Chapter 4
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QUINN STARED AT THE surveillance feed she was monitoring on her computer screen and cursed.
Cooper and Xaden had already taken off from the hotel they’d checked into earlier that evening.
Xaden was trailing a man looking suspicious, and Cooper was already down the block surveilling the area on foot.
Yet the man Quinn had just spotted on camera was rolling a huge oversized duffle bag down the road toward a waiting car.
It wouldn’t have been unusual, except he’d just exited one vehicle and was already quickly hustling to another.
Why the change?
Frowning, she drummed her fingers on the desk as she watched him. He slung the duffle into the trunk of the waiting car and opened the passenger door.
Likely not a ride share vehicle then.
The car sat there a moment with its hazard lights on, blocking one lane of traffic. Her gaze quickly swept over the surrounding area. Nothing else appeared out of order. She wished one of the team were close by to get a closer look in person, but she’d have to handle it from here.
Quinn zoomed in as the car pulled away and started to make a U-turn, smiling as she saw the plate.
Bingo.
She replayed the recording, pausing and snapping a screenshot. Maybe it was nothing, and maybe it was the break they needed.
“What’d you find?” one of the IT staff asked, noticing her expression.
Quinn pointed at the monitor, quickly filling him in. “Watch that car. It was right by the hotel Bravo Team is staying at, not far from the Space Needle.”
“Will do.” He hustled off to his own computer, pulling up the link to the feed that she’d sent to the entire team. More eyes watching the scene could be crucial in stopping the attack, but Quinn was trying to gain intelligence via other means as well.
Her gaze landed on the laptop beside her, where she was waiting for a response on the dark web. So far no one had noticed that she was impersonating one of the terror cell members. She was directly messaging a few people and needed more details.
Anxiety churned through her stomach.
If she messed this up, the group could be tipped off that they were being watched and disappear.
While the goal was to stop the imminent attacks, the Feds wanted to bring the perps to justice.
That would be a hell of a lot harder without the element of surprise.
If they scattered, they’d eventually regroup and plot something else.
They’d still be out there, intent on causing chaos and terror.
It was urgent they ended this as quickly as possible.
Her gaze drifted back to her first computer again, watching the car in question through the traffic cams. The vehicle changed lanes and sped up. Much to her dismay, they seemed to be exiting the city.
“Quinn!” one of the IT staffers called out.
She glanced up.
“That vehicle looks like it’s leaving the city.”
“Yeah,” she said with a frown. “I just noticed that. It’s probably not one of the suspects.
The Space Needle is in the exact opposite direction.
” She shook her head in frustration. A large duffle could’ve easily concealed the explosives.
They were still out there somewhere, and she wanted to find them before they were loaded into one of the self-driving vehicles and sent toward their target.
Her phone buzzed, and she saw a text from Xaden.
Xaden: That was a bust. The guy I followed was hauling a bunch of junk.
Xaden: Illegal dumping might be wrong, but we’ve got more urgent matters.
Quinn: Any updates from Cooper?
Xaden: Negative.
Given that Cooper was scouting the area, he wouldn’t necessarily check in unless there was something important to share. Her gaze landed on the time. Boone and Radley should have just landed in L.A., and Quinn would need to get into those systems as well.
Knox had swung by earlier to check in, but he’d headed out to investigate one of the local sites. They had cameras on a weapons’ cache nearby, and when they’d spotted movement there earlier, he’d left to check it out.
A tinge of worry coursed through her. This was what the men did.
They were former Delta Force for goodness’ sake.
Just because she was used to seeing Knox around the office didn’t mean the man wasn’t positively lethal.
The entire team was highly trained. Quinn and the IT staff had zero tactical skills, and it was silly of her to worry over something she couldn’t control, especially for a man as capable as Knox.
Just thinking about his athletic build, muscled arms, and dark eyes sent a shiver racing through her. He was confident and sexy. A deadly combination. She loved hearing his deep voice as he stood at her side.
Quinn let out a sigh. She had enough on her plate right now and couldn’t sit here worrying about Knox all evening. If anything, the rest of the team was likely in more danger trying to intercept the explosives. She needed to focus on the job.
A new message suddenly pinged on her laptop, and Quinn’s gaze slid back to it. The man she was chatting with on the dark web was already in L.A. She smiled. He still thought he was talking to one of his own men and had no idea he was accidentally feeding her intel.
Anon1: I’ll leave everything on the 8th floor for the time being.
Anon1: I will be ready, by Allah’s mercy.
She sucked in a breath. In what world would any God want people to harm others?
The homegrown terror cell’s motivations were criminal—literally.
She didn’t understand their twisted religious beliefs or intent to harm others.
Her job wasn’t to profile them, however.
She had the technical know-how to help Bravo Team stop the attacks in both L.A. and Seattle, and she’d damn well do it.
Quinn quickly responded, using the hacked account.
XYJihadi: Fantastic work, my brother.
Quinn shot off a quick text, telling Boone and Radley to keep watch on the 8th floor.
She was already in the hotel’s security system, and in no time, Quinn was sending them an encrypted message with links to the hotel security feed for that specific floor.
Adrenaline flooded her bloodstream. This was how she worked best—juggling multiple situations and getting the job done.
She’d knock down one task and quickly move on to another, never missing a beat.
Her phone buzzed, and Holt’s name flashed on the screen.
“Quinn here,” she said smoothly.
“I’m looping you in for an update on the situation in Seattle. Xaden and Cooper are on the line.”
“Roger that,” she replied.
“We have photos of several possible vehicles to be used in the pending attacks,” Xaden said.
It sounded like he was walking down the city street.
Quinn could hear noises in the background—car engines, a horn honking, and voices carrying on various conversations around them.
“Cooper and I are two blocks south of the Space Needle. There’s a self-driving vehicle parked on the street nearby. ”
“It could be a coincidence,” Cooper said over the line, “but I also spotted one three blocks east. For a system that’s supposedly only being tested right now in this market, why are not one but two of the self-driving cars parked in sight?”
“That’s a damn good question. I want eyes on them both,” Holt said, his voice hard.
“Let me see if I can get into a different camera from here,” Quinn said, her fingers flying over the keyboard. “We can monitor them electronically if this works. Okay, I’m in, but I don’t have a good view of the car you’re referring to. What intersection are you near right now?”
Xaden rattled it off, and Quinn frowned.
“No. It’s just out of range. I could see if any of the local businesses have surveillance cameras aiming at the street. If I get into those feeds, we can watch it.”
“We should’ve brought our own cameras,” Xaden said, his voice low. “We could’ve set up our own surveillance system and positioned a few in specific locations.”
“I’ll check my gear,” Cooper replied. “I might have one.”
“Tell me the coordinates of where the second vehicle is,” Quinn instructed. “I’ll look for that one as well.”
Knox gave her the street names, and although Quinn could see the second car, the first was still out of range.
Twenty minutes later, she was on the phone again. Knox was still out of the office, assessing the terror cell’s weapons’ cache, Gage was briefing with Holt, and Cooper and Xaden were attempting to set up a camera feed near the suspicious vehicle.
“Quinncess, I can’t get this damn thing to work.” Cooper said.
She rattled off some instructions to Cooper, scanning the open camera feeds as well. “I’ve got other IT staff trying to help, but we don’t have eyes on you.”
“Which means you can’t see the vehicle either,” he muttered.
She bit her lip, frowning. That was problematic, given her discovery earlier. If the terror cell would eventually load the explosives into the self-driving vehicles, Bravo Team needed to be watching those in vicinity of the known targets.
“Xaden or I will have to stay here,” Cooper said, echoing her thoughts.
“We’ve circled the area, and this vehicle is the closest one.
I don’t want someone loading explosives into it while it’s unguarded.
We could have the damn thing towed, but then they’ll guess someone is onto them.
Either that or we tow every damn vehicle on the block. ”
Quinn bit her lip, frowning. “No. I’ll come down.
I can be there in less than half an hour.
I’ll bring extra cameras. You two need to focus on finding whoever is carrying the explosives.
You don’t have time to babysit a self-driving car.
Once we have eyes on any suspicious vehicles in the vicinity of the Space Needle, my team and I can monitor them from the office.
It’ll free you up to get the bad guys, so to speak. ”
Cooper huffed out a laugh. “Okay. I don’t like that you have to come down here, but that might be the quickest option given our time constraints.”
“It is,” she assured him. “We don’t want to miss our chance to nab anyone in the terror cell network.”
“All right. See you soon,” he said, ending the call.
Leaving her laptop open, Quinn grabbed her cell phone and shot off a quick text.
Quinn: I’m heading out to do some last-minute tech support.
Knox: Everything okay?
Quinn: Yep. I’ll touch base with you later.
Knox: Be safe.
A flush washed over her. He didn’t even know what she was doing, yet he’d told her to be careful.
Grabbing her leather jacket, she slid it on, slipping her cell phone into her back pocket. She was an IT guru, not a trained operative like the men she was working with. But setting up cameras on city streets wasn’t exactly dangerous work. Cooper and Xaden would be right there.
Inexplicably, a wave of worry washed over her.
It was just nerves, she told herself. She didn’t usually need to go into the field last minute like this.
The rest of the team would be in significantly more danger than she would be.
While they toted guns, comms units, and tactical gear, she’d have a few cameras and tracking devices.
Quinn took the elevator downstairs to the armory, gathering the equipment she needed.
She was beginning to suspect the camera Cooper had was faulty.
It was bad timing, to say the least, but now they’d have working gear to watch the vehicles they’d honed in on.
She’d head downtown, set up the camera, and then high tail it back to the office.
Quinn couldn’t be gone for long, not with everything else she was working on, but this little trip would be an hour at most. Then she’d be back safe in her office, working where she preferred to be.