Glancing around the kitchen, she moved back into the foyer to grab her leather backpack, retrieving her cell phone.It was a shit way to start her new job, but that couldn’t be helped.Radley quickly swiped the screen and shot off a text to Holt.
Radley:Bad news, boss.My past may already be causing some problems.
Radley:I had a tail today.
His reply was immediate, as brusque and down-to-business as his personality.
Holt:Any idea who it is?
Radley:I’m working on it.I received several texts from someone who knows exactly where I’ve been every day this week.
Holt:God damn it.It’s always something with these assholes.
Holt:Forward the texts to IT.Are you still a go for your first assignment?
Radley:Affirmative.Consider it done.
Holt:I’ll send one of the guys to meet you there.
She bristled.Radley didn’t need protection, and she certainly didn’t need a man to be the one providing it.She was highly trained, just like the former Special Ops soldiers she’d be working with.While it was true they had different skill sets, she wasn’t charging in to an enemy compound in Afghanistan with RPGs being launched at her.She’d be on the outskirts of Seattle, safe on U.S.soil.She’d be on a scouting mission, not storming a terrorist cell compound alone.
Radley:That’s unnecessary.
He didn’t respond, and she silently fumed.It wasn’t a great idea to start off on the wrong foot by arguing with the boss, but damn.Radley could handle herself just fine.
“Argh!”she finally cried out, frustrated.
While she hadn’t met the team yet, she’d passed by them on her rush out earlier.She’d had barely a second to ascertain that they were all big, muscular men.Of course they were.They were former Delta Force soldiers.While she hadn’t worked with these guys in particular, she knew the type.Jett and his old teammates had been excellent to collaborate with in the Middle East.They’d relied on her analytic skill set and clandestine gathering of intelligence just as much as her team had relied on their strength and firepower.
While Radley might not be a former soldier, she was highly trained by the U.S.government.She could evade detection, handle weapons, drive defensively, run assets, along with a whole host of skills that were unnecessary in most other walks of life.
If Holt didn’t realize Radley could hold her own on a simple reconnaissance mission, then why the hell had he hired her?
Shaking her head as she scrolled through her contacts, she clicked on Riley’s name.Hawaii was two hours behind Pacific Standard Time.Hopefully she’d catch Riley before she headed to her job as a waitress—her undercover job, at that.Riley was working on her own classified assignment in Oahu.
The phone rang, and then her sister’s voice was on the line, instantly brightening her mood “Hi!How’d it go today?”Riley immediately asked.
A slow grin spread across Radley’s face.“Good, actually.I thought I’d be nervous officially signing on the dotted line, but it felt like the step I needed.”
“It’ll work out.Jett handpicked all the guys himself.I never had any qualms about working with Jett or his men overseas when they were still in the Army.”
“Me either,” Radley told her.“Too bad I couldn’t say the same about our own colleagues,” she added darkly.
“Fuck David Schultz and the Humvee he rode in on,” Riley said, causing Radley to chuckle.
“At least he’s rotting away in jail now,” Radley conceded.“How are things in sunny Honolulu?And how’s lover boy?”she teased.
“We’re definitely not lovers,” Riley retorted.
“Uh-huh.I don’t believe that for a minute.Think you’ll head back to Seattle when it’s over?”Radley asked lightly.The answer to that was a big fat no, but it wouldn’t kill Riley to admit she was staying in Hawaii.Permanently.Her sister had fallen for the Navy SEAL she was working with.Convenient, that.While Radley wouldn’t normally advise mixing work with play, it had worked out in this case.
There was silence on the other end of the line.“I’m not sure,” Riley finally told her.
“Uh-huh.And why is that?”Radley sassed.Her lips quirked as she crossed back into the kitchen, grabbing the bottle of water she’d left there earlier.
“Lover boy,” Riley admitted.
Radley laughed, practically feeling gleeful.“Exactly.Although from what you’ve told me about Sawyer, I highly doubt he’d ever want to be called lover boy.I’m happy you’re happy,” she admitted.“And hey, you’re welcome to stay here if you want to come visit.Although who’d want to trade sunny Hawaii for gloomy Seattle?”