“The light on my phone will work just fine if we find ourselves wandering in the dark,” I finished for her, shooting her a lopsided grin.

“The op changed, which is why you’re even going inside with us and not staying in the SUV,” Hudson reminded her, having my back. But that didn’t stop him from sucking up his pride and shoving the sticks in his pocket.

I’d decided earlier we’d watch and learn the gang’s patterns instead of grabbing Daniel’s boss from the rave as initially planned.

Since we didn’t believe Daniel’s immediate boss, Jamie, was in charge of their entire operation, we decided we’d quietly work our way to the top, then strike.

“Fine, oh wise ones,” she finally relented.

Such an actress, but at least she was standing down, returning to mission prep and handing out our wireless comms. We were also already hooked into the security cameras and were aware of the cameras’ blind spots and dead zones.

Aside from the fact I had to attend a rave with a bunch of people half my age rolling their ass off on Molly, I felt good about tonight’s mission. Minimal threat of exposure or danger.

Now if I could just focus on the op instead of worrying about what my teenage son was up to while his mom was at work . . . that’d be great.

“Daniel’s body camera is now active. I think he’s with his boss.” Izzy eyed the small screen on her wrist. It looked like an Apple watch to the outsider, but it was state-of-the-art tech, not yet available to the public. It allowed her to bounce between different camera views, including the CCTV footage within the party and our own body cameras. We had eyes everywhere.

I looked on with her. Too bad we couldn’t get sound.

“Yeah, this has to be our target that Daniel’s talking to,” she said. “At least he’s following through. You two must have put the fear of God into him.”

“I barely touched him.” Hudson held open his palms, and I didn’t miss him winking at her.

“Sure, sure.” She smirked. “Oh, and just out of curiosity . . . what happens if Jamie stays here all night? Can you both handle that? The rave doesn’t end until six in the morning.” She hip-checked Hudson. “Sorry, sorry. Forgot you two only know military time. I mean zero six hundred.”

“Smart-ass.” I shook my head, a grin stealing across my lips. But she also knew me well enough to know I’d never survive being at a rave all night, so the question was warranted. It was only 23:00 now. Seven hours at a rave? Not happening.

Juliette worked until 0700, so I also needed enough time to switch from op mode to dad mode before heading to her place.