there in time to help.”
“So fucking what? Do I look injured to you? I got out just fine. I didn’t need anybody to get me out.”
“You got lucky,” said Toni. “If that door had been made of anything else, how would you have gotten out?”
“I would’ve figured something out.”
“That’s the beauty of being on a team,” said Toni. “We can help you figure things out. Things that won’t give you a bruised shoulder for a week.”
“I don’t have to listen to this. If you’re so pissed off at me, why don’t you give me a negative evaluation on the next performance review,” he said bitterly. This wasn’t a normal job. He didn’t have to sit here and be berated about his performance when he’d gotten out just fine. And he got all the information he needed about the security inside the Blackthorne building. So technically he’d done his job.
“They’re going to be at least doubling security there,” said Hart. “You’ll have to do a completely different reconnaissance mission once they get all set up, and who knows how long that could take?”
“Fine. I might’ve gotten shit for the cameras and security, but I got something better. I have a name. Damask is the man behind Blackthorne.”
Toni frowned. “That sounds familiar.... I’ve definitely seen that name before. What makes you think he’s behind everything?”
“Because when I was thrown into the closet, there was a girl in there with me.” He was half surprised Toni didn’t know about this, considering she seemed to know everything else. “She said that Damask had been threatening her, and when she came to tell them to back off, that’s when she got stuck in the closet. I guess they thought we were working together.”
Everyone in the room looked just as confused as he’d been. “She was thrown in the closet? Why didn’t they just kill her?” asked Hart.
“All very good questions. When I find Damask, I’ll ask him.”
Toni shook her head. “No. Hell no. You’ve already compromised yourself. They know your face. They probably have pictures of it from the cameras. You can’t go investigating this guy. I’ll have someone else do it.”
“You’re fucking kidding me. You’re benching me?”
Toni rolled her eyes. “Of course we’re not benching you. You’re useful. You’re better at what you do than pretty much anybody else. Why do you think I’m so pissed that you went off script?” Her thumb tapped against her thigh. She seemed to be working through things.
Hart set a hand on her shoulder. “He’s compromised, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be used.”
“I love being talked about as if I’m not here,” muttered Tristan.
Hart frowned but kept his attention focused on Toni. “If they kept the girl alive, it’s probably for a reason. And if they suspect Tristan is working with her, maybe we can use that.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Tristan.
“That means you leave Blackthorne to us,” said Hart. “I want you to find out who the girl is. Figure out why she’s so important to Blackthorne. See if there’s any way we can use her to help us, or if she needs help from us.”
“So what is it?” asked Tristan. “Do you want me to use her, or do you want her to use me?”
Toni smiled. “Well, I guess you’ll have to use your best intuition.”
Great. Because so far, his intuition had gotten him nothing but trouble.