“Good. If this Onyx is as good as they say, it’ll be like tracking a shadow.” He could use all the help he could get from Swede, as well as doing some of his own computer sleuthing.
As he climbed into his truck, the weight of the assignment bore down on Rogue. If he wasn’t the only one looking for Onyx, he had to be the first to locate the assassin, or his job would be over before it started.
* * *
Back at his house, he spread the information from the file across his dining table, studying the photos and other data already collected. Notes on the burner phone indicated a call had been made prior to the senator’s murder.
His cell phone chirped with an incoming video call from Swede.
Rogue answered.
Swede’s face popped up on his screen.
“Swede, just the man I wanted to talk to. Got anything for me?”
“I do,” the blond-haired giant said. “I was able to hack into the burner phone records. Onyx placed a few calls earlier that day when the senator was murdered. One was to a victim’s advocacy hotline. Another went to a legal aid office, and the last was to a children’s hospital. Not sure that helps, but I was also able to track the phone to a drug store just north of Austin. I followed it to a truck stop not far from there. Bring up your computer, and I’ll send the video images I was able to collect of people coming and going from the drug store.”
Rogue pulled his laptop out of his backpack, set it on the counter and fired it up. “Okay, I’m up.”
Moments later, a video clip appeared in his inbox. He clicked on it, and the front of the drugstore appeared.
“If you fast forward, you’ll see all the customers coming and going over a ten-minute timeframe. I think the customer wearing a hoodie is our person. Sending the inside camera images now.”
Another video appeared in his inbox. He opened it to see the aisles of the drug store.
“From what I could tell, the person in the hoodie collected stuff on the hair care aisle. I hacked into the store’s sales log for the same time. The person purchased hair dye, conditioner, a brush and a straw cowboy hat.”
“A cowboy hat?” Rogue snorted. “Nothing like a cowboy hat to make you invisible.”
“You are in Texas,” Swede reminded him.
He was right. Cowboy hats were more acceptable and normal in the Lone Star State.
“I found the hoodie person a few minutes later at a truck stop, walking in, carrying a small duffel bag.” Swede sent another video. “I might’ve missed our person of interest on the way out if not for the straw cowboy hat.”
The fourth video Swede sent was timestamped an hour after the hoodie-clad person entered with the duffel bag.
The cowboy hat shaded the person's face and eyes until the exit door. Another customer came in at the same time as the person in the cowboy hat walked through the door, carrying a different colored duffel bag, though the same size and shape. This time, the person carried it like a backpack. At that moment, the person in the cowboy hat tipped it backward to let the latest customer enter first.
Blond curly hair framed a narrow face with pale skin and brown eyes. A female face with high cheekbones and full, dark, rose-colored lips.
Rogue hit the pause button and froze the frame on her face. Then he snapped a screenshot of the woman. “Onyx is a woman?”
“If we have the right person,” Swede agreed.
She was younger than Rogue had expected of a skilled assassin, which made her a highly mobile and lethal asset. She could blend into any crowd and never be suspected of deadly intentions. Though her movements were controlled and her eyes wary, she didn’t look like a killer. She looked like a young woman running for her life.
Rogue sent the saved shot to his cell phone.
“Swede, keep me in the loop,” Rogue said. “I’m packing now. I’ll be on the road to Austin within the next ten minutes.”
“Roger,” Swede said. “Out here.”
Rogue jammed a change of clothes into his go-bag and then the important stuff. Surveillance equipment, a laptop, extra burner phones, listening devices, binoculars, a GPS tracker, tags, and the weapons he was most likely to use—a Glock 19, KA-Bar knife and night vision goggles. He debated whether to take his sniper rifle and decided against it. If he had any chance of keeping up with Onyx, he’d have to travel light. Along with weapons, he packed several forms of fake identification he might need if the powerful people Royce alluded to took issue with their involvement in investigating Onyx.
Once he had everything he needed, he drove his truck to a grocery store parking lot in Breuer, parked and walked to the nearest car rental place two blocks away. Using one of his false identities and a credit card he’d attained under that name, he rented a mid-sized SUV. After he stowed his go-bag on the back seat, he sent a message to Royce.
Rogue: Enroute to the capitol. Anomalies in the current data. Will update as more information presents.
