𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ - ɴɪɴᴇ

𝗝onah leaned back in his office chair with his phone glued to his cheek. His eyes lazily scanned the ceiling as he listened to Maverick's words. He thought that by now, after all this time, they would have gotten somewhere with the encrypted file, but it seems each time he makes this phone call, they're set back even further.

"Yeah – the biggest problem is the booby-traps lining it. Since your police buddies already set off a few of them, if I make one mistake, it'll delete the file beyond recognition."

"Shit."

"I know," he listened to Mav click away on his keyboard, "I want these results as much as you and the rest of the team, but my hands are tied. At the very least, I'm closer than I was two and a half weeks ago; there shouldn't be too much left."

"Alright," Jonah sat up, "Thank you."

"No problem."

He lowered his phone and ended the call. Placing it down on his desk, he wasn't granted a moment alone before his door popped open, and in slipped a familiar face. With his hand pressed to his chin in exhaustion, he had no energy to react to her new appearance with anything more than wide eyes.

Auden closed the door behind her and turned around.

During her suspension, he had to admit that he missed her more than he thought he would. With someone who harbored a personality as brave as hers – so unapologetic – most would consider her a nuisance or a hindrance, but she was neither to him.

Unlike Asher, she was meticulous and smart; she always filled in the gaps he never saw.

"Hey," she spoke, raising her coffee to her lips.

He watched her run a hand through her new haircut; it was short – only long in the front, like make-shift bangs if she wanted them that day. The rest of her hair was cut close to her scalp – it suited her in the way that without the curtain of grey hair, her hawk-like eyes were the center of attention.

"Hi," he answered, "How was your birthday?"

"Boring," she rolled her eyes and plopped down on a chair, "Twenty-five sucks."

"Don't I know it," he smiled, "I'm almost twenty-seven."

"Gross."

"Agreed."

Jonah crossed his hands over his stomach and rested against his chair once more. He studied the look on his second-in-command's face; he found himself wondering if she had found herself over this short break, or at least did some self-evaluation, because she was acting differently.

Normally, she walked around here like she owned the place – as if she was on the same plane as himself. She would sit on his desk, kick him out of his chair, and make sure that everyone knew who was in charge and who wasn't. She was doing none of that now.

With her mouth sealed shut, only occasionally opening to swallow her drink, he found himself feeling dispositioned. Sure, maybe he was the one that said she needed a reality check and an attitude once-over, but he didn't mean it to this extent.

He missed his partner's snarky words. He'd gotten used to them.

Opening his mouth to voice this opinion, he was cut short as the door swung open again.

"Hey, Jonah, they sent the—" Asher walked in and stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Auden.

Sitting up in his chair, he got ready for a bickering match; while she changed enough to promote herself to a more quiet nature, there was no way she'd fixed her anger issues over the course of this short time period alone. From what he knew, Asher slept with her girlfriend, so there ought to be tension between them, no matter what they were doing.

"Morning, Moore," Auden tipped her cup in his direction.

Wait.

... what?!

He and Asher exchanged worried looks.

"Uhm, morning Peréz," he said slowly, looking scared, "How was your break?"

"Enlightening," she replied without an ounce of sarcasm.

"That's good to hear."

"Mm," she nodded.

When the room remained still for the next few seconds, she glanced from Moore to himself with a question buried deep in her eyes.

"What is that look for?" Jonah asked.

"I'm just wondering why Moore is standing in the doorway instead of coming in. Don't we have work to do?—fill me in on what I've missed."

"Right," Asher nodded and closed the door.

Jonah moved his elbow off the desk as he padded to them and placed rolled-up papers across its mahogany top. The frown on his face disappeared as he pulled them open; using a stapler and his name tag to keep the paper from folding back into itself, his intrigue sent him on a mental mission.

"Kai and Kaedyn finally managed to locate this," Moore answered their unasked questions, "—they can't be here, obviously, but they've requested that we meet up today or tomorrow, whichever works best, to go over these enemy blueprints."

"How'd they find these and send them over? How'd they slip past their servers?" Auden inquired.

"Burner phones and hacker-free internet access."

"Hmm."

"Did they say where they wanted to meet?" Jonah looked up.

"The mafia warehouse."

"Isn't that a conflict of interest?"

"No," Asher shook his head, "The base they've selected is secluded enough that if they make sure no one is following them, they can't be found. The mafia has done a good job at staying under the radar in that sense."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Auden stood up, "Let's meet up."

Moore grabbed the blueprints and rolled them back up, nodding. Jonah watched with suspicious eyes as the two of them began to exit the room and engage in a friendly chat.

Growth looked good on her.

—but he would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned.

"You coming, Jo?" she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Yeah," he stood, "I'll call Rueben on the way over."