CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Luna plugged her laptop into the power bank built into the long table in the conference room, took a bracing sip of coffee, and used her password to log into the encrypted network.
After leaving Calliope’s party a week ago, Boone had walked her to her car, kissed the stuffing out of her, then followed her home to make sure she arrived safely.
Her mind and body had been wound way too tightly, so she’d finally given up on sleep at about three in the morning, grabbed her laptop and started scanning the satellite feeds that came in overnight.
It had been a total waste of time until two nights ago.
She’d heard something that sounded suspicious, but before alerting Cole, she’d wanted to try to get it as clean as possible, then listen to it a few more times to ensure she wasn’t hearing something that wasn’t there.
There were still issues with the recording, but it was as clear as it was going to get.
The minute she was certain the audio contained something vital, she’d called Cole, who’d in turn called the team in for a meeting.
The sound of voices had her looking up—one voice in particular sent her heart kicking in her chest. When Boone rounded the doorway, spotted her, and smiled, that was it. Luna was toast and had to force herself to not jump out of her chair and wrap herself around him like a spider monkey.
During Calliope’s party, she’d accepted there was something between them.
But once she was home, in the dark quiet of her bedroom, she’d lain there trying to convince herself that whatever was happening between them was just a fun thing, nothing serious.
If she could do that, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much if they imploded.
But no matter how hard she tried to minimize her feelings, she couldn’t do it. She was all in.
Whatever that meant to him, she wasn’t sure.
Her eyes traveled from his feet to his face—he looked good.
Like, really good. She’d spotted him on the obstacle course when she arrived this morning, and it looked like he’d just showered.
His hair was still wet, and she could tell that, rather than comb it, he’d just dragged his fingers through it.
She liked the way it curled up around the collar of his black T-shirt.
And speaking of his T-shirt, it hugged his chest and biceps in a way she wished she could.
And even though she was surrounded by good-looking guys all the time, something about Boone Langston really got her motor running.
The team had been out of town for aircraft assault training at the Denver airport, so they hadn’t seen each other, except via video calls.
They’d texted back and forth whenever possible, and she found herself checking her phone throughout the day to ensure she hadn’t missed a message from him.
Like a pitiful high school girl waiting to hear from the guy who took her number and promised to call.
“Good morning.” Boone rolled out the chair next to her and sat.
Oh man, he smelled so good.
“Good morning.” Luna dragged her eyes away from that distracting smile of his and opened the encrypted file she needed.
He leaned close and whispered, “I missed you.”
She wanted her lips on Boone’s but was very aware that the conference room, surrounded by others, was not the time nor place for that.
“I missed you, too.”
Cole walked into the room.
“Have a seat, everyone.” Cole walked into the room last and set his phone on the table in front of him.
Chairs were rolled back, and leather groaned as they all settled in.
Cole sat at the head of the table.
“Before we start, I was wondering if we have any news about Eddie.” Calliope glanced around the table.
He was probably sitting in his mother’s house in San Benito, Texas. Luna didn’t have any other details. And the only reason she knew even that much was because she’d made the travel arrangements for him.
“He’s tending to some family issues.” Cole’s tone discouraged further inquiries. “Go ahead, Luna.”
Everyone exchanged looks of curiosity and concern but didn’t say a word.
“Thanks.” She gave him a quick nod. “Yesterday, while listening to some of the satellite feeds, I came across some chatter I thought you all should hear.”
She tapped the track pad on her laptop twice to open the audio file.
“I apologize in advance for the quality. I did the best I could to clean it up, but it’s still a little scratchy and cuts out a few times.
But I believe there’s enough there for us to be concerned about.
” She tapped a key on her keyboard, and it began to play on the speakers sitting on each end of the table.
“How many girls—” a man with an accent said before it cut out.
Luna turned the volume up a little.
“My goal is—” The second man spoke. Boone scowled, rested his forearms on the table, and leaned closer. “… the US border”—he sounded like an American—“locked down.”
The man with the accent spoke again. “You will never be able—”
The voices became scratchy, cut out for a minute and seven seconds, then the American’s voice was suddenly clear.
“Don’t tell me how to run my fuckin’ business!”
“Son of a bitch.” Boone thumped the butt of his fist on the table, and his hands slid off as he sat back. “I knew I recognized that voice.”
“Which one?” Cole asked.
“The American.” He turned to Luna. “Can you play that last part back?”
“Sure.” She rewound a few seconds and pressed enter.
He closed his eyes and listened to the playback.
“Don’t tell me how to run my fuckin’ business!”
“I was right. Unless I’m imagining things”—he pointed at the speaker—“the American on that recording is Aaron Udall.”
“You sure?” Cole sat forward.
“Pretty damn sure.” He nodded. “Were you able to determine where this conversation took place?”
“I narrowed it down to an area northwest of Islamabad.” Luna grabbed the remote, clicked a button, and the overhead lights dimmed as a large flat screen on the wall flashed on.
She tapped a few keys on her laptop, and a map of Pakistan appeared on the screen.
“This area, right here, in the Hunza Valley.” She zoomed in and placed a red circle around an area just north of the Hunza River.
“Those peaks are really high, so that’s why the audio is sketchy. ”
“How the hell did he get to Pakistan?” Lucas asked.
“The last time we had a visual on him was six days ago. He was caught on a surveillance camera near Joint Base Charleston.” Luna began tapping keys. “They handle cargo and occasional passenger flights to Doha.”
“Maybe he has someone on base helping him?” Calliope looked around the table.
Cole said, “Luna—”
“I’m on it.” She started scouring for CCTVs in the general area around the base.
“It appears Udall is trying to start up his business again.” Cole looked around at his team, and his voice held a dark edge of menace. “We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
There were grumbles of agreement around the table.
“Damn straight,” Lucas said.
“I can’t wait to center that POS up in my sight.” Calliope was a world-class sniper. If she had Udall dialed in, he didn’t stand a chance.
Hawk and Viking simply nodded.
“Luna, can you tell us what time that recording was made?” Cole asked.
“Sure, hang on one second.” She switched to another program, went to the original recording, and checked the time stamp. “The satellite was over that location for ninety-three minutes—from twelve thirty-seven hours until fourteen-ten hours local time.”
“That means this happened somewhere between 3:37 a.m. and 5:10 a.m. our time.” Boone sounded like he was ready to hop on a plane today.
“Correct,” Luna said. “We’re nine hours behind Islamabad.”
“See if you can narrow down the area where Udall might be. And talk to Emily,” Cole said. “She has a network of people she deals with all over the world. Have her put the word out, and let’s see what happens.”
“Will do.” Luna continued typing.
Emily O’Halleran, soon-to-be Emily Croft, was OSI’s deployment and logistics manager. She made sure the teams had whatever they needed to successfully complete their missions. Weapons, vehicles, transportation, local contacts— you name it, she handled it all.
“Aliabad is about the only hint of civilization in that area. It’s also somewhat of a tourist spot, so it wouldn’t be that odd for a group of Americans to be there.
” Lucas would know—he flew special operations teams into and out of some of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria.
“But if there is an American talking about rounding up girls in the area—if that’s in fact what he’s planning—you can bet your ass the locals know about it.
They won’t dare talk about it, but they’ll definitely have their suspicions. ”
“You guys know as well as I do that the biggest market for foreign girls is in the States. So, it’s probably safe to assume he’s planning to bring the girls into this country,” Boone said. “The logistics of making something like that happen would be unbelievably tough. Near impossible, really.”
“Unless he has connections.” Cole sat back. “Tell us what you know about Udall and the Hunza Valley.”
Boone spent the next several minutes giving them insights into the man they would be hunting.
“His biggest weakness is money—never having enough—followed closely by his overabundance of hubris,” Boone said.
“He’ll trample over anyone who gets between him and a deal he’s chasing, especially if there is a big payoff at the end.
If in fact he is setting up an operation to traffic girls from Pakistan to the States, he’s aware of the risks, so you can bet your ass the payoff has to be massive. ”
Udall sounded like a piece of garbage, and the fact he manipulated women and turned them into victims was especially disturbing to Luna. But he wouldn’t be able to do what he did if there wasn’t a market for that type of thing.