6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
Marcus Hernandez sat behind his desk with his feet propped on the edge, his phone to his ear.
“Roberto, you better have something to tell me. I’m losing patience.
And when I lose my patience, heads literally roll.
What have you found out? The Feds are breathing down my neck and if they find me, we’re all going down.
I’m counting on you to take care of things. ”
Roberto replied, “Se?or Hernandez, we’re making progress. Our informant is working on it as we speak. She hopes to have something for us by end of business today. I’ll keep you abreast of the details when I know anything.”
“I’m counting on you, Roberto,” said Hernandez, stubbing out a cigarette. “Don’t let me down.”
Mary Carlson walked into the office and dropped her purse on her desk.
It was six in the morning and not a soul was around.
The guard at the reception desk was surprised to see her so early.
She’d told him she had a pile of paperwork on her desk that was due today and needed a head start.
She dropped her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk and turned on her computer.
She needed to find out something—anything—about the whereabouts of Isla Pierce.
Hernandez’s henchmen were breathing down her neck.
They wanted answers from her, and they wanted them yesterday.
For the millionth time, Mary asked herself why she’d gotten involved with Hernandez in the first place.
She didn’t need the money. Maybe it was the excitement she craved.
She’d been Hernandez’s informant for the last two years and she had never been on anyone’s radar at the Agency.
She was the quiet little mouse who sat at her desk in the corner, day after day.
She was the chubby girl who no one asked out for drinks after work.
Well, little did they know that she wasn’t just a paper pusher.
She loved the thrill of the hunt. The internet and their internal databases held so many secrets and she loved being able to uncover them.
She’d come close yesterday. But ended up hitting a brick wall.
She was chiseling away at their wall, brick by brick.
They’d done a good job hiding Isla Pierce, but she would find her.
Mary Carlson always found what she wanted.
She worked quickly, opening file after file.
There had to be something that would give her a clue as to Isla’s location.
She had a feeling that Mitch Larkin had gotten the assignment.
He and his team were the top team at the Agency and were always assigned to the most difficult cases.
He was a brilliant agent and if he were on the case, it’d be harder to break.
But she was up to the challenge. She had to be—she didn’t want to be in the line of fire if she didn’t come through.
Marcus Hernandez didn’t accept defeat—especially when his freedom was on the line.
Mary was terrified to find out what he would do if she didn’t succeed.
The office was slowly coming alive by seven.
People started to trickle in off the elevators.
If Mary didn’t find something quickly, she’d have to wait till afterhours.
She was ready to close the last file she’d brought up when a sentence in the last paragraph caught her eye.
Mitch Larkin was supposedly on a leave of absence.
If this was the case, who was leading his team and where were they?
She hadn’t seen anyone associated with his team in almost a week.
She sensed movement to her left and looked over.
“Hi Mary, you’re here early,” Steve Russell said, as he pulled his bottom drawer open and dropped in his lunch.
“I’m behind on my paperwork,” Mary said, quietly. She tried her hand at a joke. “If one more file lands on top of this desk, it’s going to collapse!” Steve didn’t laugh. She reverted back to her norm, asking tightly, “How was your evening?”
“Same as always,” Steve said. “I did catch the football game yesterday. Great game. Did you catch any of it?”
“No.” Mary ended her search. She couldn’t take any more chances. Maybe when Steve went to lunch, she’d have a chance. If she could find out where Larkin took his leave, she might just get answers.
Somewhere in the mountains of Virginia, Isla was getting out of bed. She’d tossed and turned after the chaotic day—and after that kiss on her forehead. So light and fast, it could have been a dream.
Isla was terrified that Marcus Hernandez would find her and she was terrified that she was starting to have feelings for Mitch Larkin.
She reasoned with herself. This is a crush.
You think you have feelings, but the feelings you have are of gratitude.
Don’t be reading more into this then there is.
He was just trying to comfort you. He was just being nice! Right?
Isla shook her head to clear it. She needed to get dressed. She needed to make breakfast. Maybe today she’d hear something positive in this whole situation.
Mitch sat on the deck with his cup of coffee.
It was a chilly morning. He’d just gotten back from a run.
His mind whirled around what he had done yesterday.
He’d kissed Molly. He had never stepped over the line with a person under his protection, ever, and he’d been in this business for over fifteen years.
What had gotten into him? He knew it was unprofessional and unacceptable.
He’d have to curb his feelings. He knew that his mind needed to be in the game and not be warring with himself.
Isla and her parents’ lives were at stake—he couldn’t let down his guard.
Molly walked out onto the deck. There was a moment of quiet where they just looked at each other. As if they didn’t know where to begin.
“I’ll be starting breakfast. Do pancakes sound good to you?”
Mitch smiled. “Anything you make sounds good to me,” he said. “The team’s in the control room going over some footage. They should be up soon. Do you need any help?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m good. I will have to make a grocery list, though. Is it possible to maybe get the items on it by tomorrow?”
“I’ll give Jax a call. Maybe he or Stella can go shopping for us today.”
“Thanks, Mitch,” she said. She opened her mouth as if she’d say something else, then snapped it shut. She started again, saying, “Well let me get those pancakes started. I’ll call everyone when they’re ready.”
Everyone sat down at the kitchen table as Isla made breakfast. Today’s mood was different. They didn’t joke around. Instead, they talked about yesterday’s encounter.
The guy they had caught in the woods was Curt’s friend Stew Blackson’s son, Ryder.
They weren’t happy about the situation and were discussing pulling up stakes here and going to another safe house.
Mitch didn’t want to change locations. Curt’s place was a private residence not owned by the government.
Whereas any safe house owned by the government could be easily accessed in any of the Agency’s databases.
If there was a mole in the Agency, then that information could be accessed by anyone who had the skill to hack into the system.
Was it a risk they were willing to take?
Finally, Mitch said, “I think the safest place to be is here. It’s just as secure if not more secure than any safe house the Agency can assign us.
Yesterday just went to prove that Curt’s system works, and we know it’s top-notch.
Ryder Blackson didn’t get very far before we apprehended him.
We’ve spent the last few days getting to know the lay of the land.
I feel confident we should stay, but this is a team decision.
“Let’s work out an escape route just in case we are breached by Hernandez’s henchmen.
My cabin is three miles from here. It’s a straight run through the woods.
There are only three other cabins in the vicinity and those are summer residences; they’ve been closed for the season.
I know the owners and they’re summer residents.
We can pull my personal ATV from my property and stash it close to the house.
I keep an eye on one of the cabins closest to this compound; we can store the ATV in their shed.
If we need to move quickly, we can bring Molly to my cabin and transfer her from there.
I’ve got a root cellar under the hall floor.
If need be, we can hide there till we get the all clear.
My Jeep’s in the garage since I’ve been using the company SUV.
If we have to move, we can meet up at a designated location.
I know that trail like the back of my hand.
I’ve used it for years to meet up with Curt.
I could navigate it in the dark if need be. ”
“It sounds like it would work,” said Dirk. He looked around at the others. “What do you think?”
Colt chimed in. “I think it would too. If we move now, there’s a chance that we’d call attention to ourselves.
Hernandez isn’t dumb. He has connections with the underworld we probably know nothing about.
If we did, he wouldn’t be as powerful as he is.
I say we get Ryder Blackson out of town.
That would solve the problem of him keeping his mouth shut.
Maybe we can set up a hunting trip for him and his father out of state, on us. ”
“Then are we all for staying here?” Mitch questioned.
Everyone at the table agreed.
“Now that’s settled, Lara, are you any closer to finding the mole?” Mitch asked.
Lara put down her fork. “No, but someone’s been snooping into your personnel file. It said ‘last opened’ yesterday. Are there any red flags we should be aware of?”
Mitch answered, “The director thought it’d be best if it looked like I applied for a leave of absence. That’s what they would find if someone were looking.”
“Is it possible that they could find out that you own a cabin in the vicinity?”