Page 50 of Baby One Last Time
She opened the door, rumpled from sleep.
“Let me in and don’t ask any questions,” I said, the unmoving smile still plastered on my face.
Mai stepped aside to let me pass and closed the door behind me. She looked me up and down. “I’m too tired to be your wingwoman. Get laid on your own. You might want to choose something other than athletic wear. Then again…”
“My mission gear is in the backpack, smartass. And I ran into Wilder on the way here, so our cover tomorrow morning is that we had a slumber party.”
She wrinkled her nose. “As if.”
I checked out her bathroom and was glad to see it was the same layout as mine, with a big enough window for a slender woman to fit through.
As she watched me do a quick room check, her sleepiness evaporated. “What’s up?”
“Frankie came through with a lead, but I can’t take it to TJ. Not yet.”
“I was right the first time. No.”
“We just need to sneak into a warehouse, confirm there are weapons stashed there, and bring the information back to Penn and Sparks and the rest of the team.”
“So, a recon,” she said.
I nodded.
“There’ll be a security system.”
“Jensen’s room is my next stop,” I said. “Although I’ll have to sneak out your bathroom window and wake him up by knocking on his.”
“Fuck me.”
I grinned. “Yeah, that’s the guy. Going out the back is the only option for all of us, in case Wilder’s watching.”
“In case? He’s always watching you, even when you aren’t acting shady as hell. Which is rarely.”
I let that slide. “Are you in or what?”
She groaned. “I’m in.” She peeled off her nightshirt and pulled on a black tee shirt. “But what makes you think Jensen will be?”
“I don’t think breaking a few rules will bother him.” As long as I didn’t get us in too deep.
“Maybe it will do him some good,” Mai said. “Provide a distraction from missing his wife.”
“Maybe.” Definitely. At least, I liked that idea. It made me sound less selfish and reckless for pulling others into my shit.
“I’ll meet you at van number three-five.” Mai pulled on a pair of black jeans. “Jensen will probably want the full IT system in case he needs it to work his magic.”
“Agreed. But hey, I think it’s best we don’t look like we’re dressed for a mission, in case someone sees us leaving. If we have on normal clothes, we can say we’re making a 7-11 run.”
“These are my normal clothes.” She pointed to her closet. “Take a look.”
I slid the door open to see an assortment of pants, jeans, short and long tee shirts, a few button-downs, and two sweaters. All black. “Point taken.” I turned to head for the bathroom window, then stopped. “Hey Mai, I told Wilder he could trust me. Was that stupid? It was stupid. He probably knew I was lying, which will only make him more suspicious.”
She stopped with one pants leg on and narrowed her eyes as she assessed me. “I’m not sure you were lying. In a weird, Kessler kind of way, I think you were telling the truth. Maybe not about where you’re going, but about the trust part.”
That was exactly what I needed to hear. I didn’t have time to ponder how Mai had gotten so smart. “I’ll get Jensen and see you—”
“In four,” she said. “Get a move on.”
That was my new temporary partner. Bossy. Impatient. Annoyed. And willing to follow me if I said I needed her, even if we were headed for disaster.
