“In Minamaan,” Hallie said, trying to hold her ground under the glares from everyone in the room. “I saw him a couple of times at the market, when Girard and I were following Manju. I remembered him because he wasn’t local and stood out. Like us. And then again here. Low city. He was in the crowd that gathered on the street after the raid at Zurine’s shop. At least, I think it was him. I just caught a glimpse.”
“You didn’t see him?” Peredur turned his glare to Girard.
“No, sir. I was still inside when Hallie left Zurine’s shop. And in Minamaan, Hallie and I split up a few times to cover more ground, and to pen Manju Nayak in. I would have recognised Welliver if I’d seen him,” Girard said. “And we haven’t given Hallie our gallery of the most wanted so she couldn’t have known she needed to flag him.”
“That’s true enough,” the director said, sighing. He turned to Jasper. “Get Miss Talbot and Abbott copies of the IDs for all Welliver’s known associates.” He turned back to Hallie and Girard. “You need to let me know if you’ve seen any of the others on your travels.”
“Of course, sir,” Girard said.
“Most wanted?” Hallie asked Girard, wondering what she might have missed.
“We have a database of well-known criminals that we would like to apprehend,” Girard told her. “All of us have images of them on our devices. But we didn’t think to provide you with one.”
“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” Peredur said, which both surprised and impressed Hallie. Surprised because she hadn’t expected an apology at all. And impressed because, despite the deep shadows under his eyes and the weariness Hallie could see as an almost physical presence weighing on his shoulders, he had still made a point of apologising. It fit with what she knew of him. This was a man who valued his people.
“It’s no problem, sir, but thank you,” Hallie said, wishing she could find better words to let him know how much she appreciated it. She accepted a tablet from Jasper and turned her attention to the screen, flicking through the photographs and saw that Girard was doing the same on his tablet. “Oh, yes, him, too,” she said after a moment. She turned the screen around so that the others could see. “I recognise him, but I can’t remember from where. He wasn’t with the other one. Russet. He was with other people. Give me a moment.” She stared down at the image, half-closing her eyes. “Oh, now I’ve got it. He was on Paradise. He was one of the people loading the boat. The one that Findo took off with.” She turned back to the screen and finished flicking through the pictures. “No, not anyone else. Just Welliver and that other one.”
“Right,” the director said. “The second man is known only as Wrench. He’s a vehicle mechanic and has worked with Welliver a few times.”
“What’s the concern about Welliver, sir?” Hallie asked.
“He’s got a fondness for explosives,” the director said, pinching the bridge of his nose as if trying to relieve a headache. “He’s been our prime suspect in the port bombings.” Hallie looked around the room, heart sinking as she wondered how she had possibly missed his photograph and name amid all the other information. “No, his name doesn’t appear anywhere in the files so you wouldn’t have seen it. There’s absolutely no evidence that he’s involved. Nothing concrete. Just his past history and that we don’t know of many people who’d be able to create that kind of targeted explosion.”
“If Welliver is in town, we’ll need sniffers before we go into any building after Trask,” Commander Rojas said. “It changes things quite a bit.”
“It does, yes. We’ll also need extra bodies to cover a wider perimeter,” the director said, turning back to the map.
“He might have set up traps along the roads, too,” Frollo pointed out. They had discounted that possibility in their earlier discussions. Before they’d known about Russet Welliver, Hallie realised and had a sick feeling she should have pushed forward with the information earlier. At least they were still in the planning stages. No one had actually gone onto the street yet. It wasn’t much comfort, but she held onto it anyway.
There was a lot more discussion, most of which Hallie could follow, about how best to get onto the street and into the property without Findo or anyone else escaping and without civilian casualties.
At length the plan was decided. The tactical team was split into two groups - one going in the helicopter, the other in one of the vans - with investigators following in another two vans. Halliewas relieved that she and Girard would be in the final van, so she would be out of the way of the experts as they made sure that the house was safe, although she was aware of a strong feeling of frustration that she was not going to be the one to tackle Findo directly. Not this time.
The last time Hallie had been sent after one of Findo’s kind, the low city police had provided her with doses of tranquilliser to help subdue him and she was relieved to see that the tac team had several doses with them, loaded into specially adapted hand guns. It wasn’t as low-risk as a long-range rifle, but it was better than the option Hallie had had which was to jab a needle into theveondken.
Once the plans were finalised there was no more hesitation or delay. Everyone headed out to the vans and helicopter, the vans on their way the moment the doors were closed for the relatively short drive into midtown. Hallie sat at the back of the final van, next to Girard, and tried to get comfortable in the body armour she was wearing, the butt of her gun poking her every time she moved. It was better than getting shot, she knew, even if it was irritating. It was also far preferable to think about how annoying the body armour was than to think about what might be waiting ahead of them in a house which might or might not be occupied by Findo Trask and which might or might not have been rigged with explosives.
Despite the careful and detailed planning and caution displayed by all concerned, it was still almost shockingly early in the day - barely mid morning - when the van Hallie was in made the last planned turn in midtown, close to the target address. She felt as if a full day had passed since Zurine’s early morningcall. Even though she wasn’t the one at the wheel, it felt good to finally be moving, to finally be taking some action.
The van headed along the road that would take them past the junction of the target street. They were going to park their van at the end of the street, hopefully blocking off any vehicles from getting away, and then go in on foot only when the tac team had made sure the area was free from explosives.
From her position at the back, Hallie couldn’t see what was happening up ahead but she did notice when the van drew to a halt and the driver - Jasper - turned the vehicle around so it sat crosswise across the single track road. Hallie hoped that none of the other residents on the street were hoping to get their own cars out for a while.
Jasper had the vehicle’s radio tuned into the tac team signal so everyone in the van could follow along as Commander Rojas and his team on the ground made a cautious, careful approach, checking for traps or explosives at every point. After they were within shooting distance of the house, they called in the helicopter, with Frollo in charge of that part of the team. Hallie could hear the glee in Frollo’s voice as he descended from the helicopter to the roof of the house, the pause while he checked for booby traps and explosives, and the quiet, controlled professionalism as he ordered his people down from the air and through the roof, making their entrance through a skylight that they had spotted on the photographs of the area.
Commander Rojas, who had never lost his cool professional tone, ordered his people to move in.
Hallie found herself leaning forward, along with Girard and everyone else, straining her ears to catch every word from the tac team. There wasn’t much to hear - the occasional word or two, a few dull thumps, perhaps as doors were opened - and that only made her more anxious.
After what felt like an eternity, Commander Rojas’ voice came back on, slightly louder than before. “Property secured. No one here. Other teams cleared for entry.”
The van door had been opened before his last word was spoken and the investigators piled out of the van, heading up the quiet residential street towards the house at the end. Hallie saw hints of movement behind the windows of a couple of the houses. She wondered what the residents made of the morning’s events. Armedhochlen. A helicopter overhead. All heading for a perfectly ordinary-looking house at the end of the leafy street.
“I’d like to talk to a couple of neighbours,” Hallie said to Girard. “There’s at least two houses with someone home.”
“I saw that,” Girard answered. He pulled out his phone and dialled a preset number. “Sir, we’ve spotted a couple of neighbours watching. We’d like to speak to them, see what they might know.” Hallie didn’t catch whatever reply the director made, but Girard nodded and put the phone away, changing direction to head for the nearest house with a shadow in the window. “He wants us to be as quick as possible. If we can’t find anything here, we’ve got to get back to the Conclave building and secure it before the meetings start this afternoon.”
“Secure?” Hallie asked, trying to work out what that might mean. The ground changed from the hard tarmac to the red gravel of the driveway leading up to the red brick house.
