Chapter 5
GHOST
Fuck her boss.
I watched her walk off into the meeting room, her eyes looking down at the floor. The man that held the door for her towered over her, and he shot me a look before nodding his head.
“If you wish to wait, I’m sure there’s other law firms she forgot to tell you about,” he said, as if he were relating to me in some way. “We’ll get you set up with someone that can help. Thank you for your service.”
So he listened in on our conversation.
Interesting.
I nodded. “I’ll do that, thanks.”
The man went to close the door. “Shouldn’t be too long. I’ll send her back out when we’re done with her.”
I snarled under my mask as the door clicked closed.
When we’re done with her. I didn’t even like the way the rat bastard strung his fucking words together.
However, I’d bought myself some time to wait, and seeing as there was no chair for me to wait in, I figured I’d look around. Get a good layout of the place.
My eyes landed on cameras.
When I saw one, I clocked others. Not so obviously, of course. If you were looking for cameras, you had to make it look good. Staring directly into a camera and nodding is basically ‘camera counting 101,’ and we didn’t need rookie shit wrapped up in all of this.
I made it all the way to the top floor with a gut reaction that paid off.
I needed to make it work for us.
I coughed a bit into my mask as I turned.
When a light blinked, I whipped my head, and counted camera number two.
The first camera I clocked had a little pinpointed red light right by the lens, most likely to tell everyone that the camera was operating and recording as normal.
The second camera that blinked in my purview had the same unblinking little red light.
And now, I understood why red was the accent color of this executive floor.
The pinhole lights from the cameras blended right into the golden red and black look of the place.
It was gaudy, for sure, but the cameras were well placed.
I slowly clocked four of those fuckers, and that was just in this main hallway.
There was an offshoot hallway behind me that led to other offices, no doubt, and I’d put money on the fact that it was lined with these damned things, too.
I wonder…
After letting out another fake cough into my mask just in case anyone watched those cameras, I peered around. It took me some time to find the bathrooms, seeing as the doors practically blended into the walls themselves. However, once I found it, I ripped the door open and stepped inside.
I checked to make sure these asshats didn’t have cameras in the bathrooms.
“Well, at least there’s that,” I muttered when I didn’t see any.
I shuffled my cell out of my pocket and navigated to one of Ranger’s many applications he’d crafted for the crew in the time that was an Honor Hog. He was resourceful with tech, I’d give him that, and my fingers scrolled to an app that was simply titled, ‘C.D.’
For ‘camera dismemberment.’
Yeah, Ranger was a bit dramatic that way.
However, once I had the app pulled up and ready to go, all I had to do was get within range of those cameras.
I couldn’t be behind a wall like I was now.
The app was too temperamental for that. But I went over to one of the urinals and flushed before turning on the faucet to make it sound like I was washing my hands.
Then I walked out of the bathroom, acting like I was checking my text messages.
Just in case the cameras had sound, I groaned and shook my head before my fingers started their assault on the screen of my burner phone.
I activated the app and counted in my head, making it look like I was finishing up a text.
I tapped the screen before I closed my phone out, slipping it back into my pocket.
Ranger coded the app so that it would run, even when my screen was off, until I double-pressed the power button on the side of my phone.
Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…
When I didn’t hear any hard and fast footsteps rushing in my direction, I lunged for the woman’s desk.
One quick peek underneath showed me her purse, and it didn’t take long for me to dig out her keyring.
She didn’t have many keys. One of them was obviously a key for her car, as well as the spare.
She had a couple of other brass-looking keys along with a key that, weirdly enough, had a pink hearts sort of design on it.
That had to be her home key.
“Gotcha,” I muttered as I dug the putty out of my hoodie pocket.
Twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven…
I depressed all of her keys quickly into the putty in order to have an outline.
I wouldn’t need all of them, just a key to her place.
But I was running out of time. I heard the elevator gear up, and I flipped the case of putty closed before I dug around for her wallet.
I wouldn’t have enough time to snap a picture of her driver’s license for her address, so I would just have to make due with my memory.
I shoved it into my hoodie before smushing her keys down into the bottom of her purse, which was where they were in the first place.
Then I set about trying to place my hands on her wallet.
I needed her address.
Once I found her license in a side pocket of her wallet and I said her address in my head multiple times until the elevator was much too close to the top level where I was for comfort.
I just barely managed to get out from beneath her desk and back onto my feet before the elevator doors opened.
“Check these front offices first,” a big, burly guy said as he stormed off the elevator. He thwapped a man standing at his side in the chest. “You. Take Berkowitz with you and check the back hallway.”
Thirty-five seconds.
I had to admit, that was a pretty decent response time for an in-house security brigade.
“What are you looking at?” a man asked as he stormed by me.
I didn’t even say anything. I just drew in a breath like I needed to say something, and then coughed.
That got him to wrinkle his nose and walk away quickly.
“Disgusting,” the man muttered beneath his breath.
I quickly shoved my hand into my pocket and fiddled around until I found the side button on my phone. I had to bring the cameras back up before they suspected me. I heard one of the guys round the corner behind me, disappearing down that back hallway. So I took a chance.
I quickly double-pressed the power button on the side of my burner phone.
And all of the little red dots stopped blinking on the cameras.
“You waiting for something?” the burly man asked as he strolled right up to me.
I had to tilt my head back a bit to look up at him. The fucking gargantuan had to be at least six and a half feet tall. And sure, I wasn’t a shrimp or anything. But six inches was six inches, you know?
“Waiting for more recommendations,” I said simply.
The man quirked an eyebrow. “From?”
I went to respond, but the man in front of me touched his ear. He stared off at the wall with that prominent stare of his seated beneath a pretty massive brow.
Must’ve been related to a modern caveman.
“All right, let’s move out,” the man in front of me said before he turned his attention back to me. “I’ll be looking for you when you leave.”
I just shrugged. “Sure, if you want to profile a veteran that way.”
The man blinked. “A vet?”
I just nodded.
He tilted his head. “What branch?”
“Marines. Lieutenant.”
The man’s back immediately straightened before he saluted me. “Sergeant David Watkins, Lieutenant. Oorah.”
Well, that could’ve gone worse. I gave him a salute as well. “At ease, Sergeant.”
Then without another word, he nodded his head, turned on the balls of his feet, and kept that straight ass back while he marched back to the elevator. One curt, ear-piercing whistle from him at the other three men he came with rushing back to the elevator.
They stuffed themselves in like sardines before the doors closed on them.
Huh.
This entire place was interesting.
I couldn’t wait to get back to Cap and fill him in.
A door inched open to my right before I heard a sniffle. I whipped toward the sound and watched as Jasmine emerged from the room.
Sniffling.
With slightly puffy eyes.
Oh hell no.
I really hated her fucking boss.
“Oh my goodness,” she said breathlessly as she wiped at her face and quickly shuffled to her desk, “I’m so glad you’re here. My boss reminded me of someone else here in the city that could help you.”
I watched the way her entire arm trembled as she scribbled something down for me.
“I appreciate your help, Miss…?”
“Jasmine,” she said as she ripped the piece of paper out of her notebook and handed it to me. “Jasmine Court. I’m a paralegal here at the firm.”
Oh.
So not a secretary.
“Paralegal, got it,” I said as I slid the piece of paper into my pocket.
“Again, I’m sorry we can’t help you further,” she said as she sat down and reached for a headset, “but I really hope you find someone who can. You deserve representation, too.”
I nodded. “I’m sure they can help.”
She gave me the best smile that she could. “Have a nice day, sir.”
I don’t know what in the fuck possessed me to do it but… “Charlie.”
“Hmm?”
When she looked up at me, I tried again. “Back in my military days, people called me Ghost. But I’m Charlie. Charlie Johnston.”
When she smiled, it reached her eyes, softening the sadness that had been there before. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Charlie. And again, I’m sorry that we couldn’t be of further assistance.”
You’ll be a great help once I can get those cameras put up in your place. “You, too, Jasmine. And no worries, you were brilliant.”
I hated how I carried the smile she gave me in my mind as I finally left that building.
Because it was time to push everything to the back of my mind and get to fucking work.