Sloane grabbed a bottle of water from a concealed fridge and gulped it down. She had more energy to burn but decided against pushing herself. Night would soon take the city and she needed to be on full alert.
Immediately, she wondered what Professor Radcliffe was up to. The man had made an impression on her, on so many levels, but only one she would acknowledge. He had the knowledge she was desperate for, the knowledge she needed to stop the trafficking of Phantom, and even to trace it back to the source, the mysterious lab where the drug was coming from.
“Hey, you want to spar with me?”
Jerked from her thoughts by Melina, Sloane shook her head. “Nah. I’m done here.”
As Lance and Joshua were locked in an intricate wrestling hold, Melina lowered her voice. “Are you okay? You didn’t seem to truly attack the punching bags.”
With a sign, she rolled her shoulders. “You know when you feel you’re getting closer to your goal, but a door gets slammed in your face? I miscalculated with the professor. I moved too fast, without doing the appropriate research and background checks, and my impatience punched me in the face. I had to back away, if only to keep the potential lines of communication open.”
Their team doctor winced. “You’re human, Sloane. We all want to close this case, maybe you more than anyone else.”
Her throat closed, but Sloane refused to let it show. Melina was right and knew first-hand the damage drugs could do to individuals, and also to entire families.
“So what’s your next step? You’ve stumbled, but I know you’re not the kind of woman to stay down. What do you know about him?”
Indeed, when she’d returned from the university, she’d jumped on the computer and dug. “Former Marine who used a government program to go to school when he was discharged. Obtained his post-doctorate two years ago and became a teacher soon after. He’s discrete, only posts pictures or drawings on social media.”
It was then she realized that the pictures she’d seen in his office were his. Photographer, artist, scholar, it was an unusual mix for a former Marine.
“A Marine? How’s his record?”
“Stellar. He was offered many opportunities to advance, but turned them down, and instead started fresh. That’s courage in my opinion.”
Melina nodded. “Brawn and brain. What does he look like?”
Sloane elbowed the blonde doctor. “What kind of question is that?”
Far from being impressed by her frown, Melina’s green eyes sparkled like a cat. “Ah, a defensive reaction. That means he made an impression on you!”
Sloane didn’t know what made her angrier, Melina’s teasing, or the fact that her friend might be right.
Melina’s sudden outburst redirected Lance’s and Joshua’s attention. Both men took a break, and Sloane cursed. The last thing she wanted was to be sidetracked into something she had no intention of indulging in. Melina laughed, explaining the outburst, which made Sloane frown even more.
Joshua scratched the back of his head. “I thought you were having a hot affair with that girl, a barista, or something.”
Sloane rolled her eyes. “That ended months ago. And why do you care?”
Her burly Welsh colleague lifted a hand. “Don’t bite my head off. I just can’t keep up with who you’re with.”
“Damn, you make me sound as if my bed has a fucking revolving door!”
Probably sensing the tension was about to get the better of her, Lance put on hand on Joshua’s shoulder, but peered deep into Sloane’s eyes. “We’re not judging you here. We don’t care who’s in your bed, man or woman. All we want is for you to be happy. And lately, it looks as if you’re going through the motions, caught in your head. We’re just relieved to see you hyped up again.”
Sloane swallowed the rising emotions. She would never say it, but she was grateful for their tight-knit group, even if they sometimes annoyed her like a blood family.
“Listen, I’m only hyped because of the possibility of closing in on our target. Professor Radcliffe is certainly not what I expected, but even if he caught my eye, it doesn’t mean that he’ll get in the way of my job.”
This time, the energy shifted, the circle tightening around her.
Lance, keeping a hand on Joshua, touched her hand next. Melina gripped her waist, their little quartette forming an imperfect, but solid unit.
Lance’s voice was low, but strong. “We never doubted you. We all get the job done, Sloane. All of us. Usque Ad Finem.”
To the very end. At hearing the motto that was inked on all of them, that bonded them in their mission to safeguard and protect their city, Sloane settled more. Betrayal and suspicions had scarred her so deeply, she sometimes reacted the wrong way, even with her own team members. Old habits were difficult to change, if ever.
“Oh! Are we having a group hug? I want a group hug!”
Sloane rolled her eyes as Melina, Joshua, and Lance laughed at Devin, who’d barged in, a phone in one hand, a bag of chips in the other. His comic t-shirt blinding with its colors.
He skipped their way. “What? No hug? You’re a sorry band of pathetic losers. I, on the other hand, deserve a one for the information I’m bringing you. So come here, darling Sloane.”
He extended his arms as if he expected her to participate in his nonsense. “Spit it out, and I may refrain from punching you, geek boy.”
Unfazed, he put his phone in his pocket before putting his hand in the bag of chips and scarfing down a handful. “Hey! Be respectful of the geek, especially one as awesome as I am.”
Joshua shook his head and slapped Devin’s shoulder before leaving the gym. Melina was still laughing when she disappeared into the locker rooms.
Emptying the few remnant crumbs from the bag into his mouth, Devin smashed it into a ball and threw it into a corner.
Lance growled and went to get it before putting it in his pocket. “Stop turning every inch of this space into a tip. I swear you’re worse than a teenager.”
Sloane couldn’t agree more, but more pressing matters needed her attention. “I hope the fact you’re this excited means you found something good.”
Wiping his greasy fingers on his jeans, Devin took his phone out again. “Yeah. When I came in, Lance told me about your intention to use Professor Radcliffe to get more information about the tunnels. I don’t know what you did or said when you finally met him, but I started getting ghost pings soon after.”
Pings were alarms that the group got when someone did a search on their company name, phone number, or vigilantes in general.
“Why ‘ghost’ pings?”
“Well, it means that someone isn’t opening just any web browser to do research but took the time to hide under a few protective layers. If our guard wasn’t up, those pings would’ve remained undetected.”
Lance crossed his arms, all business. “You know who did the search? Professor Radcliffe?”
Devin smiled. “Wasn’t so straightforward, but yeah. He didn’t use any of his official computers or phones and would have remained a mystery if I hadn’t done the initial search for Sloane on the dear professor earlier. No offense, Slo, but I went deeper, and found a nickname linked to his military past. When I cross-verified the information found on the ping, the intruder’s name made sense. The only mistake he made was using his team’s nickname for him.”