“Fridge should be stocked with basics.” She moved through the apartment, inspecting everything for herself while Yeun remained standing in the middle of the main room.
The trainees from the Centurion Corporation facility outside Seattle were on point, usually military veterans only in need of training in the procedures specific to their particular private military contracting outfit. And she was certain Deputy Marshal Decker had gone over every inch with his own discerning eye. But she still liked to go over everything personally. When working solo, even in coordination with other organizations, she’d learned to check every detail herself.
“This place is a dump.” Yeun didn’t bother with more complicated vocabulary.
She tossed her duffel down next to the armchair in the corner of the small main room. “It’s clean, there are no bugs and it isn’t anything like the places you’ve been choosing to stay in over the last forty-eight hours. There’s plenty of hot water and the water pressure is better than a lot of the older hotels in the area. What’s to complain about?”
Yeun’s eyes flicked in the direction of the bedroom and back to her. “You’re telling me that’s a king-size bed in there.”
Not a hint of innuendo in either his tone or his posture, but hell, her own brain had supplied a few interesting thoughts. The man was too attractive for his own damned good.
“You’re sleeping alone.” And there would be no debate there. Not with him, not with her own libido, no matter how long it’d been since she’d last scratched that particular itch. “You can make do with a queen. The sheets are fresh. No one’s bled on them.”
“Generally, blood on the sheets isn’t the organic matter I’m concerned with when I’m faced with questionable accommodations.” Yeun’s mouth stretched into a wry grin.
Of course his charm factor amped way up with the change in his expression. She fought against smiling in return. No sense in encouraging him.
For all his complaining though, he appeared much more relaxed than he had back at the Safeguard offices. Fine lines around his mouth and between his eyebrows had disappeared, replaced with much better humored laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. Apparently, peace of mind made a huge difference for him.
He’d unbuttoned the collar and top button of his pristine white dress shirt, as well. Somehow he’d gone from polished businessman to stylishly business casual with just the two buttons. She wasn’t exactly sure how he achieved the affect but figured it had as much to do with his posture as the clothing he was wearing.
She liked his business casual look better. It was just a step away from rumpled.
Nope. None of those thoughts would lead her to wise actions. Not a single one of them.
“Not a worry here. There’s no television but I brought a tablet. We’ve created a sock-puppet account for you on a couple of the streaming video sites so you can watch movies without anyone realizing it’s you.” She pulled a tablet out of her second bag and held it out to him. “I’ll have a portable hot spot turned on most of the time for you to access Wi-Fi but I need your word of honor you won’t try logging in to any of your online accounts. No email. No websites. Nothing you’ve ever registered for or created a log-in user name and password. You’ll be surfing the internet via proxy server to avoid traceability.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ll trust me?”
She stared at him. “I’ll be watching you to save you from your own stupidity. The minute you go back on your word, access to Wi-Fi and the tablet stops. You can stare at the ceiling for entertainment.”
He snorted. “Understood. While I think I could do so for a few hours, I’d appreciate the option of video entertainment after a while.”
“It’s only a few days until the court hearing.” She settled an earbud in her ear and activated the comm on the secure channel shared by Deputy Marshal Decker and Officers Weaver and Austin. “Scott here. We’re about as settled as we’re going to get.”
Yeun adopted an uninterested expression and went into the bedroom to get a closer look.
Decker’s voice came across the comm, his tone soft. “Decker here. I’m in place with eyes on the street.”
“Weaver. We’re circling the block.” Weaver spoke at a slightly louder volume and the mic picked up some residual background noise that sounded like music in the car. She and Austin were the mobile response unit, easily able to move directly to action because they weren’t parked at all. That meant they had to take a circuitous route around the block or surrounding streets fairly continuously for periods of time.
“Decker here. Marshal Nguyen would like to have a few words with you.” The inflection was slightly different. Strained?
Isabelle frowned. “I’m not leaving my post.”
Definitely not within minutes of arriving at the safe house.