“Are important too. Which is why I’m planning to head to Montgomery to take over for the team.”
“You’d do that?”
“Of course,” Eisenhower answered quickly. “Addy is one of us, and we always have each other’s backs. Always.”
Mack had come to respect his supervisor over the years, but never more than at this moment. Heading up such an important ICE division took every minute of very long days, and yet, for the good of a former employee on his team, he was agreeing to work even longer hours.
“I’ll get a small team together and be in Montgomery before the day’s end. Since Cam is in the office, I’ll send him your wayand get the others on the next flight to Portland. I’ll check in with Sean for an update once I’m set to leave.”
It had taken Mack ten hours to get to Portland, but it was early in the day yet so Sean and Kiley shouldn’t have any issues finding flights and would arrive in less time.
“And even though Addy doesn’t remember us right now,” Eisenhower continued, “give her my best. Tell her I’ve got her back. Anything she needs that she’s not getting from the team or anyone else in the department, have her call me. Same for you on the investigation into the gunrunner. You need something, you call.”
“Understood.” He looked out the window and thought ahead to when Addy would be leaving this place. Would she allow him to provide protection for her?
“And Jordan.” Eisenhower’s tone held a note of caution.
“Yeah,” Mack replied, trying his best not to sound worried.
“I know this has thrown you for a loop, but don’t let it interfere with your judgment. Take things one step at a time, focus on procedure to keep her safe, and then nail this guy.”
Mack nodded. Why, he didn’t know, as Eisenhower couldn’t see him. Maybe Mack just needed to do something physical to cement the thought into his brain. If another attempt was made on Addy’s life, he could easily see himself doing just what Eisenhower warned against. Acting based on emotion rather than instinct and training could be deadly to the one person he loved most in this world.
He ended the call and quickly forwarded Addy’s video threat to Cam. Thankfully, she’d agreed to email it to Mack, though his gut clenched just knowing it was on his phone. He headed out of the hospital, his mind a mass of worry. Worry for what Addy was going through and for leaving her in the care of Warren, her fellow agent, so Mack could go feed Bear. Sure the dog needed him too, and Warren was capable. Didn’t mean Mack wasn’t worried. And that could trigger his PTSD.
He couldn’t let that happen.
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline,”he mentally recited as he jogged to his rental vehicle. He repeated it time after time until he believed it again. Believed he could control his emotions that caused the flashbacks brought on by stress and rendered him helpless.
Once on the road, he used the vehicle’s infotainment system to get their analyst, Cam, on the phone before he left the office. Mack wanted to get him moving on Addy’s investigation during his flight.
“Yo,” Cam said. “I’m packing up now. Catching an Air Force hop out of Langley. Wheels up in an hour so I’ve gotta hustle.”
“Then I won’t keep you. Just wanted to tell you I emailed a video to you.” Mack brought him up to speed on the situation. “The local ICE supervisor is having their tech track the email and try to enhance the video but figured you might have more luck. Addy saw something on the guy’s hand, so start there.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Better,” Mack said, but didn’t want to bog down the conversation with details. “I also want you to get started on doing a deep dive on a man named Bruno Razo. Guy’s a shady drug dealer turned gunrunner. We believe he’s the one who tried to take Addy out.”
“I’ll access the internet on the plane and get going on it right away.”
“I also want a list of his known associates.”
“Can do.”
“Did you have any luck getting the CCTV footage for the area of the accident?”
“I’ve got warrant requests out and hope to have it by the time I land.”
“Great. So the minute you hit town I want you to head to the ICE office. Someone might’ve hacked their network and deletedAddy’s investigation files.” Mack shared about the theft of her phone too. “We need to find where this hack and the email sent to Addy originated.”
“You gotta know by now that tracking hackers rarely leads to their physical location.”
Mack had indeed learned that lesson from his years on the team. Still, he had to remain hopeful. “Sometimes it does, and this is our best lead right now.”
“Then you don’t have much.” Cam blew a breath over the line. “And if they used the office VPN and her phone as a hotspot, that makes it nearly impossible to track. That’s one of the reasons VPNs are used.”
Mack hated to think this guy used the ICE office’s own technology against them, and he didn’t want to acknowledge Cam’s statement, but it was true. VPNs masked a user’s IP address, so the transmissions were virtually untraceable. “I need you to try anyway.”
