Page 102 of Unexpected Heroine

“Here they are,” she says triumphantly. “This one’s my guy. This one’s yours.”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?” I quip.

“Fair point. I’m not quite familiar with that area of town either.”

My teeth grind. “Then what good is it?”

She wobbles her head from side to side. “It gives us their GPS coordinates. We can send them messages. If we needed to send a drone in, we could do it through this. Lots of shit.” She shrugs. “I can also zoom in to see what’s in the area.” Her movements on the screen mimic the verbal explanation she’s providing. “If I click here, we’ll see the satellite imagery street view. It’s not real-time. This is sort of like the Google Earth version. Your boyfriend can access the live satellite imagery from HQ.”

“He can?”

We trade glances, and her smile is warm. “Yeah. He’s very talented at this shit. In fact, he built this app and most of the software we use at Redleg.”

My heart speeds up, not out of fear this time but pride.

“He’s that good, huh?”

“Well, yeah.” She sighs, then adds, “Between him and Mia—she’s new to the intel team—there’s not going to be much they can’t accomplish. I can’t imagine a more formidable duo.”

Last week, a statement like that would have sent me into a jealous rage. Tonight, it barely ruffles a feather.

She taps across the screen a few times, drawing my attention back to the phone. Despite it being nighttime, the street view images on her phone were taken in the daylight, so it’s easy to see the surrounding area.

She adjusts the view a few different ways until we’re able to see the front of the structure where Tomer’s beep is coming from.

When the image is suddenly all too familiar, a trap door opens inside me, and all my internal organs plummet to the ground.

“What the hell?” she mutters, then whips her head to face me. “Shit. I’m so sorry. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. No need to panic. I’ll call them. Shep will answer for me. Just breathe. I’ll be right back.”

She’s especially jumpy for someone telling me to calm down.

Rising from the couch, she attempts to leave, but I clamp my hand onto hers.

My quivery breaths nearly lodge in the back of my throat because of how swollen it’s become. “Why are they there, Kri?”

She grits her teeth, making a clicking sound. “I don’t know. They were only supposed to go to the safe house where the informants are being held.”

“Informants?”

“Son of a bitch.” She forks her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t realize you were this in the dark. Shit. He’s gonna be so freaking pissed.”

“It’s okay. Talk to me. I can handle it,” I lie right through my teeth, hoping for once I’m convincing.

“They were supposed to be interrogating one of the men who used to bring victims in and his girlfriend. She was in the prep house. They’re both willing informants under Redleg’s protection at a safe location.”

“Tasha?”

“Yes.”

“The guys were supposed to talk to them tonight, and that’s all?”

Again, her answer is one word. “Yes.”

“How did they end up there?”

“Get dealt into the next hand while I make a phone call to figure out what they’re doing.”

Cards? I can’t concentrate on a damn game, knowing that he is standing in front of or inside the house where I was a prisoner for days.

---