looking for places to install them, but so far she hadn’t found anywhere the tiny pieces of tech wouldn’t be noticed.
She sent a text back.
Still working on it.
That was true enough, but she added one more.
No sign that the crew has a secondary initiative.
She knew Bale was more concerned about their movements once the sword was on board, but she hoped her explanation would appease him for now. The wireless webcams were charged and ready, but if she didn’t want them to be discovered, she needed to find spots with a clear view that would go unnoticed.
Scanning her tiny cabin, she sighed. There was an engine room below, and of course Bob’s kitchen was state-of-the-art, but otherwise the vessel remained simple. Not a lot of hiding places for tech.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Agent Bale.
Keep me informed and get the cams in place before you dock in Glasgow.
She slid her cell into her pocket and reached for the tiny spy cams inside her bag. With Greyson up in the crow’s nest, the armory would be empty. She’d also stowed the lead-lined case for the Tyrfing sword in there, so giving Agent Bale eyes in the room would be a good start.
Peering out her door, she listened for any approaching footsteps. Satisfied she was alone, she crossed over to the armory at the back of the lower deck and slipped inside. She held her breath and counted to ten.
Still no other sounds. No one had heard her.
She turned on her light on her cell phone, trailing the beam of light over the weapons hanging on the walls.
Greyson had an impressive collection of handguns and a few rifles, and the far wall held the antiques. She moved closer to them, her gaze sliding from the flintlock pistols to the battle-axe and different size cutlass blades. Her love of weaponry had blossomed since joining Department 13. She’d fired everything from a semiautomatic handgun to a mythical bow attributed to Artemis and everything in between.
She crossed the small space and ran her fingertips along the cool steel of the cutlass hanging on the wall. Although she was deadly with her Glock, her favorite weapons had always been swords, and an antique cutlass like this one was a treasure. She ached to take it down from the wall, grip the hilt, and feel the substantial weight in her hand.
But right now, she had a job to do. Carefully, she took out the first webcam and flipped the switch on the back. Kingsley had hooked the tech up to a paranormal power source that could keep them running for a month. Enough time for her to finish this mission and reclaim the webcams.
She reached up, feeling along the top of the doorframe overlooking the gun case, until she found a lip deep enough to support the small webcam. Perfect. She placed the device and stepped back.
On her phone, she pulled up the internal site on Department 13’s server and waited for the webcam feeds to go live. Finally, her own face filled the screen. She waved at the camera, watching her reflection on the webcam feed.
Done.
She turned to go and nearly smacked into Greyson. He lifted his arm to steady her, and she noticed a tattoo on his forearm. It was a sword with a single hilt and two blades that merged into a deadly point at the top. The Tyrfing. This mission might be more personal to him than she realized.
She looked into his eyes, finding herself uncomfortably close to him and discovering that parts of her wanted to be even closer. She took a step back, struggling to distract him from asking her what she was doing in there. “Is that the Tyrfing on your arm?”
He lifted his forearm into the beam of light from her phone. “Aye. I’d heard stories about the unstoppable blade as a boy. Never dreamed it might be real or that I might ever get to hold it.” He lowered his arm and glanced past her. “Did you forget something in my weapons room?”
“No.” She kept her cool and forced a smirk. “I wanted to see what kind of hardware you’re capable of wielding.”
A muscle jumped in his cheek. “I’m already sick of this pissing contest, and we haven’t even been on the water for an entire day.” He walked past her and opened the gun locker.
She held her breath, waiting to see if he noticed the webcam. “There’s no contest. I just need to know you