Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 118780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
“Not dangerous, but it may go later.”
“Be careful.” Her voice is now thoughtful. “I love you.”
“You too.”
“Thank you for the beautiful flowers.”
“Thank me when I get home.”
“Cut off until next week…”
“Try it. See you tonight.” I disconnect, feeling all eyes on me.
“The twinkle is bright.” Talon snaps a photo.
“No fucking twinkle.”
“Don’t deny, brother. Ask the others.”
Ace and Major grunt, but I catch their grins in the rearview mirror.
“Let’s do this.” I angle out of the Hayes Security garage.
Talon directs me to an old warehouse on the outskirts of town but within a few miles of the airport.
“You sure this is the right place? It’s a fucking dump.” I take in the dilapidated building that is barely standing.
“Hidden in plain sight. Let’s get this shit set up.” Ace hands us each an earbud. “You got us?”
“Clear,” Finn answers through the transmission. “Any activity?”
“One way in and out,” I confirm what we suspected. “The property is two miles off the road. You’d have to know this is here.”
“Let’s hope our intel is solid.”
“We’re on a streak. Don’t jinx it.” Talon unloads the surveillance equipment. “Although I wish you’d told us we’d be climbing trees before I dressed this morning.”
“Aww, is the Casanova worried about messing up his threads?” Robbie harasses. “You can always let the adults handle the big jobs.”
“Fuck that shit, these guys couldn’t find their ass with both hands without me.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Major slaps him upside the head, then ducks out of the truck to avoid Talon’s fist.
“We’re on it,” I inform them.
“We’re on standby with any issues. Don’t forget, you’re working with about a hundred thousand dollars of technology,” Finn recaps before the transmission goes silent.
“Chump change,” I mumble, earning a grin from Ace.
The four of us break apart, going to our assigned targets and connecting the cameras to cover angles of the building. We run all the equipment through to test the function.
“West on,” Talon utters through the mics.
“North.”
“South.”
“East.”
We follow at the same time.
“Connections up and running,” Finn verifies.
“Headed back.” I swing down from the limb, making my way to the truck.
“Whitman, see me when you get here.” Robbie’s statement stops me in my tracks.
“You know something?”
“When you get here—”
“Bull-fucking- shit. It’s been a damn week. You know something, I want to hear it.”
He sighs loudly. “Call me from your truck, on my secure phone.”
I take off running, catching the others doing the same from different directions. The minute we’re all closed in, I dial Robbie.
“Talk to me,” I grate out.
“Rowan’s alarm disabled around four a.m. on Monday morning from an all-hours cafe near Vanderbilt.”
“I thought your equipment was hack-proof.”
“This wasn’t some hack. They went through the back walls to not alert any monitors. Almost like an update to the system that would be seamless for the user. Whoever did this knew their way around.”
Only one person comes to mind.
Finn kills the idea immediately. “Kent Wallace was at Tera’s apartment all night. Our trace puts him there until he left for work Monday.”
I’m not surprised they are keeping his movements on radar. Like me, no one believes the relationship with Tera is a coincidence. Especially considering Kent is still a suspect as the leak in his department. The original intel pointed his way, but he’s gotten smart.
It was a long shot he was involved with Rowan’s security system, but my instincts wanted him looked into.
“Who the hell is messing with Rowan?”
“Several security companies received complaints of systems being knocked offline during that time frame. Since Rowan’s cameras show no activity, she possibly could have been a victim of circumstance.”
“Some tech guru getting his thrills by intercepting security systems?”
“There are stranger things. The owner of the shop is sending us the footage of that night. You can review when you get here. See if anyone sticks out.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do we, but Rowan is right. Her store isn’t a prime target for theft, and her only enemy is in jail.”
“I’ll review the video.” I disconnect and get back on the road.
When we get to the offices, Robbie has the video ready.
Nothing is out of the ordinary, mostly kids working in groups. The only single customer is playing a game on his tablet, drinking coffee like it’s his lifeline.
“The perp could have been outside but would have been within ten feet of the wi-fi signal,” Talon concludes, moving the video to outside surveillance.
There’s a car in the back of the parking lot. Zooming in, there’s a shadow working on a computer. It’s too dark to make out their screen, but their license plate is readable.
“Turn it over to Metro and see what they can find. My guess is a young punk,” I tell the room.
“I’ll message Hal.” Ace steps away with his phone.
Robbie stares at me with something on his mind. He doesn’t make me wait long. “Your uncertainty is justified knowing Rowan’s history. We have to delve into the facts here. Kent may be our suspect, but his ties to Rowan are four degrees of separation.”