“One of the abandoned mines,” she replied, her voice ragged. She held out her phone with a shaking hand. “This one.”
Mel took the device and studied the address. Her normally warm brown gaze turned cold as she returned the phone to Lacy and stared down Spalding. “No.”
Dean barely smothered the smile that came with a swell of pride. His partner was absolutely stunning when she locked into full-blown protector mode.
“What?” Spalding lurched to his feet.
“You heard me.” Mel folded her arms, held her ground.
“It’s not your decision,” Spalding shouted with no regard for the other customers in the cafe. “I’m in charge.”
“To a point.” Mel cocked her head, considering. “You hired local experts for a reason.”
Spalding shook off Maria’s attempts to get him to sit down. “Not to hijack my schedule!”
Mel wouldn’t budge. “We’re not going out there today.”
“We will stay on schedule!” Spalding insisted.
“Let’s discuss this elsewhere. My house,” Atwell suggested. “I’ll call ahead—”
Mel’s eyebrows arched at Atwell’s peacekeeping efforts, then she focused on the director again. “Dean and I are done for today.” Mel tapped her collar, a vivid reminder of the near miss. “Yes, it is in fact our decision,” she kept her voice low and even. “We know the area and the risks, especially in remote areas like that mine.”
“Darkness comes on fast out here,” Dean added. “That isn’t a place you want to be after dark.”
Spalding wasn’t convinced.
Mel rested a hand on the back of Lacy’s chair. “Your team needs a break, Mr. Spalding. That was one hell of a shock. Give us all some time to regroup and reset.”
Dean caught the frown flickering across Atwell’s face as the older man watched the exchange. Mel’s firm tone and direct manner were drawing too much of Atwell’s attention. Not good. Taking a position at her back, he rested his hands lightly on her shoulders, sending the message to anyone watching that she had ready and capable backup.
“That’s a lie,” Spalding’s gaze darted around his team. “We’re all fine. We can rest when we get home.”
“If we get home.” Lacy dropped her head into her hands, sniffling.
“Mr. Spalding.” Kent stood, physically interrupting his boss’s next attempt to bark out orders and guiding him out of the dining area. Behind his back, he waved a hand.
It was apparently a signal used often among the team. Andrew and Lacy got up in a hurry, followed by Dale who had driven one of the SUVs this morning.
Lacy grabbed Mel’s hand as she passed. “Make the most of this distraction and go,” she advised. “You’ve more than earned the break.”
From across the table, Maria was making shooing motions as well. “We’ve got this.”
Dean wasn’t going to squander this golden opportunity. They knew their boss better than he and Mel did. If he didn’t get some private time with his partner soon, he’d erupt. He ushered her out toward the parking lot, every instinct he had screaming that they were being watched.
“Where to?” Mel’s hand tightened around his as they walked. “Should we pick up a new drone and report all this in person?”
“No.” Dean took a breath. Opening the tailgate, they stowed what was left of their equipment. “We go back to Lattice Creek. We’ll stay on this until we figure out why someone tried to kill you this morning.”
Her big brown eyes went wide and her lips parted. Then she seemed to remember herself and her mouth snapped closed. He wanted to kiss her so badly. The urge had nothing to do with their undercover roles. He would’ve kissed her like he had last night, just to make sure she didn’t say the wrong thing while they were standing out here in the open.
His hand light on her elbow, he nudged her closer to the passenger door. “Let me do a quick sweep and then we’ll go.”
“Quick sweep?” she echoed.
He dropped his keys on the pavement and then clumsily kicked them under the truck. “Guess I’m more rattled than I thought,” he said, just in case those watching were also listening in.
He stretched out on his belly to retrieve his keys and, as he did so, he checked for any signs of tampering or a planted GPS tag. Not a perfect scan, but he was confident they were clear.
“We’re good?” she whispered as he opened her door.
“Looks that way.” He smiled and stroked a wayward curl behind her ear. “I’d never take any chances with you.”
Except he had. He’d let Spalding separate them and she’d nearly been killed.
He rounded the hood to the driver’s side, vowing that was the last time he’d give Atwell any kind of opening.