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“Yes, thank you,” she said without feeling it. That overwhelming exhaustion had set in. The last time she’d felt this depleted was during bootcamp during the hardest part of the training. They sat in silence, listening to the others through their comms for fifteen minutes. Laura Lee fought to keep her eyes open.
As she was about to drift off, Brad’s voice cut through the blur of other voices. “Ops needs to sign off this channel now and cover Delta Team. Text me if you need anything else. The Digital Team is still working on the identity of the man in that pic. Nice work Lah-lee and team.”
“Good luck to Delta,” Garcia said. “I’ll talk to you later, Control and Circles.”
“Ops out.”
Laura Lee smiled to herself, picking up on how Brad acknowledged her by name and added team. He was speaking directly to her. She’d send him a quick text when they got back to the hotel. A car pulled into the lot and cruised over to the vacant area they were parked in. A new wave of alertness hit Laura Lee. Its windows were tinted. She couldn’t see the driver.
It backed in beside them and the passenger side window lowered. BT sat in the driver’s seat. Laura Lee lowered her window as well. “I’m sure that guy has the license plate to this car. Powder, return it and get another. Lah-lee, hop in with me.”
She heard him both through comms and her open window. She exited the vehicle and slid into the passenger seat beside BT as Mike got out from the back and took the driver’s seat. As soon as her door was closed, BT pulled from the space and raised the window.
“We’ll head back to the hotel,” BT said.
She merely nodded and rested her head back. She was nearly asleep when he spoke again.
“You can go off comms,” he said.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed he’d removed his own and held it in his hand. “Sorry, I must have drifted to sleep.”
“Go off comms,” he repeated.
She pulled it from her ear and turned it off.
“You did good in there,” BT said. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” she said.
“If not with me, reach out to Lassiter or Madison,” he said.
She gazed out the side window. “I talked with Lassiter before I joined you in Garcia’s room. I know to call him if I need to talk to him.” She tried not to sound bitchy or defensive. “But thank you for your concern.”
“You make it sound like I’m concerned because it’s an obligation for me to be. It’s not.”
She continued to watch the oncoming traffic stream by the side window. “You are my team lead.”
He chuckled. “Yes, I am. I’m also a human being who has feelings and empathy for others. I can’t tell you that I understand exactly how you felt standing in the same room with him, but I can relate to feeling afraid and angry when working a case because it’s personal. It wasn’t that long ago that I almost lost Evie. The thought of something happening to her was a hundred times worse than worrying something could happen to me. I imagine you felt the same when he was threatening to kill your family.”
Tears flooded her eyes. She kept her head turned. She didn’t want him to see her cry.
“Laura, talk to me,” BT pressed.
“He made a big mistake when he did that. Now I’m more pissed than afraid. When I threatened to kill him, I meant it.”
“Yes. And when he did that, he took this to a new level, a new level the team will respond to. Why do you think Garcia followed him rather than staying on you? He has a kid. West threatening your nephews and niece is something Garcia won’t forget,” BT said. “None of the team will, but I suspect Garcia will take that more personally than the rest of us.”
Warmth filled her heart, as odd as that was to acknowledge to herself. She blew out a loud breath and did some deep breathing for a few beats. “I know this is bigger than him just raping students and blackmailing them. I know there are national security concerns, but I just want him dead. When I stood in that room, all I could think was that he had to be stopped and by stopped, I mean dead. I’ve never felt that kind of rage at anyone in my life. Not even the monster who killed my parents.”
“Rage isn’t a productive emotion but channeling it into determination to get proof, spring the trap, and put the scumbag away for life is.”
“I know that’s the end goal. And we need to get proof on this Liu guy too. He also raped Michelle Keslar, and he needs to be stopped.”
“You need to stay focused on that, Laura. Keep it in sight and don’t let your rage blind you.”
She swiped at a few tears that dampened her cheeks. “Thank you, BT. I’ll also reach out to Joe. But I’m not sure I need to. You helped me put it into perspective.”
“Try to get a good night’s sleep tonight. That’ll help too. Don’t stay awake too long on the phone with Dupont.”