“Neesa, I didn’t submit for a search warrant for today,” Jasper said. “Sun indicated that your organization wanted to be cooperative.”
“Absolutely,” Neesa stood. “I’m not putting our teams in danger by accidentally sending them out with fake currency. I’m appreciative that you’re here.”
As the men stood, Dakota said, “We’ll use Tank to help us out. But Jasper also has a machine with us to test the bills, should Tank indicate on any of them.”
Neesa was tense as she stood up from her desk and passed through the door. “Okay, the vault is on this level, just around the corner.”
Jasper went out first, walking beside Neesa, followed by Dakota and Tank.
Sun came up behind them.
“We keep our cash in a safe cabinet on one side of the secured room. In that area, we also keep medications. Some of them are controlled substances.” She rounded the corner. “Our fast-response teams are all trained in advanced trauma, but we don’t have doctors on board. Setting up the field hospitals is something we leave to specialized organizations.” She turned the second corner. “We do pack in what our own people might need should they sustain an injury and evacuation is delayed. It’s prescribed via communications with an on-call doctor who is always on duty here at WorldCares.”
Tank knew that he was about to play one of his favorite games of sniff and find. His whole body was alert and ready.
They moved to a security gate. “Hi, Stew,” Neesa greeted the guard. “You’re expecting us this morning.”
Jasper and Dakota pulled out their badge wallets and lifted them. “Secret Service,” Jasper announced.
Stew took another look at Neesa, then over to Sun to see if there were any signals or signs of distress before he unlocked the gate from his side.
“Do you keep a lot of money on hand?” Jasper asked, eyeing the security structure.
Stew shut and locked the gate behind them, moving them to the biometrics box, where Neesa looked into a black screen as she laid her hand on a pad.
“A necessary amount,” Neesa said as she heard the whir and click that meant the computer had properly identified her and processed the lock. “Remember, we have twenty teams. It’s often the case that they are fanned around the world. Much like a street fight, a disaster in one part of the world doesn’t mean another one isn’t revving up in another part of the world.”
They walked into the room, neat as a pin, with shelves of medications in careful rows and two refrigerators. “O negative blood and saline,” she said, “for our most remote ventures. That requires quite a bit of cross-border paperwork, so it’s ready for exceptional circumstances.” She pulled one side of a shelving unit, which swung away from the wall, revealing a hidden security door. There, Neesa typed in a code and tugged it wide.
“So here it is.” Neesa gestured to what looked like perhaps a hundred banded stacks of bills.
A quick calculation meant that they kept approximately a million dollars in cash on hand.
Neesa seemed to read his mind. “Twenty teams with fifty thousand each. Yes, it’s a lot. But we are ready for extremes. What if there’s a collapse of a market? A run on a bank? An EMP or a hacker? Illiquidity risks lives. And cash and carry is always a lower price.”
Fifty thousand per team, trying to buy equipment and supplies in-country for an undetermined amount of time? Yes, that was more than reasonable.
“Each time a group goes out, we record the tracking band. If you were to find more counterfeit bills, we can trace that down to all the locations where that band of money was taken.”
Jasper turned to Dakota. “You’re ready to go in?”
Dakota, in turn, turned to Neesa. “Is it okay if I video record with camera and mic to share with Tank’s trainer?”
Neesa shifted uncomfortably, but Sun said, “Of course, anything you need.”
Dakota handed his messenger bag to Jasper, taking a moment to attach a camera to a chest harness. Then he reached back into his bag and pulled out a rolled-up towel.
Holding it under Tank’s nose, Dakota signaled it was go time.
Chapter Eleven
Rylee
Tuesday
Neesa pushed back from her desk. “How was the helicopter jumping, bonding experience?”
“Well, if everything hurt this morning,” Rylee said, easing herself into the guest chair.
