Joey’s phone buzzed. He read the text out loud. “From Alex. No explosives. No more smells of Dmitri. Damn. Maybe Dmitri is only going to send them the package?”
Quinn looked around the table. They were closer than they had ever been. “What if I went to the hotel? Hung around at the restaurant, eavesdropped a little? I might even be able to intercept that package.”
Joey carefully considered her question but Cam’s jaw set in a line. Quinn stared him down. Well, apparently their relationship was at the phase where they could have an entire conversation without using words. That was new. But Cam had a point. It wasn’t really worth the risk/benefit. Cam’s return look changed from stubborn to smug. “If you go to the hotel, you can’t be on the boat. You can either be Ree or the person listening to their discussion. Not both.”
“Damn. That’s a good point.”
“Is it always like this with these two?” Stefanie smiled.
Joey chuckled. “Sometimes worse. What about Alexis? She’s itching to do something else.”
Quinn tapped her fingers on the table. Alexis was more than competent and in their short time working together, she’d found more in common with the agent than differences. “Yeah. Let’s do that. Have Alexis check in, create a backstory, and station herself there. They didn’t see her when she was at the OEG, did they?”
Stefanie considered. “No. She was there before and came after. We should be good.”
Quinn rose and started puttering around the kitchen. Long a fan of coffee, she’d cut back substantially while on painkillers to manage her bullet wound. Surprisingly, she’d grown to like a nice cup of tea. She leaned over the counter. “Tell me you have tea? Preferably something strong?”
Joey pointed to the cabinet behind her. “Earl Grey. Stef likes it.”
Color rose in Stef’s face. Despite Quin’s inner operations officer firmly egging on her natural curiosity, she didn’t push any further. Stefanie wasn’t Ree. Still, if she was seeing it, Cam definitely was seeing it too. And Cam was the protective big brother type. He met her eyes and winked at her. Okay, he’d noticed. And approved. Good to know. He wasn’t won over easily. She made tea for herself and Stefanie since Joey had volunteered it. And because she needed to soften Stefanie up before asking if she wanted out one last time.
She slid a mug to Stefanie, who gave her a suspicious look. “Alright, why are you buttering me up?”
“I was just stealing some of your favorite tea. I thought I’d share.” Quinn maintained a nonchalant tone and Stefanie eyed her in a way that reminded her of Ree. Quinn laughed. “Okay. I’m buttering you up. I want to give you another chance to back out.”
Stefanie took a sip of tea. “No thanks.” She set the mug on the table. “What do we do when we find out their game? How does this go down?” Quinn and Cam exchanged a look as Stefanie wrinkled her nose. “See? It looks like you don’t know either. I’d feel better if we could make a plan before we go.”
Cam’s background was in tactical warfare, which meant he knew how few operations went exactly to plan. He ticked off a list on his fingers. “Primary plan is we let them bring their equipment on board. If we figure out what it is, we let them drop it and either use it to spy on them or fish it out when they aren’t looking. Secondary plan is that Dmitri is a loose cannon and we aren’t anywhere close to guessing what he has in mind. Once we realize what he’s really up to, we adapt.”
“Okay.” Stefanie took another sip of her tea. “So, all of your fancy operational language means that no matter how long we sit here making a plan, we’re still probably going to have to wing it?”
Joey smiled. “Essentially. I’ll come on as the guy who turns the wrench on the platform. We’ll at least have them outnumbered.”
“Not overwhelmingly, but I like those odds.” Stefanie shifted closer to Joey.
Quinn nodded. “And we’ll have Waffle sniff everything, just to make sure we aren’t outgunned as well.”
Stefanie stood to put away her now-empty mug. “Hopefully, they’ll bring their mystery box to us the evening before so we can get a good look at it.”
Quinn looked at Joey. “You’ll check it for bugs before Stef is in the room, right?”
“Absolutely.”
Quinn rubbed her hands together. “Good. Stef is right, that’s about all we can plan for right now. I wish we were a little closer to the man himself, but I’ll settle for setting up his crew for a trap so we can have a better shot later.”
Cam said, “Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s get some rest. Our friends will make their move this weekend and we need to make sure we’re ready for them.”
Quinn and Cam walked towards the door but Stefanie lingered behind, whispering something to Joey. Joey watched Cam and Quinn while he listened and Quinn gave Joey a knowing smile. For the first time in their admittedly new friendship, his neck went a little pink. It warmed her heart. Like her, he’d beat himself up over not being able to prevent Rory’s death. He’d always feel some grief, but he was starting to think about living the kind of life Rory would want for him. Cam tugged gently on Quinn’s elbow. The look in his eyes was warm. She could almost hear him say, let them be. He was more patient than she would probably ever be. It’s what made them a good match.
Stefanie waited for Cam and Quinn to leave, then turned to face Joey. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was hoping for – reassurance, comfort, or an excuse to see if he had changed his
