“Good, but just because you don’t see some sort of tripwire, doesn’t mean they haven’t left us any presents.”
“I know. We’ve got it under control. Whoever they are, they’re too smart not to have some sort of early-warning system. We’ve tested the install on all of the systems we’ve built in-house with the bot software running, and adding a module didn’t set anything off. I think we’re ready to push the module out, but if you’d like to—”
“No, thanks,” she said. “I’m afraid time is a luxury we don’t have right now.”
Grayson had always dreamed of having a job where the stakes were high, and her hard work and determination had paid off. Whenever the president was involved in an operation, she had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t asleep.
“Have you found anything in Nations Bank since POTUS connected us with their CEO?” she asked.
“Not yet. We’ve got three people working on setting things up. Etzy is on his way to Chicago right now, and we’re waiting for him to land before we start poking the bear.”
“That’s a good idea.” Grayson knew Millar had the most experience with the malware, and proceeding without him wasn’t a risk they could afford to take. “How long until he lands?”
“The flight is an hour, and I’m not sure if he’s taken off yet.”
Grayson clasped her hands together. “Damn.” As if the sound had triggered the event, the top right corner of the room’s central wall monitor lit up, and a series of beeps chirped from the overhead speakers. The alert meant another message had been sent to their s4feT account in the hacker forums.
“Incoming,” an analyst said. “It looks like it’s an IP address from Chicago. Whoever it is, they didn’t bother to hide behind a proxy.”
Grayson’s eyes narrowed and she took a deep breath. “Let’s hope we have another break.”
Chapter 59
Both men registered beeps coming in steady intervals from the alarm system as they entered the house. They had to assume someone would be monitoring the location, and if they had assets in the area, things could turn deadly. The PMD II hovering overhead confirmed there were no heat signatures in the rooms above grade, so they immediately worked their way down the stairs quickly and efficiently.
The three dead bodies they found sprawled out on the floor in the basement were good news. They meant Addy Simpson still had a chance to find the two young girls he was tracking alive. He entered the control room and pulled a wireless device from his tactical vest. He connected the device to corresponding ports on the security surveillance system. The piece of hardware gave The Shop’s hackers direct access to a computer system via the mini drone patrolling overhead. They had nicknamed the connection device AirNet, and it allowed the operatives on the ground to concentrate on staying alive.
“Jack, how are you doing with the prints?” Simpson asked.
“I’m working on the last one. Whoever these guys are, they were taken out nice and tidy.”
Simpson had also noted the execution-style head shots.
A voice came through their comms. “Command Central is in the system. Uploading the hard drives to AirNet now, how copy? Over.”
Simpson looked through the doorway to Turner and said, “That was fast. I didn’t even tell them I had it plugged in yet.” He keyed the button on his comms and responded, “Copy good. We’ll get out of this place before we have any visitors, over.”
Jack nodded as Simpson entered the main room. “I’m done with the prints. Sounds like a plan.”
They spent a little over five minutes inside before heading back to Jack Turner’s pickup truck. Simpson couldn’t remember the last time his heart rate had been this high. He laughed as his friend started the car and tried to catch his breath. Turner hit the gas and took a couple of turns before he parked the truck next to a cornfield.
Simpson sent their GPS location to the flying machine using his tablet and said, “Who says we’re too old for this?”
Jack shook his head and cut off the engine. “You’re a very sick man, Addy. Very sick.”
Simpson turned and smiled at his friend. “I guess I should be worried, since it’s coming from the resident expert on the subject.”
Jack looked over at the tablet Simpson was entering commands into and said, “If we would have had that kind of gear back in the day, there wouldn’t be any bad guys left.”
Simpson laughed. “It’s amazing. They’re going to blow the device I hooked up to the computer as soon as they’re finished uploading the data.”
“That’ll keep things nice and tidy. How long until it’s back?”
“It shouldn’t take long.”
As if on cue, the whirring sound of rotors from the PMD II came to within earshot. They both turned to look through the back window so they could watch it land in the bed of the pickup.
“Crazy,” Jack said.
“And expensive,” Simpson added. “Let’s head to the office. It’ll take a while for them to go through the video, but hopefully they’ll have enough downloaded by the time we get back. Once we’re there, we can plug it in so they can pick up the rest over fiber.”
“What do you think about all of this, Addy?”
“I’m still trying to get my head around what’s happening.”
“Me too, but I’m not talking about that.”
“Matilde?”
“Yeah, Matilde. You’re too close to this. What we did back there…we were lucky it went smoothly. It may have stroked our geriatric egos for five minutes, but it was dangerous. Really dangerous. If that place wasn’t empty, it could have been another story.”
Simpson shrugged. “I can’t argue with that. We need to get Trent on this.”
“We need to talk,” Jack said.
Chapter 60
Jake Sanders was on edge as he paid the cashier for the gas. He had been waiting anxiously with Agent Cathy Moynihan for further instructions. His cell phone rang at the same time he pushed open the glass door to exit. He answered and made his way around to the side of the building, out of view.
“What do you have for me?” he asked.
“I got a team in there, but someone had already broken in,” FBI Director Frank Culder said. “They used some sort of device that trashed the security system.”
“A team? You mean Pagano?”
“No,” Culder said in an annoyed tone. “You’re not my only card I have to play.”
Sanders was pissed. He and Pagano were the only two left on the HVT Squad, and he wondered who else Culder could trust to pull into an operation like this. He began to pace back and forth.
“So, what? We don’t have any images of the fuckers who took our men out?”
“That’s right,” Culder said. “I think it was Simpson. They had to be connected, based on the explosive used alone. It’s not something you can pick up without some serious connections. They must have come back to finish the job by taking out the video.”
Sanders and his team had been asked to investigate Island Industries in the past but had never been able to uncover anything untoward about the company. They were either on the level and providing security for high-profile clients, or simply too good to get caught.
“I don’t know. Sure, they’re advanced, but—”
“Listen, I had my doubts about it at first, but the pieces are falling in place.”