Chapter 8
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RADLEY’S GAZE SWEPT the area as they drove to the cluster of warehouses.
The location was as quiet as it had been when she’d arrived that morning, but that didn’t mean they weren’t being watched.
Uneasiness coursed through her. While the men from earlier seemed none the wiser that she and Boone had been hidden inside while they’d been loading the truck, there was no telling when they’d return.
“You see anything?” Boone asked, also surveilling the buildings. Radley glanced over, noting the way his hands were sure and steady on the steering wheel. Veins stood out atop his muscled hands, and her gaze quickly shifted back to the view before them.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
He grunted in response, seemingly slightly on edge as well. It almost felt too quiet.
He pulled to a stop, and they both climbed out. Boone walked around the back of his truck, pulling out a duffle bag of gear. Cooper and Knox strode over, both men holding boxes of surveillance equipment.
“I’ll keep watch out here,” Cooper said. “Looks pretty quiet, but who knows if anyone will show up.”
“How are we getting inside?” Knox asked, nodding toward the warehouse.
“The lock is busted,” Radley said. “You can walk right in.”
“Damn, that’s almost too easy,” Cooper said. “Are they really not worried about anyone stealing their goods?”
Radley frowned. “A lot of what was stored inside was empty crates. They took the boxes filled with materials for creating explosive devices, but we have no idea how long they were there unguarded. They had to realize the building wasn’t secure.
It’s possible they assumed no one would come around back given how deserted the area is. ” She glanced at Boone.
“We were thinking they’ll have a supply drop at some point—a shipment of various materials coming in. They’ve got wooden crates ready to go.”
“They could show up anytime then,” Knox pointed out. “It’s clearly their own men bringing supplies. It’s not like UPS is going to deliver packages to an old, seemingly abandoned warehouse.”
“The sooner we get cameras up and running, the better,” Boone said. “Holt said they didn’t have a timeline as to when the attacks would occur, but I don’t know. It seems like a lot is happening here.”
“Let’s get to it, then,” Radley said. “I’m going to set up one of the cameras at the edge of the woods. We can watch who’s coming and going from that vantage point in addition to whatever footage we get from the back entrance and inside the building.”
Boone nodded in agreement. “If we can get tags off the vehicles, we can track them that way as well. Maybe even ID some more of the perps. We missed out by hiding in that dark storage room earlier.”
“That sounds like a story,” Cooper quipped.
Radley shot him a withering look. “It’s not.”
Cooper’s lips spread in a slow smile. “Sure, whatever you say.”
Knox shifted from foot to foot, clearly eager to get started. He cocked his head toward the door. “Let’s head inside. Boone and I will get to work while you two start out here.”
Cooper set the box he was holding down on the ground. “I’ll start setting a camera up near the back door. We’ll have another angle from the camera you’re positioning.”
Radley nodded, quickly grabbing what she needed, and headed toward the woods, a feeling of urgency washing over her. Were the men returning soon, or was her gut telling her something else was going to happen?
She walked to the tree line, assessing the best vantage point.
She could aim a camera directly at the parking lot and position another to see inside the garage when it was opened.
They’d definitely be able to get the plate on any trucks that way.
Even if they were rentals, perhaps they could track who was borrowing them.
Finally deciding on the first location, she strapped one of the cameras to a tree trunk, making sure it was set for motion detection so the battery didn’t drain too quickly. The hidden cameras inside would likely last longer being out of the elements.
And the tracking devices?
Those would work until discovered. She only had to hope the terror cell members would be in too much of a hurry to notice the small devices hidden on the wooden crates.
If they knew they were being watched, they might abandon this location all together, which didn’t bode well for moving the investigation forward.
Frowning, she made a few adjustments to the camera. Cooper looked back, seeing she was watching him given his position at the back door, and waved. She gave him a friendly wave back and then finished setting up the devise.
Radley positioned the second camera and then walked around the wooded area close to the parking lot, seeing if anything of interest had blown into the trees. The scrap of paper she’d discovered this morning at the cabin had proven useful, but she was disappointed not to find anything out here.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it free.
She hadn’t gotten any anonymous texts since yesterday, and she’d made sure to take evasive measures when driving here this morning to ensure she wasn’t followed.
It was probably Holt again, or maybe one of the guys checking on her. They all had each other’s cell numbers—
A chill coursed down her spine as she stared at the screen.
Your ass looked good in those cargo pants this morning, honey.
It would look good with my handprint across it, too.
Looking up, she scanned the area again, her heart racing.
Radley was certain she was alone in the woods.
She’d taken precautions, assuming there was always a chance that she was being watched.
Yet hearing from her shadow was a hell of a lot more concerning than she wanted to admit.
She nearly dropped her phone as it buzzed again with more text messages.
I can’t wait to make you beg. Scream. Plead for your freedom.
Submitting to me will be only the start of your punishment.
Radley shivered, icy cold dread washing over her. Schultz had never outright threatened her. She’d turned down his advances, and he’d drugged her. This felt different. More calculated. More threatening.
She hated the way the texts made her feel—uneasy.
Helpless. Scared. She was certain they weren’t from Schultz, given he was in jail, but she was pretty damn sure this dick worked with him.
Or had worked—past tense. Schultz was locked up, both for being a traitor to his country by revealing her name to the enemy and for being a sick, sexual predator.
Her hands trembling, she resisted the urge to respond.
Radley took a few screenshots of the messages and quickly sent them to Holt.
She’d already had the IT guys look at her phone earlier.
She wasn’t sure how the culprits could possibly be traced by a few text messages, but she wasn’t an expert in that area either.
Radley felt like she was already compromising the team. They’d been tasked by the government to blow this plot out of the water, and she was a liability with some sicko following her.
Her phone buzzed with Holt’s immediate reply.
Holt: Hell. Stay with Boone or one of the other guys.
Holt: They must’ve been watching your condo.
Radley swallowed. Her boss was right. They either had eyes on her building, the parking garage, or had somehow accessed the security systems there. She didn’t think they’d made a lucky guess about her wearing cargo pants.
Schultz had been livid when she’d accused him of both leaking her name and drugging and assaulting her. She’d left the agency, never looking back. Radley, along with her sister, had forged her own path. They’d brought him down though, and she feared he wanted revenge.
He’d caused his own problems, but she knew an arrogant ass like Schultz wouldn’t see it that way. He wouldn’t be happy until she was suffering, too, as messed up as that was.
Radley moved quickly to the front of the woods and caught sight of Cooper working, feeling slightly safer that she wasn’t out here alone. Any coward associated with Schultz wouldn’t approach her when she was surrounded by armed men.
But when she was alone? All bets were off.