CHAPTER TEN

“He wasn’t on the line long enough to get a trace, but judging by his reaction, he’ll call back,” said Tanner.

“We need a good lead on where he’s staying,” said Hex. Ham walked in and looked at the group of men gathered, giving a knowing nod.

“Morning. I thought you guys might like to know that I just spoke with an old friend who works at the Pentagon. She said that Mansur’s law firm did a lot of work for them, and in fact, his father used to be in the building quite a bit.”

“Well, this sounds horrible,” frowned Hex, leaning back with a deep sigh.

“They were working mostly with top officials on controlling public image, media presentations, that sort of thing. Apparently, the firm has an entire public relations division that controls gossip, poor public image, changes speeches to avoid any legal issues, that sort of thing. They usually work with D.C. politicians and top military officials, but occasionally, they’ll do work with the entertainment industry.

“Morgan, my friend, said that she was surprised they continued to allow the father to come to the Pentagon, even after the news of the son. According to her supervisor, they said legally they couldn’t hold the father accountable for the adult son. He has the right to make a living.”

“That’s bullshit,” frowned Cam. “His son is a killer and conspired with a member of our esteemed military and was a threat to national security. Plus, we all know damn good and well that the father has helped him to hide all these years.”

“I know,” said Ham, “but that’s not the way the legal eagles see it. Look, all I’m saying is that if he still has access to the Pentagon, he could have seen, heard, or been witness to something. Apparently, they have a case they’re working right now with a soldier who was accused of attacking a young woman near a base in Japan. He was wearing our technology when the incident happened. They have daily meetings with him and his superiors. Morgan has offered to get us in.”

“In? In as in inside those meetings?” asked Luke.

“That’s right. Two of the aides who were inside those rooms both had to take leave due to medical reasons. I think we need to get two people inside those meetings that have at least a rudimentary knowledge of law,” said Ham. They both looked at him, and he laughed. “Not me, brother. All I know is how to break the law.”

“That’s close enough, Ham,” said Eric, smiling at their friend.

“Fair enough,” he nodded. “Let me take Aiden. His old man had a law degree, and I know he studied it a bit. I think we need to take one female, just so it’s not completely obvious.”

“Take Georgie. She won’t put up with any bullshit, and her knowledge of contract law could be helpful,” said Luke. “And yes, I know that Carl will want to tag along. That’s fine as long as he doesn’t interfere.”

“I’ll go break the good news to them all,” smirked Ham. “You can tell my beautiful wife that I’m headed to D.C., and she can deal with the unruly pre-teen triplets. That should go over well for you.”

The men all chuckled, then realized that he wasn’t joking. Sadie had a temper that rivaled anyone on the property, and the triplets, Bailey, Ambrey, and Cole, all seemed to be hitting their pre-teen annoying selves way too early.

“I’ll handle it,” smirked Luke.

“Hi,” said Georgie, walking into the room.

“Wow, news travels fast,” smirked Luke. She gave him a questioning glance, tilting her head, and he realized she didn’t know.

“News? What news?” she asked.

“We need you to go to D.C. for a few days with Ham, Aiden, and Carl,” said Cam.

“Oh, good!”

“Good?” they said in unison.

“Why is that good?” asked Eric.

“We have a contract with the Army for communication devices. Not like the ones we use, but something of a lower tech ability.” They all nodded, knowing what she was talking about. “There was a staff sergeant stationed in Japan who is being accused of inappropriate behavior with a young woman. He had his communication device on the entire time, and it was recording the incident, but they’re experiencing some glitches in getting it to show the recording. They want our help getting the information off of it, but they’re also threatening to end our contract.”

“Who is experiencing these glitches?” frowned Luke.

“The tech guys at the Pentagon who are working with the staff sergeant’s legal team. Why do you ask?”

“Take a seat,” said Luke.

Thirty minutes later, Georgie had a notepad full of information, a headache, and a desire to get to D.C. as quickly as possible. While they were speaking, she’d texted Ryan and Sophia Ann to come to the meeting room.

“What’s up?” asked Ryan.

“The L412 devices? What would prevent the Army from being able to access the recordings?” she asked.

“Easy. Someone fucked with the components, film and audio capture, or anything to do with the electronics,” said Ryan.

“Like, someone tried to take it apart, break it, or reverse engineer the equipment?” she asked quietly. Ryan stared at her, and Sophia Ann nodded.

“Exactly like all of that,” she said cautiously. “The L412 is an older technology. The newer models all have fail-safes on them that don’t allow anyone to take off components, re-engineer anything, or even look inside the model. If they attempt to do so, everything is wiped out. But the 412 doesn’t have all the bells and whistles.”

“But could someone have taken that technology and used it to track a phone, person, or computer?” asked Eric.

“In theory, yes. They would have to have a pretty good knowledge of electronics, and I do mean pretty good. It wouldn’t be easy, but on that model, it would have been possible. Is this about the Army staff sergeant?” she asked Georgie.

“Sort of. Come on. I need to pack for D.C., and I’ll explain what we think is going on. I might need you or Ryan to tag along on this one.”

While Georgie and Sophia Ann left the room, Ryan looked at the men in the room and shook his head in disbelief.

“Anyone capable of taking that technology and using it on someone else isn’t a lawyer. No offense to our legal team. This would take someone with pretty keen insights into telecommunications, computers, and cell phones, as well as tracking devices. This isn’t someone who dabbles in hacking or communications devices.”

“Well, that narrows it down a bit. But the reality is that there are probably a hundred guys at the Pentagon that fit that description,” said Hex. Ryan shook his head.

“No. There are a hundred that claim they can do all that, but probably only a dozen that actually could succeed. Let me get into the active-duty roster and see what I can find. By the time they land in D.C., we should have our man. Or woman.”