Even now, I can’t take time to sleep. First thing in the morning, I’ll need to return to the office with all of the tapes. I won’t be satisfied with them until I go over the doctored evidence quickly one last time.

I can’t afford any mistakes. Erik’s work is flawless, but all it will take is one glitch in a tape to blow this whole thing wide open.

The truth is I won’t be able to rest until the investigation is closed. The thought of Sam being arrested and taken away from me is unbearable. There’s nothing I won’t do to keep that from happening.

I shower quickly and then head to my computer room to keep working.

My worst fear is that I’ll miss something on the tapes. A few extra days’ time would help tremendously. While I’m watching the tapes, I start working out in my mind how I’m going to convince my boss to close the investigation. I’ll need to play it cool. Act like it’s nothing personal. That my time spent with the Steel Infidels was nothing more than a big waste of agency resources.

I also need to start planning my exit strategy. It’s not like I can go in Monday morning, suggest to my boss that Operation Thunderclap be closed down, and then turn in my resignation.

This is the time to be careful and methodical. No one can suspect anything is amiss. I wonder how long I’ll need to stay at the agency before I can leave without drawing suspicion. A few weeks at least. Weeks that will feel like a lifetime while I’m separated from Sam.

I can do whatever it takes to pull this off.

All of our futures depend on it.

Sam slips up behind me in the dark room and slides his hands down my arms.

“So this is what you do?” he asks, leaning over my shoulder. “I’m impressed. This is quite an operation you’ve got going here.”

I reach up to stroke his arm and then lay my head against it.

“Pull up a chair,” I say. “I’ll show you what I’m doing with the tapes.”

He drags a rolling chair over and leans forward so he can see the screen.

I cue up the videotape. “Here is what the original surveillance tape looks like.” I play him a few minutes of the video footage showing the transactions in the back alley. “And here is what it looks like now.” The tape shows Sam stepping out the back door of the shop, walking over to dump a bag of trash in the dumpster, then an empty motionless alley for the remainder of the tape.

“Wow! How did you do that?” he asks.