She nodded. “I guess, but it still seems odd.”
“It’s odd because it’s not what we’re used to, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
“I get that too.” For the next bit she was quiet, as she thought it over. “There’s got to be something else we can do though.”
“We’re doing quite a bit,” Terk acknowledged. “Make sure you have monitoring going on around us here,” he suggested. “No way to know for sure if we’ve been followed on any of these outside trips.”
“I do have it set up,” she noted. “I hope you are getting in more security cams?”
“We have a lot of equipment coming in today, and some of it is coming with Merk.”
“So, there’ll be a drop shipment or something?”
“Yep, and it should be coming any minute.” Just then his phone beeped with a text notification. “And there it is.” He smiled, with a note of satisfaction. “I do like it when people are dependable.”
“And where is it?” she asked, hopping to her feet.
He smiled, walked over to another door that she had basically ignored because a bunch of junk was piled up in front of it.
He moved aside all the junk, with an assist from Damon, who had immediately hopped up to help. As soon as the door was unlocked, she followed them into the next room, where Terk flicked on lights to reveal the room was full of boxes.
“What is this?” she asked. And then she spied several beds off to the side. “Oh.” She stopped, and then she grinned. “I did demand a bed, didn’t I?”
“You did,” he agreed, “and I take demands like that very serious.”
She burst out laughing. “So will this be our hidey-hole then?” She turned, looked at him. “I’m not sure it’ll be good for you though.”
“It’s what I’ve got.” Terk shrugged. “So it doesn’t matter if it’s good or not. I’ll work with it.”
She frowned. “But I know that you need more in terms of protection.”
“I do,” he agreed, “and I’m working on building up something in here. Honestly I find the concrete is almost soothing. More storage is above and on the other side as well. So we are surrounded by a lot of concrete. Not as good as steel but it’s something.”
“But you need steel to stop people from tracking you, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he noted quietly, “so we’ll use the fact that people can track us to our advantage.”
She sucked in her breath when she understood. “You’re trying to set a trap?”
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “I’d do any damn thing I could to make this work,” he stated. “So a trap? Yes.”
“And me?”
“You’ll be on the other side of this building,” he promised, “and hopefully not even nearby before that trap is sprung.”
“But you can’t know that,” she muttered, glaring at him.
“Nope, I can’t,” he admitted, “and that’s part and parcel of what this is all about. We have to make sure that we’re protected and must do whatever we can to ensure, if they come after us, that we’ve got them. I don’t want any more surprises, like ambushes.”
“No.” She sighed in frustration. “I get that.”
“Good.” Terk nodded. “Then you’ll understand perfectly when I tell you that you’ll be in here more often than not.”
She glared at him. “Are we moving the computer equipment in then?”
“Maybe.” He studied the area. “Or maybe it would be better to separate the working space from the sleeping space.”
“That would be good,” she agreed. “It’ll be rough having all of us here together.”
“Not that rough,” he stated. “Damon and I have worked together for a long time, so I don’t think it’ll be all that difficult at all.”
“It’s just me who’ll have to get used to roughing it, is that it?”
He laughed. “You’re young. You’re adaptable. So you can get used to anything you want. After all, it’s really just a mind-set.”
*
After another text message, Terk held up his phone. “Merk is being followed.”
It was startling, but Terk’s exclamation disturbed the silence, as Damon and Tasha worked. They both turned and stared at him. “Shit, does he know who it is?”
“Black truck.” Terk’s tone was clipped, obviously his patience at a premium. “So likely the same guy who killed Wilson.”
“And that’s a huge break,” Damon put in, walking closer to Terk. “Where is he?”
“Leading him away from us and looking for a place to set up a trap.” Looking at Damon, Terk asked, “You want in on a sting?”
“Sure as hell do,” he snapped. “Tell me where and when.”
“That’s what Merk is looking for. He wants to keep him away from here but doesn’t want to take a chance of losing this lead.”
Tasha hopped up and walked over. “I’m in.”
Immediately both men frowned at her, but she shook her head. “None of that,” she scolded. “We don’t have any other people here. It’s just the three of us, so, if any of this goes down wrong, we still need somebody left standing who can set up a new team and a new sting to get these assholes,” she stated in a determined voice.
The two men exchanged glances, and Damon didn’t know what to think. She had elementary training, as all agents did, but it’s not like she was trained the way the rest of them were. “I don’t like it,” he said bluntly.
“I know you don’t like it,” she replied, with a sugar-sweet smile. “But we’re not here to talk about you.”
He burst out laughing at that. “Good point.”
“You realize you may not come back?” she asked.
“Bigger than that,” Terk snapped, “is the fact that Damon’s attention will be split because he’ll also be looking after you.”
She glared at Terk, and Damon had to appreciate the fact that she had the balls to stand up to him. But Terk had a point. “I know you don’t like to think about it,” Damon told her, “but he’s right. I will be splitting my energy, trying to make sure that you’re safe, so I won’t focus 100 percent on getting this guy.”
“But you’ll have Merk, right?”
He frowned and nodded. “Yes.”
“So let me run a vehicle. Let me do something,” she suggested. “I need to be involved somehow.”
“Well, we need a command center, and we’ve always needed that,” Damon stated. “I don’t know that you appreciate how important that job is.”
She groaned. “But that’s what I always do.”
His grin was immediately infectious. “And that’s because you’re damn good at it. If anybody can handle the electronics, it’s you,” he stated, “and we need you here for that.”
She glared, but he could tell from the soft slump of her shoulders that she could see the sense in that.