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“Always,” Briana guaranteed her.
***
On January second Roth got into HQ early. After thinking about his conversation with BT the day before, he remembered that not only was BT his friend, but he was also his boss. Roth wanted to show a good attitude regarding returning to the PGP Project. He had the majority of the equipment for the install loaded into the back of one of the agency SUVs before the others arrived.
Their job was in Petersburg, Indiana and they’d be driving two of the agency SUVs to the location, which was five hours due south of them. It was a major coal-fired power plant on the banks of the White River. Its controls had been hit by repeated hacking attempts that tried to shut the plant down in December. It was moved to the top of the work list.
This rotation would have three members of Echo Team assigned back to the project. His team mate, Laura Lee Saxton was returning to the project after nearly three months away due to HQ work, a ruptured appendix, a personal issue that became an agency case, and then scheduled training at HQ. Michael Cooper was scheduled on the PGP Team with them, BT being the only member of Echo Team absent because of his broken wrist. Two members of Charlie Team were also assigned back to the project, Tessman and Burke. The two other Charlie Team members would be working with three members of Delta Team and Cooper on a DEA Partner Mission.
“Someone’s an eager beaver this morning,” Laura Lee said when she saw all that he’d accomplished.
“And someone’s cranky about going back to the project,” he teased. “Going to miss Circles or haven’t you had your coffee yet?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I am going to miss Brad. It’s been a nice couple of months.”
If he didn’t know her better, he would have sworn she was blushing. “You two are good together,” he said. “I was watching you dance at Lambchop and Michaela’s wedding and you both looked happy.”
She flashed him the most contented smile he’d ever seen grace her face. “We are. You know when something just feels right, and you know it? Well, that’s how it is.”
No, he didn’t know how that felt. Well, he’d had an inkling about that when he’d met Briana, but he doubted that would materialize into anything. She had been reluctant to really engage in any meaningful conversation with him. “That’s great, Laura. You tell him he better always treat you right or I’ll kick his ass,” he said with a smile.
“Now that I’ve had full operator training, I can kick his ass myself,” she added with a laugh. “But I don’t think either of us will ever need to. He treats me great.”
“Yeah, I figured,” Roth said. “He’s a good guy.”
“Yes, he is,” she agreed.
“Aw, thanks, guys,” Michael Cooper said, coming up silently from behind them and draping his arms over their shoulders. “But really, stop talking about me like that. You’ll make me blush.”
They both snorted out a laugh.
“Yeah, like you’re capable of blushing,” Roth said.
They all laughed. Roth appreciated the camaraderie with his teammates. Michael had become one of his best friends over the last year. Well, considering they usually roomed together when working on the PGP installs, they’d either wind up tight, or hate each other.
“Did you watch the game at BT’s yesterday?” Michael asked.
“Yeah,” Roth said. “It was low key. How was the party at Sherman’s?”
“Definitely not low key,” Michael said with a laugh. “But it was fun.”
“What about you, Laura?” Roth asked.
“It was just Brad and me and no, we didn’t watch the game.”
Roth and Michael were about to tease her when the garage door rolled open and Tessman’s silver Jeep Wrangler hardtop drove into the private garage area. It pulled up beside them. Tessman and Burke greeted them through the lowered passenger window.
“Sorry we’re late,” Burke said.
“No problem,” Michael said. He flashed a grin at Roth. “We’re packed up and ready to go.”
“We?” Roth asked.
“Yeah, we,” Michael said with a smile. “Come on,” he nodded towards the door into the building. “Let’s get the last few items loaded so we can get on the road. The sooner we go, the sooner I can get back to Dahlia.”
***
Briana sat in the back booth nearest the ladies’ room in the dated diner just off Interstate 95 in Augusta, Maine, waiting to make contact with her client. She’d check into a motel up the road if her client wasn’t ready to go that minute. She hoped she would be ready. It was cold, and the forecast was for snow, a lot of it. Briana wanted to be across the state line before the first flurry hit the windshield of her van.
