Katrina shook her head. “You already told me what happened, and I still can’t believe it. Since when did you join the Impossible Mission Force?”
Talia laughed and held up her free hand, slice of cheese pizza in the other. “Trust me, I had no idea what I was getting into until it was too late to get out of it. When Bogdan showed up, I almost passed out.”
For the second time in as many days, Lennox found his heart starting to race faster at the thought of her being in danger.He didn’t understand why he was so freaked out, especially since he’d been in danger most of his adult life and it had never bothered him. But that was because he worried more about Talia’s safety than he did his.
Was that the way Talia felt when he was on a mission?
“What do we know about this address Talia gave us?” Lennox asked Kyla.
“It’s an office complex in La Jolla,” she said. “The most important factor being it’s owned by Bogdan Rybak. The building is still about a month away from being ready to open, which is likely why they picked it, since they’ll have the place completely to themselves.”
“To do what?” Darwin asked. “The note was on Fredrickson’s file so do we think this is a meeting between him and Bogdan? If that’s all it is, why all the cloak and dagger stuff?”
Lennox shook his head. “There has to be more going on. If I had to guess, I’d say that Bogdan and Fredrickson are going to meet with the person behind this whole operation. Keller strikes me as the muscle and enforcer type. He may have been involved in the initial meetings that Maria eavesdropped on, but there’s no way he’s in a position to make any kind of final decision.”
“Colt, didn’t you say something about trying to talk to the CIA about this?” Kirk asked. “Were they willing to get involved now that we know Keller is part of this?”
“That’d be a big fat no.” Colt scowled. “When I told Joe we had stateside contact with Keller, he told me to back off and stop sticking my SEAL nose into CIA operations. Then, when I tried to tell him about the meetings Bogdan’s been having with Keller, he shut me down before I could get the words out of my mouth. He said the CIA would burn us to the ground if we didn’t stop messing with this. Then he hung up.”
“Damn,” Lennox muttered. “I know there’s been some tension between our Team and the CIA lately, but this sounds a lot more personal than that.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kyla said firmly. “Bottom line, we can’t depend on the CIA for help. We need to take that into account when we make our plan.”
Katrina frowned. “Wait a second. You’re not seriously suggesting we do this by ourselves, are you? Shouldn’t we, I don’t know…call the cops?”
“And what would we tell them?” Lennox asked. “The police have already decided there’s no validity to Talia’s claims. What’s changed since then? Kyla has ID’d Keller, but it’s not like the police would even look into his identity because she came up with the information while hacking.”
“And it’s not like any of us could verify that Keller is part of some kind of international terrorist ring, since that little trip we took down south never officially happened,” Colt added.
Katrina looked around the room at each of them. “But what about all that stuff Maria overheard? And the files that Talia found in Mr. Rybak’s office, not to mention the note about his meeting with Mr. Fredrickson? Surely. all of that counts for something.”
It was Talia who answered this time. “Do you honestly think the cops are going to take the word of a little girl? And they won’t think much of me when I tell them I was snooping around Bogdan’s office in order to find those files. So no, we can’t call the cops. If we’re going to figure out what happened to Anna, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.”
Katrina looked like she wanted to argue, but then nodded in resignation. “Okay. I guess I’m in. What do you need me to do?”
“That’s what we’re here to figure out,” Lennox said even as he silently vowed that neither Talia nor Katrina would be doing anything that put them in danger.
They spent the better part of the next hour putting together the outlines of a plan while also demolishing the rest of the pizza.
“So, we’re treating this as a pure surveillance op, right?” Darwin summarized. “We go into the location early, set up as many listening devices and video cameras as we can, and then see what we learn? No direct contact unless everything goes sideways, correct?”
“Without knowing exactly what we’re walking into or what kind of security will be in place, I think that’s all we can do,” Lennox agreed. “If we can come out of this op with a better idea who the players are and what they’re trying to do, we’ll have to count it as a win.”
“How can Katrina and I help?” Talia asked, leaning forward enthusiastically. “Nothing you’re doing sounds too dangerous.”
Lennox had to bite his tongue to keep from saying he wanted her and Katrina to stay out of this. While his protective instincts were completely rational in his mind, Talia would probably be upset if she thought he was purposely sidelining her. Helping to find Anna was important to her.
“I think the two of you can be the most valuable to the operation by staying home and letting us know exactly when Bogdan leaves for the meeting,” he said casually.
Both Talia and Katrina frowned at that but before either of them could say anything, Kyla spoke.
“I have a better idea,” she said, eyeing Lennox as if she knew exactly what he was trying to do. “While still keeping them safe. They can hang out in the surveillance van with me. They’re both familiar with their employers’ friends and the people who move in those circles. Having them with us at the office complexwill help us identify them faster, assuming other people show up.”
Lennox opened his mouth to argue his position when one of his Teammates cut his legs out from under him.
“Kyla’s right,” Darwin said. “The surveillance van will be parked three blocks away. They’ll be safe there.”
Lennox still didn’t like the idea but knew there was no point in protesting. His lone reason for keeping Talia and Katrina away from the op was their safety. If they were going to be with Kyla in the surveillance van, safety wasn’t going to be an issue.
