Janie Crouch - Untraceable

Sawyer raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t exactly how the whole thing had gone down, but whatever. Close enough.

Evan looked up, his attention caught by Juliet coming back through the door.

“Sorry,” she murmured to Burgamy, before taking her seat between her brothers once again.

Her features were still a little pinched, but she seemed otherwise well composed. As Evan knew, she was stronger than she thought.

“I was just explaining the situation with Sawyer and DS-13 last month,” he said to her. “You already know all of that.”

Juliet nodded. She did know it. As a matter of fact, she was the reason Sawyer and his fiancé, Megan Fuller, had gotten out alive at all.

“In the midst of that operation, one of my feelers got a lot of response—Bob Sinclair.” Juliet flinched as Evan said it, but he continued. “First, it was DS-13 who expressed interest, but since then someone from Vince Cady’s group has made contact.”

That got everyone’s attention. Vince Cady was a crime boss with his fingers in almost every piece of ugliness you could find: weapons, technology, blackmail. On the surface he looked clean, and did a good job of covering his tracks. Omega had never found anything that could be used to indict Cady, but they knew he was dirty. And even more, he was key to a number of larger groups and sellers. If Omega could get dirt on Cady, they could take down a lot of other bad guys.

Vince Cady was known as a grade-A bastard. Smooth, but with a cruel edge. And very, very smart. Which was why he’d never been arrested.

Cady initiating contact with Bob Sinclair provided a huge break for Omega. Having an undercover foothold in his group would be measurable progress, bringing Omega much closer to taking Cady and his network down.

“That’s excellent,” Cameron said. “It gives Bob Sinclair instant credibility. Cady came to you, not the other way around.”

Evan nodded. “Yes, I plan to use that fact to my advantage as much as possible.”

“Did he contact you for a specific buy?” Burgamy asked.

Juliet spoke up. “Our most recent intel about Cady suggests that he may have acquired some surface-to-air missiles to sell on the black market. That would be a perfect fit for Bob Sinclair.”

Juliet’s voice wavered only the slightest bit when she said it.

Evan nodded in encouragement. “I agree,” he told the group. “Bob and Lisa Sinclair’s reputation is as entrepreneurs. They...” Evan looked over and saw Juliet’s pinched features as well as Sawyer and Cameron’s thunderous looks, so changed his pronoun choice. “Bob, I mean, is known as a jack-of-all-trades, dabbling in weapons, pharmaceutical drugs, technology, information. He’s the type of guy who can help Vince Cady out, so I’m not surprised by the contact.”

“Okay, good,” Burgamy said. Chantelle, sitting next to him, kept clicking away, taking notes on her tablet the entire time. “What’s the timetable for this op?”

Evan still didn’t know why Burgamy was even here. Yes, Cady was a pretty big fish and infiltrating his group would be a huge coup, but why the boss would sit in on an early planning meeting like this was beyond Evan.

“I have a meeting scheduled with Cady tomorrow in Baltimore, his base of operation. Since Bob Sinclair is an old cover, I’m just going to pull and use all the old info, IDs, etc. Prep is relatively minimal. I can go under immediately, depending on how the meeting with Cady goes.”

“Eighteen months absence isn’t going to be a problem?” Burgamy asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure it will come up. I’ll make certain I have something to say.” Evan didn’t know what that would be yet. The truth wasn’t an option, and the whole situation with Lisa Sinclair was quite complicated. Evan would have multiple answers rehearsed, depending on exactly what questions were asked, how they were asked, and the climate of the conversation.

That’s what a good undercover agent did: constantly took stock of the situation and adapted.

“And what about Lisa Sinclair, Bob’s ‘wife’?” Burgamy asked.

And there it was, the announcement of the elephant in the room. Evan didn’t look over at Juliet to see her reaction. She didn’t need anyone gawking at her.

“What about her?” Evan responded, keeping his tone neutral.

“Bob and Lisa Sinclair were a couple. A tight couple.” Burgamy leaned more of his weight on his arms, which were folded on the conference table. “The cover worked so well because the criminal groups you infiltrated bought into the whole Bonnie and Clyde, can’t-live-without-each-other vibe the two of you gave off.”

Evan didn’t want to admit it, but Burgamy was right. Going in without Juliet would make this mission more difficult. But the alternative wasn’t an option, so Evan wasn’t even entertaining it as such. He glanced briefly over at Juliet, who was looking intently down at her notes.

“I’ll make it work, as Bob Sinclair alone. I’ve certainly done my share of undercover work with no partner.” Evan could see the Branson brothers nodding, backing him up. Cameron in particular knew about long-term solo undercover work, having recently come off a life-changing operation himself.

But Burgamy wasn’t willing to let it go. “Isn’t Cady going to wonder about Lisa? Her absence will certainly make suspicions higher, perhaps even jeopardize the entire mission.”

Evan sat up straighter in his chair, then leaned toward Burgamy. He could see Juliet’s brothers mirroring his actions, tension evident. Evan didn’t like where this was going.

“I’m a trained, experienced operative, Burgamy. I’ll handle it.”

The boss’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I have every confidence in your abilities, Karcz. But the facts are the facts.”

Burgamy leaned back in the chair in a relaxed pose that belied the words he’d said. Suddenly the entire meeting became clear to Evan, the purpose of Burgamy’s attendance and his endgame. And Evan had played right into his hands. He knew what Burgamy was going to say before his boss even said it, but there was nothing he could do.

Burgamy turned to Juliet. “Juliet needs to go back undercover as Lisa Sinclair to ensure the success of this operation.”

Chapter Three

Juliet heard the words that came out of Burgamy’s mouth as if from far away. She searched for a response inside herself—knew she should have some sort of explosive negative comment—but could find only silence.

She couldn’t go back undercover as Lisa Sinclair. She wasn’t ready. It would be a disaster.

It ended up she didn’t have to give an answer, anyway. Her brothers took care of the explosive negative comments for her.

“There’s no way in hell, Burgamy,” Sawyer, her normally laid-back younger brother, said grimly.

The expletive that came from Cameron should’ve had her smacking his arm or at least telling him to chill out. But Juliet still could find only silence.

Both brothers stood, now in an open argument with Burgamy, listing the reasons Juliet couldn’t go back undercover as Lisa Sinclair. She wasn’t ready, Burgamy couldn’t force her, she hadn’t had the needed prep time... Juliet just tuned them out as they continued.

She knew her weaknesses, knew she was a coward. She didn’t need to listen to an active discussion of those facts.

Juliet looked up from her folded hands to find Evan staring at her across the table.

She could find no pity in his gaze. Nor disappointment. He actually shrugged and rolled his eyes, gesturing casually with his hand to all the chaos. As if the yelling currently reverberating through the conference room came from preschoolers throwing temper tantrums about sharing their favorite toys, rather than Juliet’s boss asking her to do something that would probably get both her and Evan killed.