anything out of the normal for Terrell. Maybe someday she'd get used to the shouting, goofing around, and friendships that dominated the team atmosphere here. In the DEA, things were more buttoned up. More conservative, polite, quiet, office demeanor ruled during all disagreements, and meetings that could become contentious were held behind closed doors. Hell, wearing jeans to work would have been a quick way to get your ass written up, but not on the JDET team. Thank God.
Amber smiled at Rayburn and Watson who were sitting at the conference room table. The now familiar grease stained bag was in the middle of the table. Rayburn reached in and threw a biscuit to her, Brody and Terrell.
"You're buying tomorrow." Watson pointed to her.
"Deal." Even if she wasn't on the team, she'd make a stop for them. She liked the two men. They were crazy, but their crazies matched hers. She unwrapped the biscuit and dropped into her chair, sending a glance to Terrell who was doing the same thing.
He took a bite of the food and opened the file in front of him. "Good news," he said around his food and swallowed hard. "Thanks to some magic, we've got good fortune heading this way. The FBI is unassigning a confiscated aircraft that won't go to auction for a while, and we can use that for the undercover op up north."
"What about the house?" Brody asked, probably because he was the only one who didn't have a mouthful of food. Amber chewed and listened.
"We struck gold there. I know a person who owns a real estate brokerage company. He knows the small agency that has the listing for the house we want to occupy. He's gone out on a limb for us and is in the process of purchasing the house from the agent. He assures me it is a good business deal as he is going to update the house, or flip it, as he calls it, and sell it for a lot more than it is currently worth. He's asked for a rent-back situation until closing. The smaller agency has agreed. The only thing we need to worry about is the appraisal, and Cooper doesn't think that will be a problem. He's pulling strings to get that done in the next three days. After that, we have carte blanche to do whatever we need to the house in regard to ensuring observation of the two homes that have recently been sold." Terrell took another bite of his breakfast sandwich.
"Hell of a friend." Watson muttered.
"Relatives are all right." Terrell groused back.
"That covers the plane and the house. What about the man-hours?" Brody took his first bite after he asked.
"We'll work that as it comes." Terrell shrugged. "The board meets tomorrow."
"Board?" Rayburn chimed in.
"Above your paygrade, Rayburn. King, you and I need to talk about a few things. Rayburn, Watson, Swanson, you get the blueprints for that house and head to Briar Hill. Tech should be able to outfit you with wide angle cameras for the outside of the house. Make sure you get enough, and if you have to sign for them, make sure those serial numbers match. Last time I had to pay for equipment Morrow swears we never received."
"Roger that." Rayburn got up and tossed his wrapper in the brown paper bag and held it open for Watson to toss his garbage in. "Come on, woman, you're holding up the show." He jiggled the bag from his fingertips.
"Sorry." She shoved the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth and crumpled the paper. She shot it, and held her hands up in the air as it went into the trash bag. Her exclamation of 'score' sounded more like a toad croaking because her mouth was stuffed full of greasy, cheesy heaven.
Watson gave her a high-five, and Rayburn pitched the bag into the trash can. "Who knew a DEA agent had game?"
She grabbed her purse and headed to the door with her teammates. Damn, it was good to fit in. Too bad she'd be reassigned soon.
Brody tossed his wrapper toward the trash can, rimming it in with ease. "What's up?" He leaned back in his chair waiting for his boss to finish his biscuit. Terrell pushed another folder toward him. He opened it and read the three statements that were stashed inside. Each statement said basically the same thing. He shut the folder and sighed. "Damn it."
"Yeah, that covers it." Terrell leaned back in his chair. "I'm sending those