Chapter 6
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KNOX FISTED HIS HANDS, jogging up the stairs toward Quinn’s office. All sorts of shit was going down. Radley had been taken. Additional crates filled with explosives were missing from the warehouse. He hardly knew where to focus first.
Holt was holed up in his office, talking with Boone over their comms units.
He hadn’t found any vehicles at the weapons’ cache, but he’d discovered someone had been there recently.
Very recently. Despite the cameras Bravo Team had secretly installed, someone had gotten in and out of the building today without notice.
The team had gotten an alert earlier for movement from an approaching vehicle, but then that was it.
The cameras hadn’t shown anything happening after that—just a damn car parked there.
Knox cursed.
Finding the surrounding lot empty, he’d entered the building. Multiple crates were missing—crates that were not part of a previous shipment that had gone out. If someone had shown up to take them, where were they now? And why the hell hadn’t the cameras shown anything?
Damn it all to hell.
Quinn’s office was empty as he rushed inside, and Knox frowned. Her laptop was open, although on a screen saver. She’d texted him earlier to say she was ducking out, but he’d assumed she’d be back by now. Turning around, he quickly strode into the office of another IT staff member.
Logan Foster looked up from his computer as Knox entered the room.
Logan must’ve been in his mid-twenties, slightly younger than the men on Bravo Team.
It was interesting that he’d ended up in the tech field.
Logan was a whiz at what he did but also kept in peak physical condition and could’ve easily been on the ops side of things.
Logan’s father, Patrick Foster, was a well-respected former Navy SEAL based out of Little Creek, Virginia.
A lot of the military ran in the same circles, and Knox had no doubt Patrick’s connections had helped Logan get into the defense and security business.
“What’s wrong?” Logan immediately asked, seeing the expression on Knox’s face.
“I just got back. Some of the crates at the warehouse were recently moved. The video surveillance doesn’t show a damn thing,” Knox said. “A car arrived, and the camera feed stopped. No movement. Nothing.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Shit.”
Logan’s fingers began flying across the keyboard. “Let me get into the system and see what I can find. Did you tell the others?”
Knox nodded. “I let Bravo Team know that more crates are gone. I texted Quinn, too, but haven’t heard back yet. Where is she anyway?”
Logan briefly glanced up. “There was a problem with one of the cameras that Cooper and Xaden had. She took them some new equipment.”
“She’s downtown?” Knox asked, his stomach dropping.
She was safe. Of course she was. But somehow knowing she was closer to where danger was lurking sent icy cold dread snaking down his spine. The homegrown terror cell had men in Seattle now. She could be heading right into danger.
“Yeah. She tried to troubleshoot from here, but I think it was a faulty camera. She should be back soon.”
Knox grabbed his cell, thumbing a text to Cooper.
Knox: Is Quinn still there with you?
Cooper: Negative. She brought us new equipment and headed back to the office.
Cooper: Don’t worry. I walked her back to her car myself.
Knox read the text again, and some of his tension eased. Of course, his teammates hadn’t let her wander around alone at night. Not when they were tracking down explosives and members of a terror network. He was most likely feeling rattled because of what had happened to Radley.
He quickly shot off a response to his buddy.
Knox: Thanks. You saw my other text about the missing crates?
Cooper: Yep. There’s been no movement of the vehicles we’re monitoring, but Xaden and I will be here all night. If anyone is using these to hide explosives, we’ll know it.
Knox: Roger that. I’ll touch base later.
Knox pocketed his phone, turning back toward Logan.
The IT staffer was already pulling up different feeds from the warehouse, studying them on his giant computer monitor.
“They must’ve discovered the cameras we placed.
They’re all on a loop right now, showing us absolutely nothing.
They were able to do it remotely. The vehicle pulled up and no one got out. ”
“Except they did,” Knox muttered.
“I’m afraid so,” Logan agreed. He scrolled back, eyeing the timestamps. “It looks like whoever pulled up in that car knew exactly what they were doing. They disabled the cameras and looped the footage before they entered the warehouse.”
Knox shook his head, frustrated. “What about the newest crates? Were there bugs on any of them for us to track?”
Logan frowned. “Negative. Although Radley and Boone had bugged a different stash, the terror cell discovered those. There’s been no movement for any of the crates for days, which we all realize is impossible given the imminent plot.”
“If they know they’re being watched, that poses a huge problem.”
Logan met Knox’s gaze. “They don’t know how much we’re aware of.
We found the weapons’ cache, but they have no idea that Quinn was chatting with them on the dark web, posing as one of their own.
They also don’t know that we’re monitoring all of the self-driving vehicles in the affected cities.
We’re still several steps ahead of them. ”
“I hope you’re right,” Knox said, his voice grim.
Knox reviewed the surveillance feeds again with Logan, texting the team additional updates.
When someone walked in to Logan’s office ten minutes later, his gaze shot to the door.
He kept expecting Quinn to reappear at any moment, or maybe even Holt to give an update on Radley, yet it was just another IT staffer.
“You haven’t seen Quinn, have you?” Knox asked.
“No, she’s not here. She had to go help with the cameras in Seattle.”
“I know, but Cooper said he sent her back,” Knox said with a frown.
Logan eyed him curiously. “I’m sure she’ll be back soon. Maybe she got sidetracked. I wouldn’t worry too much. Quinn likes to do her own thing.”
“Yeah. Right.” Knox shot off another text to her anyway, still feeling concerned. He didn’t know what specifically was bothering him, but something felt off.
Knox: You good? Just checking in.
He stared at his phone a beat, willing her to respond.
Uneasiness washed over him.
He was being silly. Quinn was a grown woman. A capable adult. Cooper wouldn’t have left her alone in her vehicle if she was in danger. Letting out a heavy sigh, he turned his attention back to the monitor in front of him, biding his time until she returned.