“YOU GOT YOUR HEADin the game, Deacon?” Vic asked firmly. He wanted to make sure I hadn’t been softened too much by civilian life that I’d not be able to focus on the mission or that I’d be unable to keep myself from worrying about Mitch. It was his not-so-subtle way of making sure my head wasn’t in my ass.
Mitch was home safe and sound, so I was able to push all thoughts of him aside and focus solely on the mission. “I’m good to go, Vic. You?”
“Oorah!” He gave me a confident smile and then turned back around to look out the windshield.
It was odd going into a situation where either Vic or I wasn’t in charge. To do things legally and make these charges stick, we had to do everything that Harmon and Fowler told us to do. I knew that I would be escorting fake Mitch to the underground elevators in hopes of drawing out Todd. I also knew that S.W.A.T. was already on the scene set up and ready to go. Vic and I were there as nothing more than supporting characters. We weren’t to draw our weapons unless we were being shot at.
Traffic was brutal and it took us longer than we anticipated to get back to the corporate offices located in downtown L.A. Delays tended to make people antsy, but I wasn’t one of them. I had learned a long time ago to improvise and let things play out because nothing ever went according to plan on any given mission.
I looked over at fake Mitch and had to admit from a distance he could pull it off. It would be a harder sell once we got inside the building and under brighter lights. “You ready?” I asked Officer Calhoun who was playing the role of Mitch.
“It’s a pretty easy job for me,” he answered with a crooked smile. He held up one finger and said, “Walk tall and powerful.” He held up a second finger and added, “Try not to get shot.”
“Sounds about right. Let’s do this,” I said as we pulled up into the parking garage.
I was the first one out of the car when it parked like normal. I stood, looked around my surroundings as I always did and didn’t see anything or anyone out of the ordinary. I walked over to the other side of the car and opened the door for fake Mitch to get out. A feeling of unease creeped through my body as fake Mitch followed in behind me and we made our way to the elevator.
My unease grew in leaps and bounds when we made it to the elevator without incident. It didn’t make any sense for Todd to wait until we were inside the building to attack. We knew he was there already because Iron tailed him to the hotel then drove past the parking garage when Todd turned in. He parked elsewhere and took up a post at the coffee shop across the street so he’d know if Todd left. He didn’t, so where was he hiding?
“Strange,” Officer Calhoun said when the elevator doors closed behind us. “He missed the perfect opportunity to shoot me.”
“Yeah, and I’m not liking it one bit.”
“Gee, thanks,” fake Mitch said drolly, sounding a lot like the real Mitch.
I couldn’t let my mind wander there or I would put both mine and Calhoun’s life at risk. “This isn’t going to work if we’re facing him down in the boardroom,” I told Calhoun. “You do look a lot like Mitch, but Todd’s known him since he was fifteen years old. He’s not going to be fooled for a second.”
“We know he didn’t tell the other board members about the meeting and we know he’s here in the building,” Calhoun said.
“We know he pulled into the parking garage, but we don’t know if he parked and went inside. Harmon didn’t want to risk Todd picking up the tail. It’s entirely possible he left without us knowing. I don’t know how long it took Iron to park in another garage and walk to the coffee shop.” We continued up to the boardroom as planned and found the room to be empty.
I dialed Harmon on my cell. “He’s not up here. Are we sure he’s even here?”
“Your guy said he came here according to the meeting time.” Harmon listened as I repeated what I had told Calhoun. All we really knew was that he pulled into the parking garage. We didn’t know if he stayed. “We’ll search the parking garage for his car. You guys take a look at the executive offices, be fucking careful.”
“Will do.” I hung up the phone and relayed the info to Calhoun.
“Lead the way,” he said. He reached beneath his jacket and clicked the safety off of his gun in case he needed to pull it fast.
My brain told me that everything was all wrong as we made our way to the executive offices. The hair was standing up at the back of my neck by the time we reached Todd’s office. I knocked loudly on his door and said. “Mr. Basterson, are you in there? Mitch is waiting in the conference room and is wondering where you and the other members are.” I waited a few heartbeats and then asked, “Sir?” No reply came.
Calhoun pulled his gun out of his holster and held it low in front of him. He gestured for me to step aside and I did. Calhoun slowly turned the knob until it wouldn’t turn anymore then pushed the door open forcefully with his gun held up in front of him. The room was completely empty so we moved to Mitch’s office. Calhoun repeated the same process opening Mitch’s door and the results were the same, except for what I saw in the middle of Mitch’s desk.
“Oh, fuck!” I ran over to the desk, hoping my eyes were deceiving me. My heart sunk when I saw a sharp letter opener stabbed through the listening device I had hid in Mitch’s office. Todd must’ve searched Mitch’s office and found the bug. If he knew the right people and made some calls, he would’ve known my story was bullshit.
“What’s that?” Calhoun asked beside me.
“Nothing.” I pocketed the listening device before he saw it. I started to call Harmon to let him know Todd was onto us but my phone rang before I had the chance to dial him.
“Todd Basterson’s car is in the parking garage,” Harmon said when I answered the phone.
I walked out of earshot from Calhoun and said quietly, “He found the bug in Mitch’s office. He must’ve parked his car and left by a different method.”
“We’ll search the premises for him, but I have a feeling he’s long gone,” Harmon replied. “You guys go on home and wait to hear from me.”
“Thanks, man,” I told him. I clicked off the phone in frustration.
Calhoun shouldered his weapon after I told him what Harmon said. “I’ll stay and help with the search,” he said as we headed to the bank of elevators that would take us back to the parking garage. Once we were standing in front of them, he reached out his hands to me and said, “It was nice working with you, Mr. Bradley. I’m sorry it didn’t go the way we had hoped.”
