Watching From The Shadows: Trident Security Book 5 (12 page)

Ian stabbed the speaker button on the phone sitting in front of him. “Reverend, you still there?”

Of course Jake had been kept in the loop, despite being in San Diego. “Yup. Is Polo there?”

Marco leaned forward to be heard clearly. “Yeah, I’m here. Can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Thank God for that. I’m dying to hear what Egghead’s junk-trunk revenge is going to be.”

While the members of the Omega team looked confused, the rest of them laughed. Marco would gladly take the ribbing he was in for over the next few weeks because it meant he was alive. “Before we start—and Ian don’t tell me to fuck off again—I just wanted to thank everyone for…well, for everything. I know my team has always had my back and vice versa, but the Omega team stepped up to the plate without hesitation. So, again, thanks.” There were a round of head nods and a few murmurs. Theirs was typically a thankless career, so when gratitude did come, even from a fellow teammate, it tended to fluster them. “All right. Fill me in.”

Ian nodded for Brody to start the briefing. The geek hit a button on his laptop and the video feed from Harper’s front porch appeared on a wide-screen monitor hanging on the far wall. “Jake, you should have it up on your screen, too, although there isn’t much to see.”

“Got it.”

Brody leaned back in his chair. “Our perp showed up just after midnight. He knew the cameras were there and was wearing a Frankenstein Halloween mask, gloves, and hoodie. From the body type and language, I’m pretty sure it’s a guy. Either he expected cameras or did a drive-by and saw us installing them.”

Everyone watched as an indistinguishable human entered the picture, carrying a large duffel bag. The bastard had the balls to wave at the camera before going out of camera range again, presumably to crawl under the porch and set the bomb. Egghead fast forwarded the recording and about ten minutes after his arrival, the bomber reappeared and flashed his middle finger at the camera lens, before jogging back down the driveway. They hadn’t installed a camera at the end of the drive, but Marco knew that would be remedied sometime within the next few hours.

When the screen went blank, Marco turned his gaze to Ian’s. “That could be anyone from sixteen to sixty, from this state or any other. Did Boomer find any signatures?”

The boss shook his head. “No. But they did find a partial print on a piece of electrical tape. Murdock’s having it run through AFIS, so hopefully there’s a match. He’ll be stopping by in a little while for a copy of the video.”

AFIS was the national Automated Fingerprint Identification System. If their suspect had ever been fingerprinted for any reason, criminal or not, it should be in there. However, it could take minutes or hours for the system to kick out possible matches, and then those had to be double checked by a technician. Even though the system was widely used across the United States, it did have a few faults. While there were millions of prints in the system, some smaller police agencies didn’t have the manpower or resources to upload their prints, so some fell through the cracks or had long delays before they were entered.

The frustration Marco felt was evident in his voice. “So what the hell do we do now besides twiddle our fucking thumbs?”

It was kind of a rhetorical question since they all knew the answer, but Ian replied anyway. “We wait. And in the meantime, we keep Harper, Mara, and Mrs. Williams safe.”

Jake’s voice came over the speaker again. “Polo, while we were waiting for you, I called Kristen and asked if the girls could do a quick inspection of our apartment and change the sheets. You can put the baby’s crib or whatever in Nick’s office, and Harper and her mom can stay in the master bedroom. There’s still no bed or mattress in the spare bedroom, but I asked Kristen to arrange for one to be delivered tomorrow, just in case. This way they have the security of the compound and it’s nicer than the bunk rooms with the newbies staying up there.”

His teammate was right. Marco wasn’t sure what Mara’s sleep schedule was like yet and he doubted the women would enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night if the Omega team members had to go anywhere. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. Have the geek scan their handprints in for easy access. And, Ian, I’ll contact Todd Wheeler. If there’s any word on the street about a bomber, my snitch may have heard about it. Hang on a second.” They waited a moment for Jake to come back on the line. “If you don’t need me for anything else, my next applicant for an office assistant just walked in.”

“Fine,” their boss responded. “Check in later.”

After the call disconnected, Marco placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Okay. Now that the sleeping arrangements are settled, I think we have to get a list of the women Harper has helped through Friends of Patty.”

“Absolutely not.” All heads turned to the doorway where Harper stood with Dr. Trudy Dunbar behind her. And from the expression on her face, Harper was pissed at him…again. “There is no way anyone from the organization is turning over any list of names to you or anyone else—even with a federal warrant, I would fight it. So come up with another plan, because that is out of the question.”

“Harper—”

“No, Marco. Just…no.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
Damn, she was a mixture of sexy and delectable when she was mad. How come he never noticed that before?

Clearing his throat, Ian pointed to two empty chairs. “Ladies, please join us.” As they walked toward the seats, he continued, “Teams, for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure yet, this is Harper Williams, our principal target, and Dr. Trudy Dunbar, one of our consulting psychologists.” He pointed at the new employees of Trident who were currently present. “This is Valentino Mancini, Lindsey Abbott, Cain Foster, and Tristan McCabe.” The group acknowledged each other with either a ‘hello’ or a nod of their head. “Now that everyone has been introduced, Harper, can you think of anyone who could be behind all this without breaking client/attorney privilege?”

Marco bit his tongue, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair, his gaze pinned on Harper. He wasn’t going to argue with her in front of everyone, but, boy, was she in for it when he got her alone. His hand was twitching to get at her ass.
Shit
. He wished she was his submissive.

“Not off the top of my head, but it could be anyone from either my practice or the past four years I’ve been working with the organization. I’ll have to go to my office and start looking through my files to see if anyone clicks. If there isn’t an issue with confidentiality, I’ll compile a list for you. But, as I said, it’s not going to be a complete list. If it’s a woman who we’ve helped disappear, I’m not going to name them under any circumstances. It would put the women and their children at risk, and then no others would trust us to help them if something happened.”

If Ian hadn’t sent him a ‘shut-up’ glare, Marco would have said something that probably would have Harper pissed off at him even more than she already was. How could she put those other women over herself and their daughter? He glanced around the table and knew he had his answer. Harper was just like all the other women and men in the room. No sacrifice was too big or small when it came to protecting the lives of innocents. He sure as hell didn’t like that Mara was in the middle of it all, but her mother was making sure she would be safe as possible by putting her under the watchful eyes of the Trident teams. Harper was trusting them with her daughter’s life, just as those women and children she’d helped had trusted her with their own lives.

“All right,” Ian agreed. “We’ll get you to your office tomorrow so you can give us something to start with. Maybe we’ll get lucky between your list and the partial print.” He paused. “What if this isn’t work related? Any ex-boyfriends we should be looking at? Anyone who was interested in being a boyfriend and you turned them down?”

In silence, Marco’s jaw clenched at the questions, but his relief was immediate when Harper shook her head and answered, “No. I haven’t dated anyone in over two years. And I can’t think of anyone who I might have slighted by turning them down.”

“Okay.” The boss consulted some notes he’d made earlier on a yellow pad in front of him. “Back to your office for a minute. Is it possible to give your staff a couple of days off—at least until we get a better idea of what is going on? Or can they work from home?”

She nodded. “Yes, and thanks, I hadn’t thought that my office could be targeted, too. I’ll call my staff and make arrangements. They were able to reschedule things for the rest of the week, but I have court on Monday, if this goes on that long, and it’s not a case I can hand off to anyone. I have to be there.”

“No worries. We’ll get you there, but we do it our way. If the team tells you to duck, you start quacking. Understood?”

“Understood.”

Ian’s gaze shifted to Dr. Dunbar. “Trudy, anything you’d like to add?”

The psychologist had her brunette hair pulled into a neat bun and she pushed her glasses back to the bridge of her nose. “I came to support Harper and to see if I could help, but I’m not a criminal profiler, Ian, you know that. And even if I was, there’s not much to go on yet.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that, but it was worth a shot. I’ll still get you copies of everything we have, though, as well as what Detective Murdock has. Maybe you’ll see something we’re missing.” He rapped his knuckles twice on the wood table and began rattling off orders. “Okay. Here’s the deal for now. Harper, Karen, and Mara will stay holed up here until we can figure out what this is all about. Devon will put together an updated schedule. I want at least six armed guards walking the compound at all times. Call Chase Dixon at Blackhawk and have his men fill in any gaps. Tiny—two armed men at the gate at all times, three during club hours. Mitch will shit a brick if we close the club again. Both gates stay shut unless letting someone through.” The big man silently dipped his chin once in agreement while making a note on the pad in front of him. Devon and Ian’s cousin, Mitch Sawyer, was the manager and third owner of the club, but had nothing to do with the security business. “I’ll call Mitch after this meeting and fill him in. Next, we’ll see if the rest of the women here can keep their off-site activities to a minimum. I don’t want a repeat of the past where the others became targets for some whack-job. Boomer, it’s up to you about Kat. She’s safe at the state PD headquarters, but if you want her escorted back and forth, let Devil Dog know. Omega team, your training is on hold for now, but don’t worry, you’ll be making it up when this is over…double time.”

Snorts and groans filled the room. Ian was a stickler for training, and while the newbies had a reprieve for now, they’d be sweating their asses off again soon enough.

“Cain, with your background, I want you with Marco anytime Harper has to leave the compound. McCabe, you’re his partner. You’ll be advised where you’re going with enough time to plan escape routes if needed.” The former Secret Service agent and the ex-Delta Force operative, respectively, had been training together for the past few months and made a great team. They were already able to anticipate their partner’s thoughts and actions, something which would develop for the others over time. “For now, though, pull the ATVs out from the garage and make sure they’re gassed up. I want the guards doing random sweeps of the woods surrounding the compound, day and night. Did I miss anything?”

Marco couldn’t help but grin when Harper raised her hand like a school child. Apparently Ian found it amusing as well as the corners of his mouth ticked upward. “You don’t have to ask for permission, Harper. I don’t bite anyone but my fiancée. What did we miss?”

“I need a lot of things from the house for Mara. Clothes, diapers, formula, toys, the works. And my briefcase should still be in my car.”

“All right. Make a list, and Boomer and Knight can bring everything back with them. Plan for at least a few days, unless we get lucky with a suspect. Abbott and Mancini, head back to Harper’s house for a few hours until Devon finishes the schedule and gets someone to relieve you.” Ian stood. “Meeting adjourned. Doc, can I see you in my office for a minute? I need to talk to you about a few things.”

While everyone headed out for their assignments, Marco and Harper followed Brody to his war-room where he scanned her hand into the security system. “Ask your mom to come over whenever she gets a chance and I’ll scan her in, too.”

“Thanks.” She turned to Marco. “Can I have a pad and pen? The list is going to be long.”

“Yeah. Let’s go to my office. You can sit and write it out.”
And I’ll try to forget what it felt like to have you in my arms again.

C
HAPTER 10

“You fucking idiot! That asshole you hired almost killed the wrong fucking person! This is twice you screwed up! How hard is it to kill that bitch and get the fucking kid? What the fuck am I paying you for?”

Randy Lairson rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t risk it in person, but since the conversation was over the phone, he couldn’t get in any trouble. Propping his feet on the ratty old ottoman in his apartment, he relaxed on the equally crappy sofa. Soon this would be all over and he’d get a nice payout for the job. Then he could get some nicer digs. “How was I supposed to know the kid wasn’t there the other night? The lights were on in the house and the bitch always parks in the garage. And you didn’t tell me not to kill anyone else. What difference does it fucking make?”

“I don’t give a crap if you kill anyone else, just not the baby or DeAngelis. He’s mine to deal with. Now, find a way to do it right and get me that fucking baby.”

Before he could say anything else, the call disconnected. Lairson tossed his cell on the couch next to him and picked up the remote, turning the volume up on the TV again. There wasn’t anything he could do right now. For a hundred bucks and some weed, his buddy was keeping an eye on the road to the compound where the bitch was holed up in. They couldn’t get close to the place because it was heavily guarded. He’d have to wait until she went back to her office or something. Too bad the bomb hadn’t worked. It would have been cool to watch the explosion from his hiding spot across the street and behind the neighbor’s house. After he realized that it wasn’t going to work, he’d cut through some trees and yards to a few streets over, where he’d stashed his car in the parking lot of a medical office.