Page 11 of Watch Over Me

"Is there a credible threat or are they posturing?" Jeremy asked from his place in the back row. He and Martinez had finished their assignment this weekend, so they were potentially up for a new one.

Kalei shrugged. "It could be posturing, but they claim they have information suggesting at least one of the rival companies might try something to get their hands on the product. The contract could fall into the nine-figure range, so I'd say it's possible enough."

"We can take it," Martinez said. "But we'll likely need someone from communications at the initial meeting at least, to understand what we're dealing with and whether we need some added cyber security solutions."

Eddie straightened up in his seat and James hoped it didn't mean what he thought it might.

"I can do it," came the words that squashed James's hopes. "We finished the other job and Senator Corner's operational schedule is light, so I'm available."

James stared at the back of Eddie's head, wanting to protest, but he didn't have a leg to stand on. Senator Corner's casewaslight this week and they didn't need 24-hour dedicated support. He simply wished Eddie wasn't suddenly going out into the field. There was a line, wasn't there? Comms specialists were not field agents. This wasn't how it worked.

Did Eddie even know how to protect himself?

You need to calm the fuck down, James told himself. Eddie was a grown man, and Jeremy and Martinez knew how to keep someone safe. There was no reason to worry.

And it wasn't James's business what Eddie did outside of the limits of their joint operations.

Still, James couldn't help thinking of all the things that could go wrong, no matter how ridiculous they seemed. They weren't often put in a truly dangerous situation, but each time it did happen, it was handled by a field operative—someone who had training and knew what they were doing. Sending a comms specialist out there was a different ball game. Without the training, the risk of something happening was much greater.

He barely listened to the rest of the meeting and as soon as it was over and people started leaving, he leaned forward and tapped Eddie's shoulder.

This time, James didn't have it in him to respond in kind to that smile.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked instead.

Eddie frowned. "About what?"

"The new op. Are you sure you should be the one to do it? It's—"

He broke off at the sudden cold look on Eddie's face—one he had never seen before, not even that one time when he'd come back from the field with a damaged earpiece.

"I am sure," Eddie told him in a clipped voice. "And luckily, Kalei doesn't doubt my ability to do the job, either. Since he's the one who gets to make those decisions, not you, let's wrap this up, shall we?" He got up. "I need to go," he added, gathering all his equipment in record time and leaving without giving anybody a second glance.

James sat back, not sure what had just happened. He'd simply tried to express his concern.

"What the fuck was that?" Ryan asked, pitching his voice low. Most people were already out of the room, but he and Todd were both staring at James.

"I don't know, he—"

"I mean, what the fuck wereyouthinking?" Ryan cut him off. "Questioning him like that?"

James shook his head, looking between the guys and the door Eddie had disappeared into.

"I wasn't… I wasn't questioning him, I was worried. He's not a field operative."

Ryan rubbed his forehead and sighed. Todd, for his part, continued to stare.

"What?" James demanded.

"Think about this," Ryan told him. "You called into question his decisionandhis skills. In a room full of his peers. Optics, man."

"I—" James paused. Obviously, he'd had no intention of humiliating Eddie, but this was basically what he had done.

Fuck.

"I didn't mean it like that," he finally said, prompting Ryan to nod.

"Well, yeah. It doesn't make it right, though."

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