Technically she was, but she refused to feel guilty about that. It had nothing to do with the case.

She was tired but satisfied. The fact she, Alex, and Laura had discovered this clue from the blockchain data meant maybe Evi1Geni-us wasn’t as savvy as he thought he was. It was a good lead and hopefully would make up for her failure in Houston.

Her mood soured.

It wouldn’t bring Dave Monteith or Anya Baker back to life though.

“We’ve since verified that Zenko’s cell was turned off on December 30 and not turned on again until January 2. This suggests to anyone with a working brain he didn’t want his movements tracked during that period, which is a huge red flag.” Sloan must have confirmed Alex’s initial findings. “In the meantime, we are searching for license plate captures or any records of him renting a car and traveling to Houston from North Carolina.”

“What’s the plan?” Shane asked.

Sloan put her hands on her hips. “HRT have sent a team to assist FBI Charlotte’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Squad led by SSA Lucas Randall who some of you obviously know—”

“They’ve already left?” Shane cut in.

Sloan nodded. “Flew out an hour ago. We were keeping this strictly need to know.”

Shane audibly ground his teeth and Yael glanced at him. He caught himself and pulled his lips back into a smile that didn’t come close to reaching those viridian eyes.

“They are taking bomb squad technicians with them and the plan is to pick Zenko up when he leaves his apartment.”

“Do we have a visual of the suspect?” Shane asked.

Sloan shook her head. “Not yet but we know from radar there is someone asleep in bed inside his apartment. We don’t know who yet. We only discovered this information in the early hours of this morning thanks to Alex Parker and Yael.” Sloan nodded to her.

She pressed her fingers to her warm cheeks and wished she didn’t blush so easily. She wasn’t shy. She was simply allergic to being the center of attention.

“You found him?” Shane asked.

“I helped.”

“I wish you’d called me. Nice work though.” He held her stare for so long her pulse skipped.

She gave him a nod. His gaze fell to her mouth before pulling back to her eyes. Then he looked away as if annoyed with himself. The kiss had apparently unsettled them both.

She didn’t like how many times her thoughts had strayed to this man over the last few days. Her finger had hovered over the delete button on his number in her contact list a dozen times, but why delete something she might need during the course of this investigation?