Chapter 17 #2
I should have escorted her and waited by the door.
“You thought these people were trying to kill her, not abduct her.” Gwen took Lucas’ side. “And given how sophisticated the first two attacks were carried out, there was absolutely no reason to think they’d be sloppy enough to go after her in a place filled with potential witnesses.”
“They’re right, boss,” Blake agreed. “You blame yourself for what happened, you’re going to have to blame the rest of us, too.”
His teammates were wrong, but even in his troubled state, Emmett understood this wasn’t the time for self-loathing. It was time for action, and they’d already wasted too much damn time as it was.
“What else do we know?” He bypassed their words of support and moved on. To Gwen, he asked, “You find anything useful on Janie’s phone?”
“Unfortunately, no. Lots of pictures from a tour she took of the White House the day she met Amy. A semi-interesting video of two Secret Service guys in a heated discussion, but it was taken from inside, and the two men were outside, standing several yards away. Oh, and there were a few pics of that one agent, Christopher Campbell. I have to say, Janie was right.”
“About what?”
She snorted. “The guy looks like a total dick.”
A few chuckles sounded from around the table, but a loud ding coming from Blake’s computer sent the room back into silence.
“What’s that?” Emmett asked.
Blake leaned in a bit and focused on his screen. “Give me a second.” His fingers flew across the keys. A beat later, he froze. “Holy shit. I think I might know where she is.”
“Where?” His heart thumped wildly with a renewed sense of hope as he took a broad step forward.
The screen on the wall filled with an image they’d all been shown before.
Emmett took in the art-deco building before looking back down to Blake. “That’s the building connected to the shell company,” he recalled. “The one supposedly run by—”
Son of a bitch.
“Dr. Michael Turner.” Blake gave his head a nod. “Like we said before, follow the money.”
The money. The plane. The building.
So far, it all came back to Turner. Whether he was the mastermind behind everything remained to be seen.
“That’s a good hunch, Blake,” Emmett acknowledged. “But I don’t want to waste time Janie doesn’t have searching a building that size when we aren’t even sure she’s there.”
“I’m sure.” The other man shrugged. “Or again, as sure as I can be. But check this out.” A few more clicks of the keyboard sounded from where Blake sat, and a different image of the building appeared.
“That satellite?” Gwen’s curious glance studied the screen.
“Live feed,” Blake confirmed. “And look.” Two red dots appeared. They pulsed, as if their signals were currently pinging. “Those dots you see are cell signals.”
Lucas was the first to ask, “Whose?”
Rather than answer their teammate directly, Blake turned a knowing glance Emmett’s way. “Press Secretary Daley and Agent Christopher Campbell.”
Emmett’s pulse spiked with hope. To Blake, he asked, “You’re saying those men are there, at that building right now?”
“As we speak.”
Draven shot up out of his chair. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get to it.”
But Gwen lifted a cautious hand. “Hang on a second. There are only five us, and that building’s pretty big. That area of the city isn’t residential, and at this hour, I’m sure potential witnesses will be scarce, but . . .”
When she trailed, Emmett sent her a questioning glance as he asked, “What are you thinking?”
“As much as it pains me to say it, this isn’t a location where we can just go in and start a firestorm of explosions. These guys are good, and they’re careful. If that’s where Janie is, and Campbell and Daley are there, I guarantee you they aren’t alone.”
“You’re talking guards.” Emmett understood the woman’s point.
Gwen nodded. “I’d say they’ll have at least two extra guns, most likely inside the building’s entrance.
But see there?” She got up and walked over to the mounted screen.
“From the right vantage point, a person could position themselves so they could see through those windows.” The intelligent blonde shrugged.
“They’d have a clear view of anyone in or around the lobby. ”
“You’re a good shot,” Draven pointed out. “Why don’t you take overwatch while the rest of us go inside?”
“So then there are only four of you taking on who knows how many targets?” She frowned. “I don’t like it. I mean, we’re still down a member as it is.”
“You have a solution?” Emmett was definitely open to suggestions.
“What about Barclay?”
He and the others all shared a silent look.
Delta’s Jagger had suggested Jethro Barclay as a potential replacement for Baxter, the guy who’d been booted from Echo Team after nearly getting their old handler killed. But despite Emmett’s efforts over the past several weeks, Barclay had made his disinterest clear.
“The guy’s already made it perfectly clear that he has zero desire to join the team,” Blake reminded them all.
Gwen’s rebuttal was instant. “I’m not suggesting go at him for a permanent spot this time. I’m just saying we bring him in to assist.”
Lucas sat back in his seat and blew out a breath. “If he’s as good as Jagger claims, I’m down.”
“Me, too,” Draven added his vote in favor of the idea.
“I mean, sure. Give the guy a call.” Blake shrugged. “Just don’t get your hopes up.”
Emmett’s stare held Gwen’s before sliding to Blake. “Give her the number.” To Gwen, he ordered, “Make the call.”
“Me?”
“Your idea.” He shrugged. “Figure you’re our best chance to convince him.”
With hopeful grin, Gwen typed out the digits on her phone while Blake read them off. With hurried movements, she got up and made her way toward the door. “I’ll let you know what he says when I’m done.”
He and the others stayed put while they waited. Emmett’s nerves fired on all fronts, and he had to fight to keep from outwardly showing his fear. Not from worry that Jethero would turn Gwen down but from not knowing if Janie was okay.
Please be okay.
“He’s in.” The feisty woman returned with a wide grin as she turned Blake’s way. “I told him you’d text him the location and anything else you think he needs to know. He said he’d meet us there.”
Relieved by the news, Emmett headed for the door. “Grab your gear and meet me in the lobby.”
A short time later, they were walking out of the office together. The elevator dinged as they marched that way.
The doors slid open, and Detective Boone stepped out. He stopped mid-stride, both hands balancing two full, disposable beverage carriers.
“Oh. Hey.” The man blinked as he took in their change in appearance. “Uh . . . where ya going?”
Emmett walked past their new friend on his way to board the elevator. “Pretty sure we know where they’re keeping Janie.”
His teammates followed, but Boone stayed put. “That’s great, but where?”
“A building that’s being used as front,” Gwen explained.
Boone belatedly fell in line, squeezing himself inside the big, metal cart.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked. “I’m assuming you’ve already called it in?”
“Nope.” Draven gave a quick shake of his head.
The doors closed, and they began the ride down to the building’s garage.
Boone gave Emmett and the others a careful, assessing glance. Emmett knew exactly what he was seeing.
Their protective vests. Secured Pistols. Thigh holsters. The automatic rifles in their hands.
When the detective spoke again, he had more of an authoritative tone in his voice. “You can’t do this.”
Emmett huffed. “Watch me.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
The elevator stopped. The doors opened, and Emmett and his team filed out around the objecting man.
“Dammit, Shaw,” Boone hollered out for him. “Will you just . . . hold on.”
From his peripheral, Emmett saw the frustrated man dump the now-wasted coffees into a large trash can as he passed by.
“There’s no time.”
In a few, hurried steps, Boone caught up to Emmett with ease. “If you have evidence, or at the very least a valid reason to believe that woman is being held hostage there, then we have to call this into the authorities.”
I don’t have to do anything.
He spared the insistent man a glance as his boots covered the distance to the team’s SUVs. “I thought you were the authorities.”
“You know what I mean.” Boone looked pissed. “We need to handle this thing through proper channels. At the very least, we should be calling in SWAT.”
Emmett stopped in his tracks next to the vehicle he planned to drive. Before opening the door, he looked the well-meaning detective square in the eyes.
“We hand this over to the authorities, Janie will be dead before they even breach the front door.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that, because I know the kind of men we’re dealing with,” Emmett shot back.
“And if we call this in, we’ll have to wait for a warrant, which isn’t guaranteed, as you well know.
Then, if it’s approved and a judge signs off on it, only then will a SWAT team be brought in and briefed.
They’ll sit down together and make a plan of approach before ever leaving the damn precinct. ”
“That’s how situations like this work, Emmett.”
“It’s also how innocent hostages wind up dead.”
He’d seen it before, and there wasn’t a chance in hell he was risking Janie’s life to cross some Ts and dot a few Is.
“I can’t let you do this.”
Emmett sent Boone a sinister grin. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m not asking.”
“This goes sideways, and my bosses find out I had prior knowledge; it will be my ass.”
Shit goes sideways, I stand to lose a lot more than that.
It was a risk, no doubt. But they had to at least try.
Emmett put himself directly within the other man’s personal space. “I’m getting her back, Lincoln.” His deep vow was laced with deadly venom. “And I’m going to do that with or without your help.”
He opened the door, slid behind the wheel, but Boone’s hand kept him from pulling the door shut.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?”