Abe's hand came down to rest on my shoulder. The man gave me a light squeeze. "No, they didn't, so it's up to us to make sure the people who did this pay for what they did."
"How?" I quickly wiped my tears away then turned and glanced up at Abe. "How do we make them pay? We don't even know who did it."
"Well, we start with figuring out where that tracking device has them headed and go from there. We have a name and a description, right?"
I nodded. "I have the license plate number of the car those guys came in. I might be able to track that."
Abe smiled. "Now see, we're already ahead of the game."
I couldn't help feeling a little more optimistic. Abe was right. We did have clues to start with. I turned back to my computer and started tracking the thugs again. They still hadn't stopped, but I was more convinced than ever that they were heading toward Chestnut Hill.
I sent the tracking program to one of the three monitors I had mounted on the wall then brought up my hacking program on the one right in front of me. I shot Abe a quick look before I started typing in my code, not because I didn't trust the guy, but because he was a soldier and I didn't know how he'd feel about what I was doing.
Hacking was kind of against the law.
"The license plate is registered to a black 2015 Ford Taurus. The car on the video is not a Taurus."
"No, that's an Audi. They probably switched license plates."
I squinted at my computer screen. "Uh…the Taurus was reported stolen three weeks ago."
"It's probably in itty bitty pieces on its way to China right now."
Huh?
I glanced at Abe over my shoulder. "Why would someone chop it up and send it overseas?"
"Parts usually. They steal high-end cars, take them to chop shops where they are taken apart, the VIN numbers are taken off, then the parts are shipped overseas for resale."
My eyebrows lifted. "Really?"
Seemed simpler just to go buy a new car.
"There's a booming business in stolen car parts, Danny."
"You'd think they'd get more money for the assembled car."
Abe shrugged. "It's harder to hide an entire car than it is to hide car parts, although some of the cars are kept in one piece, but those are usually only the exotic models."
I was glad I didn't own a car.
Chapter Four
"Do you like being a soldier?"
The question popped into my head, and I couldn't keep it locked behind my lips. I was bored. That was my excuse. My hacking programs were currently going through records, looking for anything on the professor, Atkins, or his goons. The geek squad hadn't shown up yet and there'd been no more trouble, so we were just sitting there waiting.
I'd made food from what I had stashed away in the small dorm-room-sized fridge in the bunker. I usually only kept snacks in there, but I'd lucked out and had some pasta salad I'd bought the day before.
Abe finished chewing a bite of his pasta then took a drink of water before answering, "I do. I'm good at it, and I like knowing I'm helping people."
I stared at the man for a moment. "But?"
It sounded like there was abut.
Abe sighed. "But, it's not easy always going from one country to another, always being out on missions. I have a studio apartment back on base, but I'm hardly ever there. I don't think I'm even all the way unpacked, and I've lived there for two years."
"Why don't you put all of your stuff into storage then?" I asked. "It has to be cheaper than paying for an apartment."
