Technical Threat (Westin Force #4) - Julie Trettel Page 0,77

the others. It made me feel a little uneasy. We didn’t even have coms here. Elliot must have sensed my hesitation because as soon as we got to his office, he started typing and one of the upper top three monitors in the room came to life with eyes on our team from three different angles.

“Thanks man.”

“Don’t mention it. I get it. Trust me.”

I knew he did too. Elliot had been hit with a double whammy. First, he lost most of his team in a surprise attack on a mission. He had been working surveillance having just taken over as team leader. There was nothing he could do. I knew that helpless feeling all too well, but I’d never actually lost a man in the field.

After some therapy, and a thorough psych eval, they had him restarting Echo team. Two of the new recruits had managed to be vetted but were rotten to their core. Archie was still kicking his own ass for allowing them to slip through his system.

There was a situation and they turned on their team and stole over $500,000. It had been a huge scandal within the Force. Charlie team dealt a lot with narcotics and so when the guys surfaced on their radar, they were able to take them down and recoup the money, but it had pretty much destroyed Echo team in the process.

The decision had been made to scrap the entire team and restart once again. Only Elliot remained and we all prayed the third time was a charm for him. He was a great guy and didn’t deserve the shitty things that had happened to him.

Since Echo team worked the closest with our human allies, they were heavily into security. Elliot had all the coolest toys. In truth, when the decision had been made to focus the team largely on information and surveillance, O’Connell had offered the job to me. I had turned it down without hesitation.

My time as a CEO had taught me plenty, but especially the fact I didn’t want to be in charge. I didn’t like being the leader or the scapegoat when things went wrong. I was perfectly happy being the worker bee. I had instead highly recommended Elliot and was truly happy when the announcement had been made that he was the new man in charge.

“How do you like working down here?” Ben asked.

Elliot shrugged. “I have the coolest toys in the entire universe right here at my fingertips. What’s not to love?”

“How’s the new team shaping up?” I asked.

Elliot cringed. “They seem good.”

“Trust takes time. Don’t feel guilty about that.”

“I know. But thanks, it’s nice to hear. I want so badly to have a tight unit, like you guys.”

“After everything that happened, no one blames you for approaching this new team with caution,” I assured him.

“I’m aware. I still feel bad for them. I send them on bonding projects, but I can’t bring myself to join them. I’m just not ready yet.”

“Apparently, Silas has no problem with that,” Ben muttered under his breath. We were all a little salty that he had ditched us with no instructions.

We spent much of the remainder of the day going over the new toys. It was fascinating technology. Elliot had my full attention. I was so focused, that I hadn’t even thought about Susan until we were back on the plane a little before midnight.

As the others snoozed on the flight back, all I could think about was my mate. I couldn’t wait to get home, and I wiggled in my seat growing uncomfortable just thinking about coming home to her, and our nice warm bed.

It had been a long day. The plane touched down and I wasted no time unloading and catching a ride back to the Lodge.

I cringed when the door beeped to unlock as I flashed my key card. I wanted her awake, but I didn’t want to wake her. It had been a long and crazy day. Panic momentarily gripped me. What if she was still gone? What if she hadn’t come back?

I pushed into the door, dropping my gear next to it as I scanned the room. The grip around my head relaxed as I saw her curled up and hugging my pillow. With my fox eyes I didn’t even bother turning on the lights.

Wolves had good night vision, but foxes were more like cats in that department. I could see just as clearly at night as during the day, in fact, I often saw