Chapter Nine
The FBI Building
Monday
Early Afternoon
Knowing that now, more than ever, everything depended on finding a way to track Devon Slater, Gene was working non-stop with Gabby McKnight, Elizabeth’s hacker, to make that happen for them.
As his family was in turmoil, Gene wanted to be proactive as he worked to find a way to keep them safe.
His gut was telling him that if they didn’t find something, this was going to be a bloodbath, and with the family on the receiving end.
No one wanted that.
Losing Jet had been difficult, and Gene hated that they were basically prisoners inside FBI West as the shit was going down outside the doors.
What he wanted to do was be out with Elizabeth, by her side, making a difference. She was his field partner, and this felt like he was letting her down.
Someone had to protect her.
That someone would be him.
Unfortunately, now, he was relegated to taking one for the team and playing ‘Hunter’ via research.
Oh, and if you knew him, you knew that he HATED research. That was exactly why he went out of his way to dump it on Callen, or to dodge it as much as he could.
Now, here he was, doing the opposite.
Having worked with both Maura and Elizabeth as a Hunter and Fed, he had the unique perspective of knowing how different both jobs were.
One was within the lines—mostly.
The other was so far out of the lines, you couldn’t see them anymore.
And he was willing to do that for his family.
Without a doubt.
Yeah, he hadn’t told them yet, but as soon as The Hunters hit Damascus, he was taking off his badge and taking one more stint as a Hunter.
For.
His.
Family.
Truth be told, he was three days beyond pissed that they were hiding in a building, as the people they cared and loved were marked with bullseyes for them.
Gene was NOT a hide kind of a guy.
He was a ‘face it down and make a difference’ kind of a man.
This whole dog-and-pony show didn’t sit well with him.
Not.
At.
All.
As he was working, Gabby was doing her thing in tandem in Scotland. It was late evening there, and she’d been going non-stop.
The woman was a trooper, and one of their biggest assets. That was for damn sure.
“I need something to link to him,” she stated. “If you can find me any kind of transaction, I can get you an account, or payment, and I can backtrack it to a location where it was made. I can get the ISP, and I can find where he’s paying his people from,” she offered.
He was thinking about it.
“How about the accounts we froze?” he asked.
He could see her on the screen, and she was in her home, working on her bed.
“No, it needs to be something recent. If he has moved locations, like the boss’s notes say, I need something recent. Tracking an old ISP, or signal, will bring me to a place he’s been, not where he is.”
Yeah, he got it.
“If I can get that, Gene, I can get you a general area of where he is currently.”
Well, easier said than done.
This dude was popping up all over the place and moving around undetected.
Corpus Christi.
Washington D.C.
Damascus.
He was like that mole in the game that popped up, and you had to hit it before it went back under.
“How the holy fuckity is he hiding so well?” he asked. “He’s some real estate hocker, whose daddy gave him all of his money. How is he disappearing so fucking fast? HOW?”
She had bad news for him.
“His financials have the distinct fingerprints of another hacker on them. He’s paid for the anonymity. That’s another reason I need immediate and recent.”
Well, shit.
As someone who worked outside the box, he knew exactly what she was saying.
“He’s been wiped?”
She nodded.
“Yeah, pretty much. He had someone go in and change things, so anyone going in after him won’t be able to figure out what’s going on.
Picture it like this. You have twenty balls of yarn.
Each end is a path. He’s paid someone to take all twenty balls, and put them in a dryer where they get spun around, unrolled, and unraveled.
Then, they get all knotted up. You’re asking me to go in, find one end, and pull it from the chaos.
Can it be done? Yes. Can it be done quickly?
No. Not even MATE can dig through this chaos that fast.”
He sighed.
Why did that give him a headache? Because he was stressed, Gene rubbed his hands through his hair in frustration.
“I’m sorry.”
He stopped her.
“It’s not you, Gabs. We’re all on edge here. There’s this feeling of doom. Like it’s about to blow big holes in the S.S. Blackhawk, and we’re going to go down. The captain is holding on, but she’s not doing well.”
Gabby hated that her friend was suffering. She wished there was something she could do.
Then, it hit her.
“When this is over, everyone should take a vacation. You guys could come here early. I know everyone is heading here for Ian and Gryphen’s wedding, but there’s still a mystery left to solve regarding the castle.”
Gene laughed.
Oh, he appreciated that, but he knew the truth.
“Yeah, but does Elizabeth want to head to a haunted castle when she’s frazzled? That seems counterproductive. She might re-kill everything and laugh while doing it. That ghost won’t have a chance.”
Gabby laughed.
It was absurd, but she got it.
“Good point.”
Tapping his fingers, he glanced over at Chris. He was asleep on Elizabeth’s couch. He’d worked all night, and he needed some downtime.
He’d come in here to escape Tony asking a million questions.
And he couldn’t blame him. With new bones coming, the man was jazzed.
On top of that, they needed Chris to rest.
Cold and flu season was approaching, and he needed to keep himself healthy for the upcoming sicknesses that would surely hit all of them.
When you had kids, even if they had tutors, they tended to get the flu. Then, you had the flu.
“I’ll see what I can get you,” Gene admitted. “There has to be something that hasn’t been fucked with yet. At some point, he’ll make a mistake.”
She hoped so.
“I’ll keep working on it, but if time is of the essence, get me something that the hired hacker missed. I can try and isolate who the hacker is, and see if they’ll give me information, but we risk that this person goes back to Slater and tells him.”
They didn’t need that.
“Just do what you can, Gabby, and keep your eyes open for anything that might pop up about him. We know he’s moving around, and we need to contain him.”
Well, that worked for her.
“Kiss the boss for me, and the mens.”
He laughed at her calling them ‘mens’. It amused him, considering he was one of them.
“We miss you, Gabs. When you see Michael, tell him we REALLY miss him.”
She nodded.
“I’m heading there in the morning to tell him about Jet. Chrissy told me, and I know neither man watches the news. I didn’t think it was good to drop that information over the phone.”
Yeah, probably not.
No one deserved that dropped on them when they least expected it. Jet was close with Michael.
“Thanks, Gabs. Love you.”
She winked at him, and then, Gene ended the video call with her.
When he did, Chris spoke from the couch.
“You know it’s bad when Gabby can’t find something for us,” he stated.
Gene was aware, but that wasn’t his concern at that moment.
“You should be sleeping.”
He opened his eyes.
“I can’t. I’m worried. Jet was a shot at, even if the shot was meant for her. Devon Slater knows how to hurt her. I don’t think this is going to end well. Every time I close my eyes, I see some scary shit.”
Welcome to the club.
He was in the same boat.
“Yeah, we need The Hunters. ASAP. I can feel it in my balls. I’m about one issue away from calling them myself and telling Maura to haul ass. I don’t know how much more of this Elizabeth can take. She’s only human.”
Yeah, he was aware.
He would be lying if he said he wasn’t thinking the same thing. At this point, he wanted to do anything that would keep Elizabeth from crashing out.
As they talked, Chris laid there, staring up at the ceiling.
“I wish there was something we could do to end this,” Chris stated. “It’s frustrating not being able to buy our way out of this. I’d give up my companies, and all of my money to save her from hurting. Devon Slater won’t stop at one person, and that’s concerning. No, I’m terrified.”
Truthfully, he was, too.
When Chris’ phone chimed, he pulled it from his pocket and saw it was a message from Tony.
Oh, Jesus.
What now?
He read the message.
‘Don’t turn on the news. You’ll lose your fucking mind, Bro.’
Uh-oh.
Well, that was ominous. Whenever someone said that to him, there was ALWAYS something on the news about his wife. What had she done now?
“Uh, why is Tony telling me not to turn on the news?” he asked. “He said I’m going to lose it.”
Honestly, Gene didn’t know. He’d been on with Gabby, and rarely worked with the TV on.
So, they did the only thing they could.
They turned on the news.
When it came on the screen, on it was a previously recorded media story, and in the center of it was Elizabeth.
Oh, why wasn’t Chris surprised? Again, it tended to always be about her. The media was obsessed with their partner.
Turning up the volume, they listened as the newscaster broke down the jist of the press conference that happened a couple of hours ago.
Chris caught the one part.
The most terrifying part, too.
“Oh, holy shit,” he muttered, sitting up as he saw her holding the check for one million dollars.
There was no fucking way his wife had just put a bounty out on Devon Slater’s head by way of the American public, and every single person who would like to get rich.
Oh.
My.
God.
“She’s lost her goddamn mind,” he muttered. “He’ll retaliate and lash out at her! She’s taking risks that I sure as hell don’t like!”
Oh, boy.
Gene just stared at the screen and said nothing.
Why?
Well, because honestly, it was smart. Elizabeth was taking a shot back at the man who had cost Jet his life. She was clipping his wings and slowing him down. Now, he couldn’t move around, popping out of their range nearly as quickly.
Was it smart?
Yes.
Was it safe?
NOPE.
In fact, it was painting a bullseye on herself, and she likely knew that.
Damn.
Someone had some balls.
Brass ones.