Catching Teardrops (MAC Security 5)

“Mmmhmm.”

Pulling open the door, I laugh and slip inside before putting my belt on and readying myself for his driving.

“Ever been to a bar?”

“A bar?” I whip my head around, my eyes wide as I stare at Aiden as he pulls away from the curb. “Why would I have bee

n to a bar?”

“You’re seventeen, Lily. Not seven.” He rolls his eyes, leaning back with only one hand on the steering wheel. “I’m taking you to a bar.”

“I don’t think Dad would—”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” He turns his head, smirking at me.

Well… okay then.

LUKE

“We got the warrant, you want in?” Swiping my hand over my face, I look at the time on the clock next to my bed, gripping the cell harder in my hand. I lasted an hour before the memories surfaced in my mind—having no control over them.

“The fuck? It’s twenty-two hundred hours.”

“Awww, was Luke tucked up in bed?”

“Damn fucking straight I was.” I don’t tell him that I was up last night doing the night shift watching the compound and then spent the rest of the day in a movie marathon with Eli because he was sick.

“Well? You want in on the op or not?”

Yanking my covers aside, I plant my feet on the floor. “Be there in twenty.”

Quickly having a shower to wake myself up, I brush my teeth and dress in all black, my combat boots going on last before I head out the door and across the compound.

“Woah, where’s the fire?” Dean asks as he passes me.

“Up your fuckin’ ass,” I murmur.

Jogging across the rest of the compound, I then jump into my SUV and start it before peeling out of there toward the precinct. It’s not until I park the car next to the front doors I realize I forgot my cell. Fuck’s sake. Fuckin’ Charlie calling me in the middle of the fucking night. Okay, so it’s only 10:30 p.m. now, but I’ve been awake for way too many hours.

Pushing inside the precinct, Charlie is waiting at the side door for me.

“We’ll go through the plan and then get going,” he tells me, leading the way up the stairs and into his section.

Grunting in reply, I lean against a desk toward the back, listening as he tells us our positions, ending with, “Luke, you come through the back with me.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Everyone ready?”

A chorus of “yeses” vibrate, and then everyone is moving.

“You can ride with me,” Charlie says, moving toward me and asking, “Weapons?”

“Don’t leave the house without them,” I tell him, following him out and into his SUV. Once inside, I cross my arms over my chest and lean my head back against the headrest. It’s a sixty-minute drive to the bar and I want nothing more than to get a little sleep, but I can’t.

I need to be on alert, ready for anything. That and I don’t want Charlie to see anything he’s not supposed to. The last thing I need is someone knowing what I go through every time I sleep.

Sitting up straight, I scrub my hands down my face, shaking the tiredness from my head as I stare out the front window.

“Fill me in,” I tell Charlie, needing all the details he has.

He shuffles in his seat. “I took your surveillance to the judge and he called me in this evening and approved it.” I raise a brow as I turn to face him. “He said he wanted to keep it on the down low and to use it right away.”