“You got it, boss.” Gil’s grin was full of mischief as he turned to Carver. “This just means there’s something far worse in our in-box.”
“That’s been my experience as well.” Carver inclined his head in her direction. “What else do you have for us?”
“One potential threat that may have legs. You’ll need to talk to PID. They’re still digging and hope to have more by the time you finish with your first objective.”
She turned to Benjamin. “Please remember that you volunteered.”
Benjamin’s low, laughter-laced voice rumbled around the table. “I never go back on my word, Tess. I’ll take care of it.”
“You’ll be careful while you do it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What did you give him?” Luke asked with unveiled nosiness.
“Three ladies whose threats were of a more”—Benjamin pursed his lips—“personal nature.”
“Three?” At Tessa’s confirmation, Gil continued. “That seems unusual.”
“Apparently they made a pact, and they intend to see it through. Indications are that there was some substance abuse involved when they made their threats. I’m hoping a quick visit will eliminate them from the board.”
“What makes you the man for this particular job?” Rodriguez sounded annoyed that he didn’t get the assignment. What was wrong with him?
Benjamin gave Rodriguez a flat look. “Patrick, I know you don’t want to discuss what happened the last time you took one of these cases.”
All the charm oozed right off Rodriguez. “Those women were nuts.”
“Yeah.” Benjamin agreed with his words, but not with his expression.
Was that why Benjamin had volunteered? There was a story lurking behind the words, and Tessa wanted to hear it. But not now.
“Jacob wants to go with you, Benjamin. He says it’s been too long since he was out in the field.”
“I’d be happy to have him along.”
“Thank you.” Tessa turned from Benjamin to Zane. “You and I will take the walk-through of the estate this morning, then we’lltackle the rest of the threats on the board. There’s one in particular that I couldn’t assign to anyone else.”
Zane dropped his head and pretended to bang it on the table. “Tess. You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, but I would. And I did.”
Gil and Luke laughed, and Luke pounded Zane on the back in mock sympathy.
“Somebody want to fill us in?” Rodriguez didn’t much care for being out of the loop.
“He’s a regular.” Every area had them. Individuals who ran their mouths enough that the Secret Service kept them on their radar but who had been deemed to be minimal threats. They were usually attention seekers.
“He loves Zane,” Luke chimed in with a laugh. “He doesn’t want to talk to anyone else. Threw a can of Spam at me when I went to check on him a few months ago. I explained that Zane was in DC now, and the poor guy was so upset, I felt sorry for him. I promised him I’d have Zane check in if he was ever in town.”
“He makes vague threats against the administration, random senators, representatives, and occasionally foreign heads of state. But he’s been doing it for years and has never made any move to follow through.” Gil turned to Tessa. “I’m so glad you saved him for Zane.”
“It was the least I could do.”
Zane muttered under his breath, but there was no real heat in the glare he fixed on her. “Fine. But do we have any real threats in our stack?”
“Sadly. Yes.” She tapped the file in front of her. “The PID sent me an update this morning. This one isn’t from social media but from chatter the NSA intercepted. From what they’ve sent, it looks like the prospect of the president being in a smaller venue has some people thinking it will be easier to get to him. Which is whywe’re starting with the walk-through. The owners have given us full access. We need to be there at ten.”
Zane gave her a quick chin lift and scribbled something on his legal pad. Probably the beginnings of a list of questions he wanted to ask or things he wanted to investigate while they were there. The man loved his lists.
