“She could’ve been going for a gun.” He met her gaze and held it. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Kiley. If that means I occasionally overreact, so be it.”
She looked like she wanted to say something but then changed her focus to down the street.
“What now?” he asked as his stomach rumbled again.
“Now we grab something to eat on the way back to the conference room. And then we go take down a pair of terrorists.”
Kiley forced herself to settle at the conference table when she really wanted to raid that apartment. Evan took the chair next to her, seeming far less eager to act. She gave him a skeptical look. He lifted his shoulders and fired a defiant look back at her.
Did his attitude arise from his earlier comment about protecting her? Because she surely didn’t need protecting. Not atall. She was a capable agent and could handle herself on the upcoming raid.
She looked down the table and caught Mack watching them. He had to be noticing the tension between her and Evan. Hopefully, Mack was thinking it had to do with the investigation and not a personal connection that seemed to be growing despite her best efforts to stop it.
“Anyone hear from Sean?” she asked to get things moving.
“He’s watching the apartment like you asked,” Mack said.
“And I took over tracking the server hack,” Cam said. “Though it’s been run through so many hubs, the final destination might be in question.”
She looked between the pair. “Where do we stand on gathering intel on the suspects?”
“We’ve gotten ahold of the apartment complex manager,” Mack replied. “Rostami rented the place six months ago and signed a yearlong lease. Sean showed him a picture of our suspects, but he says neither of them looked like the guy who signed the lease. He has a DL photo on file.”
“I’ll put it up on the screen.” Cam clicked around on his keyboard.
A Washington State driver’s license flashed up on the wall-mounted TV, the name Kahram Darzi, yet the photo was different from the guy Pilcher stopped.
Kiley peered at Cam. “I assume you looked into this.”
“I did, and the plot thickens.” He grinned. “I checked DMV records. The photo they have is for the guy Pilcher stopped.”
“They’re all likely forged,” she said, “and they probably hacked the DMV to create the files there so that they look legit.”
Cam nodded. “I got a woman in IT at the DMV tracking down the source of the files.”
Kiley shifted her attention to Mack. “What else did the manager say?”
“Darzi paid online each month and on time,” Mack said.
“A year lease seems odd,” Evan said. “When the container gets shipped again next week.”
“Manager told me they only do year leases,” Mack said. “He also mentioned that he never sees the guys around, and he’s never had a complaint about them.”
“I’ve requested a warrant for the rent payment details from the credit card company,” Cam said.
“Please tell me we have something else on them. Anything.” Kiley hated that she sounded so desperate.
“Nothing. Nada. Zip.” Cam sighed. “And you know I’ve been looking. It’s like they suddenly appeared with this apartment and these driver’s licenses.”
“Anything more on Yasdi?” Evan asked.
Cam’s eyes brightened. “That chick was a piece of cake to research. She’s squeaky clean. I meansqueaky. No signs of living beyond her means or taking money from anyone.”
Kiley thought back to the visit. “When we met with her, she was wearing pretty expensive clothes, and the restaurant wasn’t cheap.”
“But her rent isn’t high, and she makes good money,” Cam said. “So she can afford extras. Sidiqi was a little more difficult, but he checks out too.”
Evan rested his hands on the table. “For what it’s worth, I believed their story, and the restaurant video confirmed their whereabouts at the time our terrorists claim to have been with her.”
