Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Asher’s jaw tensed as he chanced a look at Jessica. She hadn’t said a word to him in hours, ever since he’d basically announced he wanted to be with her.
He had known it’d be difficult to work together after that, but he hadn’t realized it’d be this fucking hard to be in the same room with her.
“How long do you think this will take?” Luke clutched the back of her desk chair and observed her computer screen as she typed.
“It’ll be quicker without you breathing down my neck.” She glanced at him from over her shoulder, and he surrendered his palms and stepped back.
Asher’s gaze shifted to the team scattered throughout the room working, and then he returned his focus to his own screen, trying to force his thoughts off of last night and to the mission.
“I wish you had access to the decryption program you wrote for the CIA. It’d make this a lot easier,” Luke grumbled.
“You want to call and ask them for it?” she asked, sarcasm drenching her words. “The code I wrote was specific for Yasser Hadeed, but I remember it.”
Asher glanced at her again to catch a slight smile gathering on her lips as she redirected her focus to her screen.
“This call has to be from Samir. Burner phone traced to Madagascar three weeks before Berlin,” Knox said. “No way was Samir actually there, but he damned sure made it look like that. Decent tech skills.”
“You really think five guys who used to report to his uncle would up and commit to Samir, a twenty-year-old?” Liam chimed in, his brows raised.
Asher thought back to Samir. To the kid who’d had his life torn apart by war. “It’s possible he killed Ara to prove he has what it takes to lead.”
“Well, it looks like the men bought in. It can’t be a coincidence these Detroit guys started viewing the help wanted section of the New York Times a few times a day after Berlin,” Liam said.
“I hate being an outsider on an op. Not knowing all the details makes my skin itch.” Knox leaned back in his chair at the table and stretched his arms out in front of him.
“Same,” Asher said under his breath. Especially when it all related to Jessica.
At least Wyatt had managed to clone a phone belonging to one of the guys in Detroit, so they could hopefully stay on top of this case since they couldn’t get any more intel from the Feds without raising red flags.
“Let’s just hope Samir’s using the same code his uncle did.” Luke circled the desk and edged closer to the rest of the team. “Now that we’ve identified which help wanted ads he wrote, we just—”
“Need to decrypt them.” Jessica’s words buzzed through the room, but she kept her eyes locked on her screen.
Luke pivoted to Owen. “Where are you on tracking the name associated with the help wanted ads?”
“Samir obviously set up a bogus name and account for the ad, and the IP address he used has been rerouted a million times,” Owen answered. “Where the hell did Samir learn to do all of this?”
Asher stood from the table and brushed his hands down his face, wishing he could do more. Cyber wasn’t his area of expertise.
“He had to learn this shit from somewhere,” Owen said. “And he’d need to have picked it up fast, given that we’re looking at a narrow window of time between when his brother died and when he turned into a terrorist.”
“Unless he’s always been like this,” Knox pointed out.
“No.” Jessica wet her lips and took a breath. “If only he would’ve left Syria with Ara.”
“He knew you took her and the others out of there, right?” Knox asked.
“Yeah, because I made him the same offer.” She blinked a few times. “But Samir’s older brother and mom didn’t want to leave, and he wouldn’t go without them.”
“Too bad,” Knox said glibly.
Asher couldn’t take his eyes off Jessica. She was too close to this case. Her lips were downturned, her breathing slow and controlled, but he could tell she was working harder than normal to keep it together. And sex last night probably hadn’t helped her mood or focus.
“I think I’m done,” she whispered a few seconds later. “It’s not too complex. A polyalphabetic substitution cipher.”
She zeroed in on her screen, tapped at a few keys, and then rolled back from her desk and eyed her computer, her gaze narrowed and focused.
Luke went behind her to monitor the progress as her algorithm worked to identify the pattern of letters that would decrypt Samir’s messages in the New York Times.
When she lifted her eyes to Asher a moment later, he’d swear the air in the room shifted between them. So much so, he wondered if everyone could feel it.
“There.” Luke leaned in and pressed his finger to the screen. “Good work, sis.” He braced a hand over her shoulder.
“You think the Feds already know about these ciphertexts?” Asher asked.
“If they’re working with the CIA, they’d have access to Jessica’s decryption program, but I’ll reach out to someone I trust and make sure they’re clued in,” Luke said.
“Looks like these are just meeting spots and times. Nothing that would help us,” Jessica sputtered, a tinge of annoyance in her tone.
“Which means someone has to be providing the men in Detroit with information when they convene,” Luke said. “Must be a burner phone because Echo hasn’t seen anyone else come and go.”
“We’ll try and access the mic in their phones the next time they meet,” Luke said. “But if they’re smart, they’ll turn their phones off.”
Jessica was quiet for a few moments, and Asher knew what she was thinking.
“If Samir’s smart enough to pull all of this off, isn’t he smart enough to know the first thing the FBI would do is track his uncle’s former associates?
” She pressed her hands on her desk alongside the computer and glanced around at her teammates, her attention landing last on Asher.
“He didn’t anticipate us showing up in Berlin. Or that you’d survive to tell anyone about him,” Luke reminded her.
When she stood and crossed her arms, Luke inched a few steps away from her. Her eyes remained connected with Asher’s as if she were drawing energy, or maybe comfort, from his stare.
His arms hung heavy at his sides, his mind completely absorbed by her blue irises.
“Jessica’s right.” He released a hard breath.
“Samir reached out to the Detroit cell before Berlin, but he started sending the encoded messages after. He may have planned on working with them, but now he’s using them as a diversion instead. ”
“We can’t be certain of that.” Luke eyed Asher. “We’re making a lot of assumptions about some twenty-year-old’s capabilities and thought processes.”
“I’d rather overestimate him than underestimate him,” Asher said, a firm grit to his tone. “It’s possible he changed his plans after what happened in Berlin. Both the Feds and our men could waste time looking into Detroit if Samir decided to switch gears.”
“But that would mean we have no idea where to look now,” Luke said.
Jessica glanced over at her brother. “We’re not saying to pull Echo back; let’s just keep an open mind.”
“We really need this lead with the assassin,” Liam said grimly.
“We’re running out of time, too,” Knox commented. “My dad will be in Austria in two days.”
“Maybe Egon’s waiting until the last minute?” Liam asked. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“It’s possible.” Luke surveyed Bravo Team.
Mixing emotions with operations never ended well.
It was reason number one he knew Jessica was worried about being with him. But she worked with Luke, and since he’d decided that morning he wouldn’t give up on her without a fight, he’d play that card if he had to.
“Let’s regroup in a few hours. I need time to think and reassess all of the intel.” Luke knocked on the desk two times. “I want something new when we get back together.”
The guys nodded and fanned out of the room.
Liam glimpsed Asher from over the shoulder as they walked down the hall. “You good?”
Asher caught sight of Jessica disappearing into her office, and then he tipped his chin toward Liam’s room, motioning to talk in private.
“I’m fine,” he said once they were behind closed doors, and he fought the curl of tension wrapping tight around his spine.
“What happened with you and Jessica after the club? You took her home, and then what?” Liam dropped into a swivel chair.
“Why is it any of your damn business?” Asher drew an uncomfortable breath and let it out. “We have more pressing shit to worry about right now, don’t we?”
Liam leaned back in the chair and cocked his head to the side. “It matters if there’s something going on that’s getting in the way of your focus.”
Hadn’t he given the same lecture to Owen last fall? And now, here his buddy was, doing the same damn thing for him.
“What happened with you and Emily last night?” Asher hoped to deflect.
Liam laughed. “Nothing.” He shook his head.
“You think I want Jessica, Eva, and Samantha killing me?” He scratched at his trimmed blond beard.
“Back to you, though. There’s still tension between you and Jessica.
Hell, you can cut it with a knife. But it’s shifted. Something changed, and I’m worried—”
“You don’t know anything about Jessica or me.” Asher tensed. “You don’t do real.”
“Not anymore, but . . .” He pinched the bridge of his nose, a possible brush of truth nearly escaping his normally sealed lips.
“Both you and Jessica are like family to me, and damn it, I’m worried that woman will break your heart.
” He stabbed at the air. “And don’t give me shit about you not having one. ”
Asher almost laughed. “You’re worried about me?” Maybe he was right to, though.
“I—” Liam tipped his chin toward the door, and Asher turned to see Jessica through the window about to enter. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Jessica opened the door, and her eyes darted between Liam and Asher. “We got a hit on the message board.”
Liam jumped to his feet. “Egon?”
“Yeah, we’re pretty sure it’s him,” she said as her eyes connected with Asher’s, and a red streak crawled up the column of her throat. “It looks like we’re going to Vienna.”