Bianca waves her hand in the air. I wave back.
“Can we dig in now?” she asks, ignoring my return of her nonverbal greeting.
Oh my frick frack paddy whack. She wasn’t waving at me.
Although it’s too late to play off my faux pas, I pretend to twiddle with my hair.
Hanging out with the FBI and hopefully impressing Reed’s coworkers? Nailing it.
SSA Chase nods at Bianca, then jabs her gaze at Kri. “I don’t enjoy being kept in suspense.”
With the assuredness of an Army General, Kri starts in. “My company, Redleg Security, has a contract to provide ad hoc technical and intelligence support to multiple law enforcement agencies in the area. At the request of Tampa PD, our team has been assisting with a murder and abduction investigation of a doctor and his wife. The doctor is still missing, but his wife’s body was found this morning. I’m told the case was transferred to the FBI today. Are you familiar with it?”
Agent Fowler answers. I recognize him as one of the men who protected me at the casino the other night. “We are aware of that case. I was at the plastic surgeon’s house this morning because of the crossover to our case.”
Reed adds some details. “We believe the plastic surgeon is being forced to surgically alter the appearance of a prominent leader of the STK brotherhood, who is a major focus in our case.” He glances at me from under his brow. “His name is Jabali Campos, but he was using Silas as an alias. His street name is Carnage.”
Isn’t that darling?Just what I wanted to hear. I was dating a man namedCarnage, who is in the top echelon of a huge, violent criminal organization. Anothergreat moment in Lila Kent history.
If I hear one more reference to his treachery, I might resort to internal nonsense to drown out my self-hating thought spiral. How could I be so foolish?
“Excellent.” Kri smacks her hands together once, recapturing everyone’s attention. “Using footage from the couple’s residence and surrounding area, Redleg retraced the route the kidnappers took after they nabbed the doctor and his wife. It led them toa large house in East Tampa, believed to be an STK compound. We’ve been monitoring the location with long-range drones while awaiting law enforcement direction. The red sedan that took Kenzie is there. When Redleg identified the car occupants with face rec and ran the vehicle’s plates, they connected the dots withthiscase and called me. The head of our intel team will be emailing you the location of the compound and related intel.”
Bianca gestures at her computer. “I have it already.”
Kri nods at her, then sweeps her gaze around the room until it lands on the SSA. “Redleg has scrambled a tactical team composed of former special ops soldiers and is standing by to assist the FBI and Tampa PD with a raid of the STK compound.” After a brief pause, she tacks on, “On your order, of course.”
SSA Chase slams her hands on the table and stands abruptly. Everyone else leaps to their feet except Bianca and me. Kri never sat down because she doesn’t need dumb things like chairs or rest.
As for Bianca, she remains seated so her fingers can continue typing as fast as fingers have ever flown in the history of finger flying.
She addresses the agents without missing a single keystroke. “While everybody gears up, I’ll contact SWAT to mobilize and will run point from here.” Her fingers freeze, and she turns questioning eyes on her boss. “Weareusing FBI SWAT, right?”
SSA Chase edges toward the door leading to the private offices. “Yes. But let’s have Redleg ready for backup. If thisisan STK compound, we’ll need all the help we can get. Team, meet back here in ten or less. I’ll brief the ASAC. Once you’ve got SWAT moving, call Tomer Stillman to collaborate with his people. We’ll need them on our comms.”
As soon as Chase departs, Reed kisses the top of my head. “Stay here with Carson for now.” He flicks his wrist in Kri’sdirection and bounds toward the door to follow his peers. “You. With me.”
I watch them depart in a rush with my jaw unhinged. One by one, the room clears out until I’m alone with Bianca. And her clickety-clacking fingers.
It all happened so fast.
For the first time all day, Kri isn’t with me. A chill takes her place.
I glance at my new companion, reflecting on how kind she was to me when she drove me out of the casino after I thought I blew it. Right now, she’s so locked in she might not know I’m here.
With an almost abrupt freeze of her fingers, she cricks her neck to pin me with an unreadable look. It’s both soft and hard. Compassionate and cunning.
“Lila, you need to prepare yourself for what might happen today. These things rarely go off without a hitch. You’re a sweet and sensitive soul, and I don’t want you to be upset by what you may witness. Especially regarding your friend.”
Before I decide how to respond, she elaborates. “Since I’ll be plugged in to what’s happening in the field, I won’t be able to comfort you if things turn for the worse. If you’d rather not sit in here, you can return to Reed’s office.”
Her warning permeates, injecting me with dread. My stomach attempts a triple backflip and botches the landing.
Five seconds pass, allowing me just enough time to dismiss the urge to cower.
My spine straightens reflexively as a hidden reservoir deep inside me blasts fortifying strength through me.
“Thank you for saying that. I’m not leaving.”
