Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

D ressed in torn jeans, an old khaki military jacket and a faded baseball cap to fit in with the surroundings, Quintus walked into the abandoned warehouse garage on the Virginia side of the Potomac. Call him paranoid, but he'd been in the dark underground long enough to always take precautions to not be tracked. After driving to a parking garage and leaving his car, he switched to the subway. Taking three subway stop changes, then two cabs, he finally got his old pickup truck from an outdoor parking lot, before heading to this building.

"Tell me we're on schedule," he demanded, approaching the four men beside the freshly painted white truck.

"Johnson's putting on the decals now," Porter, the leader of the group said, nodding at the tall African American man working on the side of the van. "Custer got the uniforms yesterday and is procuring fake badges to get us inside. Did you get the floor plans?"

Custer was the fifth member of their team.

Quintus unzipped his jacket and pulled out the sheath of papers from the secret inside pocket. "Not just the floor plans, but specs for the plumbing and electrical. Also, the security posts, cameras and guard rotation."

Porter gave him a grin. "Always liked that about you Q. Thorough to a T."

The former Army commander loved calling him Q. Said it reminded him of James Bond movies. Porter was the only team member who knew his previous identity. After reemerging as Quintus, he'd assembled the rest of the team of independent contractors from the dark web. People who hadn't known him from before his identity change. They all had loyalty to one thing—money. They didn't care what they had to do to obtain it. Half their payment for this mission was already deposited in their accounts as usual. Only this time they wouldn't be getting the second half of their money. Someone needed to take the fall for this attack on the gas and oil companies. And it wouldn't be him.

He wasn't leaving any more loose ends. To ensure his trail was covered, he'd already established an extremist cell called Activate Clean Power on both the internet and the dark web, with supposed ties to more radical climate change organizations. The backgrounds of all four men had been altered to fit ACP's beliefs that all fossil fuel production must stop, and their bank account payments were paid through one of his LLCs—the one he'd recently back storied to support other legitimate climate activist groups.

"Let's go over these." Carrying the blueprints over to the worktable littered with tools, wires, and papers, he waited for Porter and Sams to clear a spot, then spread the papers out for everyone to get a close up look. On top was the map showing the location of the meeting and all roads approachable. "The energy summit is going to take place in three days at a private, gated estate in Forrest Hills. Tomorrow you'll get entrance as the gas company checking out reported gas leaks in the area. We want the explosion to be blamed on that gas leak story."

"What if they check with the gas company?" Sams asked.

He fixed a steady I'm-in-charge gaze at the younger man. He'd chosen him especially for this mission, not for his skill set as a shooter, but because he fit the profile of a college-aged activist. "Already planned that they would. The call will be rerouted to me for authentication."

Sams nodded and broke the visual connection first.

Quintus moved the map to the side. "This is the security system for the estate. You'll need to set up a loop of these two cameras in the basement where the main gas lines are set."

"I've got that covered," Lopez said. The man was a computer and tech geek, who got kicked out of three schools for hacking their computer systems before joining the Navy. He'd managed to complete one rotation without going to the brig for hacking, but only because he'd covered his tracks for his other crimes. "I'll get into their system when our guys arrive and loop them working."

"What if they send a guard down there with us?" Sams asked.

Quintus gave a short shrug. "That would be unfortunate."

The quartet of operatives exchanged knowing looks. No one could know what they were doing.

Once the plans were confirmed and all questions answered, Quintus headed out. Instead of going back the way he came, he drove to the subway, parked the pickup and took the train to the mall. Walking past the monuments with all the tourists, he made a call. He hadn't heard a word from Dodger and Styx, which really didn't surprise him, he'd expected his second team to take them out. But it was the silence from that unit that worried him.

"It's me," he said when the phone was answered. "I need you to do something for me. Quietly, but today."

?

"I lost him with the second cab change after the third subway ride," Ben said, walking into the safe house with a pink and brown box from the Georgetown Cupcake store. "Got some cupcakes on my way back. Wasn't sure if you wanted me to go to the parking garage where the guy left his Mercedes or stake out his place again in the alley."

Castello snagged one of the cupcakes from the box. "After we let you out to trail him from the parking garage, I slipped a tracker on the back of his car. When he starts driving it again, an alarm will sound on my phone."

"That's cool. Never know what phones will do these days," he said, dropping the box on the counter and getting a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Luke loaded it to all our phones, just for times like this," Jake said, putting a video app onto the large screen TV. "You're here just in time to talk with the team and Zoe back in Columbus."

They'd gotten word before dawn that the team had not only found her alive, but fended off a team of assassins sent to kill her. Apparently, she'd been shot in the shoulder, winged on her temple, fallen down a mountainside and broken her leg, all before the blizzard hit. Luke said a Paul Bunyon-sized stranger found her and took her back to his cabin to keep her safe. The problem was her phone was dead and her memory was jumbled.

"You think she's remembered enough to help us?" Ben asked, settling into one of the leather club chairs across from the TV. They had a similar set up at the EIS headquarters. The big screen let them see everyone in the room and prevented them from each having to use their own computer or crowding around if there was only one computer available, like today.

"Sami said they haven't had a chance to debrief her yet. Between the gun battle and traveling since the middle of the night, everyone wanted to crash for a few hours. Then Zoe needed to go to the doctor to get her leg x-rayed and reset."

"Who was this guy that rescued her? Just some local mountain man?"

Castello looked up from his phone where he was typing away, probably talking to his wife Sydney who was on a photoshoot in California. "Katie said he's a search and rescue dog trainer, out working his dog when they found her."

"Luke said she would've frozen to death if he hadn't," Jake added. "Apparently, Zoe insisted he leave his home and come to Columbus with them. She told him he wouldn't be safe."

"Really?" Ben raised one brow at his bosses. "The woman I remember meeting wasn't usually interested in other people's safety."'

Jake nodded. "She does have a reputation of doing what is best for her or whatever case she's on, no matter who she has to use to achieve her goals."

"She did help us stop Bricker's arms business and rescue those kids that were being trafficked," Castello put in.

The screen in front of them changed and the meeting room in the EIS office came into view. Luke, Matt, Dave and Abby were seated around the conference room.

"Where's Zoe?" Jake asked, without preamble.

"Hello to you, too Jake," Luke said.

"Glad you guys survived going over a mountainside in three feet deep snow," Matt said and Katie slugged him on the arm. "What?"

"Of course I'm glad you survived, but I didn't expect anything else out of you," Jake said.

Ben tried not to grin. The three Edgars brothers still held a little grudge against their brother-in-law because he'd kidnapped their sister. The fact they'd married and now had three kids, didn't stop them from digging at him whenever they could. Jake always kept his cool though.

"Duke needed to go outside," Abby said. "She and Connor will be here in a minute."

"Who's Duke?" Castello asked.

"He's the one who found me," Zoe said slowly walking in the room, followed by a large man in a plaid shirt accompanied by a floppy-eared hound, whom she scratched behind the ears while the man behind her pulled out a chair. Katie hopped up to pull out a second one and help Zoe elevate her left leg.

"How's the leg, Zoe?" Jake asked.

"Fractured, but they fixed me up with a special boot." She lifted it up so they could see it. "So, I'm mobile."

"Limited," the big guy who sat beside her said.

She turned to him with a petulant look, but then nodded. "Yes, limited. The doc wants me to try and stay off it for a day or two. And by the way, this is Connor Davis, the man who rescued me." She turned to Connor, "The guy on the left is Frank Castello, former U.S. Marshal."

Castello simply nodded in greeting which Connor returned.

"He's a man of few words," Zoe said, and Ben wondered which man she was talking about. "The guy with the shaggy beard on the right is Ben Hanahan, new member of the team."

"Jack of all trades and good undercover," Ben said. "Glad to meet you, Connor."

Connor nodded another silent greeting.

"And the man in the center, the boss of this group is former FBI special agent, Jake Carlisle, Sami's husband."

"Your wife makes great muffins," Connor said.

Jake laughed. "That she does. She bakes when she worries. Muffins means she knew everyone was okay and on their way home. You don't want her making cinnamon rolls."

"Why?" the big guy asked.

"The rolls take more effort, kneading the dough a couple of times. She works out her worry by beating the dough. And she only does them when she's worried we're walking into a firestorm." He paused and seemed to be focusing on Zoe. "What's my wife going to be baking, Zoe?"

She looked around the table at all the people seated there. Her family. Then she focused on the camera at the three of them in DC. The serious look in her eyes made Ben's stomach sink.

"Cinnamon rolls."