“Copy that. C’mon on back, Knight 5,” I respond.
Back in mission mode, Mike frowns. “I guess your gut was on point.”
“Maybe, we’ll see what they’ve found,” I answer, though I agree with him. We should have been moving on to step 2 of Plan A.
Adam shows up first and after stowing his gun case in the Escalade's rear, he climbs into our vehicle, but stays silent. He’s the quietest of all of us, probably because of his sniper training. The man has the patience of a saint and will literally observe high-value targets (HVTs) for hours without moving.
Pat and Evan emerge from between the buildings and make their way across the parking lot to our location. I can see from their expressions that I won’t like what they have to say.
A few moments later, they slide into the backseat on either side of Adam. It's a snug fit, but they won't be there for long. Chances are we’ll have to reconvene somewhere else to make another plan.
“Sitrep?” I ask, as I shift around in the seat to make eye contact with each of them. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mike doing the same.
Evan and Pat exchange glances and then shrug. Adam remains quiet, not that I’d expected anything different. He was too far away to know what went on in the harbor master’s office.
Evan clears his throat, stalling for time. What the hell could he have found in there? We were just searching to confirm the manifest and Nexus’ arrival.
“I’m not sure when, but the Nexus isn’t coming to Baltimore. It’s not on the manifest. It was diverted to Norfolk three days ago,” Evan says bluntly.
“Three days? But we just got this intel yesterday? Am I wrong?” I ask as I glance at Mike.
“You’re not wrong. This is on me. Fuck. I should have checked Norfolk. It would have been easy enough,” Evan replies. “It’s my job to keep track of the tech aspect. Fuck, boss. We came all the way here for nothing.”
“There has to be more to this. It feels deliberate to get us out of town. How do they even know we’re on their tracks. Unless…” I look at Pat, “your contact is playing both sides?”
The anger radiating from Pat is palpable, and he looks ready to spit nails. The man is one scary dude. He’s the tallest of all of us, at well over six feet, with a shaved head, a beard, and more muscles than a prizefighter. He looks more like a mobster than a former SEAL.
“What now? Do we dig in and see what we can uncover while we’re here…” Mike asks and leaves the rest of his question hanging.
We’re all thinking the same thing: that they played us and played us well. But what the actual fuck? I sit back in the seat and think. Can we trust anything we just got from Pat’s contact? Was it even his usual one, or was he compromised? There’s no actual way of knowing. We could scout out the location we were told they were going to be taken. See if anything turns up. But more likely, it was a false flag. The Nexus was probably always heading to Norfolk, and the Stepanovs wanted us far from their shipment.
“Fuck,” I growl, refraining from pounding on the dashboard. It’s bad enough they dragged us all the way here, but now those women will probably disappear before we can locate them. “I think this whole thing was bogus, but rather than leave without checking off the drop off point, let’s go check it out and stay the night. We’ll head home in the morning. Unless someone has a better idea?”
“Sounds like the best option to me,” Mike responds, and the others agree.
“Okay, Evan, book us a few rooms, and let’s head to check out the address they gave us. If we’re lucky it’s valid and even if it’s deserted we’ll find something to help. Keep this trip from being totally worthless.”
The three men in the backseat climb out and head to the other SUV. Mike glances over at me. I’d still like to punch something, but it’ll have to wait until I can hit the gym.
“You okay, Tony? I haven’t seen you this worked up since Jake got blown up in Afghanistan.”
“Yeah. I’m fine. It feels like there’s something else going on here and I hate that I can’t figure it out.”
Mike nods. “We’ll find them. And who knows, maybe we’ll be quick enough to find them in Norfolk.”
“Maybe,” I reply. I doubt either of us truly believe it though. Leaning back in my seat, we head toward the location the women were supposed to be held. That’s when I realize I hadn’t heard from Providence all day. Shit. I promised to text her when we arrived. I’m just batting a thousand today.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I check for messages and see nothing. I bet she thinks I forgot all about her, and she’d be right.
Me: Hi sweetheart. It’s been crazy. Sorry I forgot to text earlier.
I hoped she’d be shopping or decorating or at least taking it easy, but if I know my woman like I think, she went to work today. She can’t stand not doing anything, and me leaving didn’t help the situation.
CHAPTER 7
PROVIDENCE
I make lunch while Mellie and I plan our trip to Mississippi. She updated her ticket and got me on the same flight to Jackson, and luckily, she’d parked her car there. Thankfully, that left one less thing to deal with. But we still had to return the one she rented here before our flight.
