again: no information and no proper goodbye.
“I’m sorry, Sophia. But you have to leave. Quickly.”
“And what? You’ll explain later? We both know that’s not true.”
Cameron knew there was no real response he could give. They both did know it was true.
“Besides, I’m not sure I want to know,” Sophia continued softly.
Cameron wished he could explain, at least about what was happening right now—about being undercover—but time was running out. He needed to get Sophia out of here immediately. Every moment she stayed there was more of a risk of her being seen by a member of DS-13.
“Sophia...”
She shook her head and continued before he could say anything further, reaching a hand out toward him. “Don’t worry, I’m going. Whatever you’re doing here, Cameron, I don’t want to know. But you be careful.” She drew her hand back to her side without actually touching him.
Cameron couldn’t stand the look in her eyes. She thought he was a criminal. He wished he could explain. Before she could turn away, Cameron leaned down and put his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry, Soph. Again.” Cameron stepped back from her. “Go as fast and as quietly as you can. Don’t let anyone see you.”
Cameron watched as Sophia turned and carefully manipulated her way down the stairs through all the boxes. He didn’t stay to watch her go the rest of the way out. He turned and made his way back to the office.
“Get lost?” Fin snickered as Cameron walked back in.
Cam just snorted. Fin looked at him a little closer. “What happened to you? You look like you’ve been in a wrestling match.”
Damn it. He had practically been in a wrestling match.
“Stupid boxes everywhere. It’s like an obstacle course down there. I tripped.” Cameron brushed his hair back into place.
That got a few chuckles. Nobody seemed suspicious, which was good. “How’s it going here?” Cameron asked.
Fin was taking his time showing off to the buyers what he knew about the assault rifles being sold. Fin liked to show off whenever he knew anything about anything, and oftentimes even when he didn’t, but Cameron just let him ramble on. If the buyers didn’t know when and if Fin was full of crap then it was their own fault. They’d be sitting in a jail cell in a few hours anyway.
“Why don’t you start counting the money, Cam?” Fin told him. Cameron barely bit back a groan of frustration. What he really wanted to do was get over to the window and make sure Sophia’s car was gone. But the money was on the other side of the office.
“Sure.” Cameron met one of the buyers over at the desk and pulled out a small cash-counting machine from the bag they’d brought. The machine would make things a lot faster, but not fast enough. He wanted to know—needed to know—that Sophia had made it safely out of the building. He fed the cash into the machine as quickly as he could without making it obvious that he was in a hurry. The second buyer watched him carefully the entire time.
After double-checking, because he knew Fin would ask, Cameron put the counter away.
“All here, Fin.”
“Did you double-check?”
Cameron refrained from rolling his eyes. “Yes.” He walked over and placed the bag of money on the table by Fin, then strolled as casually as possible over to the window.
No car. Thank God.
Cameron felt himself relax for the first time since he realized that the tiny brunette who had just been trying to fight her way out of his arms was Sophia. The thought of sweet Sophia being caught in the middle of this made Cameron a little sick to his stomach.
Maybe seeing her today was some sort of sign to him. Further proof he needed to finish up this case and take a break. Maybe he would call Sophia, try to repair the damage from five years ago. Explain to her his reasons for leaving.
And tell her that he had never stopped thinking about her.
But right now he had to concentrate on the case at hand. Fin was finally winding down his spiel about the assault rifles, quite a bit of it incorrect information, the buyers had the weapons they wanted and DS-13 had the cash.
Cameron could tell Fin was pleased. As the buyers left, he walked over to Cameron and slapped him on his back.
“Good job, man. Very smooth transaction.”
“As always, Fin. That’s what I do.”
Cameron wanted to demand to meet Fin’s boss, but knew that any request on his part to meet the man would push him that much further away from a meeting. He had been patient up until now. He could be patient awhile longer. Although with the Ghost Shell encoding technology becoming Cameron’s prime mission objective, he couldn’t be patient much longer.
Fin nodded. “It is what you do, Cam. And Mr. Smith, my...um...boss, has become well aware of that.”
Cameron straightened, his interest piqued. He doubted Mr. Smith was the boss’s real name, but this was the first time Fin had ever openly talked about him directly to Cameron. Finally, the slightest progress.
“Well, I’d like to meet Mr. Smith someday.”
Fin slapped him on the back again. “And you will, buddy. Soon, in fact. Mr. Smith may need your help in setting up some meetings for some new stuff.”
Cameron hoped that by new stuff Fin meant the Ghost Shell technology. Fin didn’t have an expansive vocabulary, unless it came to dirty jokes.
“But now, let’s get back to the house so we can see that weight lifting you were talking so much trash about on the way here.”
Cameron followed Fin down the stairs. Two of the other three minions were already at the car. The third, Marco—the one sent to patrol the inside of the warehouse—wasn’t there.
Dread pooled in Cameron’s stomach.
“Where the hell is Marco?” Fin demanded of the other two. Neither knew.
“He’s probably in there smoking or on the can. I’ll go find him,” Cameron offered. He had a bad feeling.
“Fine.” Fin shooed Cameron annoyingly with his hand again. But again Cameron didn’t care. “Hurry up.”
Cameron made it to the warehouse door, just as it opened. Through it came Marco, dragging a terrified Sophia behind him.
Cameron knew he had to think fast. A single word from Sophia, any sort of gesture that she knew him, would mean both their lives. In a split second, Cameron made a decision.
But he knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
He stormed up to Marco and grabbed Sophia out of his grasp. “What the hell, Marco? Is
