Page 33 of Rafe’s Future

Rafe’s phone dinged with the incoming text.

“Got it.”

“Call me back.” West’s face vanished as the connection was lost.

Standing next to Lena, Rafe used the corded phone on the desk to dial the new number. He put it on speaker as soon as it started to ring.

“Hey,” West answered more casually than before. “Give me a sec.” The sound of keys being pressed at a rapid rate easily reached their ears. Talking while he worked, the other man commented, “By the way, that black site you’re using is prime interrogation real estate. Any chance you’d be willing to share?”

Rafe glanced her way before redirecting his attention back to the man on the phone. “Why? Is Alpha Team in the market for a place out this way?”

“Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta . . .” West chuckled low. “We even have an Echo Team, now. Those guys are based out of D.C. So to answer your question, one of our teams is always in the market for a sweet spot to lay low.”

Rafe chuckled low, but Lena frowned.

“You can see our location?”

There was a slight pause and then, “Ah, Director Price, I presume.” West’s tone became more personal as he added, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Call me Lena,” she greeted the other man. “And don’t believe anything Coulter Morgan says.”

The R.I.S.C. operative’s deep laugh came through the desk phone’s speaker.

“Don’t worry.” West’s tone was cajoling. “It was all good, I promise. As for the other, yes. Not only could I give you the exact coordinates to where you are, I can also track your movements within the building.”

“How?” She looked to Rafe. “It can’t be thermal imaging.”

Hollywood always gets that wrong. Solid materials like shingles, concrete, and metal prevented the detection of heat signals. But hey, it made for great T.V.

“Who said anything about thermal?” West quipped back. “My patented tactical radar system uses ultra-wideband tech with a radio-frequency backup that automatically kicks in when needed.”

Lena blinked. “That’s . . . impressive.”

“Thanks.” The other man continued typing. “So I’m using the landline’s signal to access the PC’s system, and through that I’ll gain entry into the phone’s OS.” A few additional clicks later, West announced, “Okay, I’m in. It’ll take me a sec to run the program and scrape the phone’s data, but once that’s done, you’ll be able to see everything. Phone calls, texts, photos, search history, emails . . . you’ll have it all.”

Anxious anticipation left Lena feeling as if she were going to crawl right out of her skin. Time dragged on as they waited for Coulter’s trusted friend to work his magic. By the time West came back to them, it was mission accomplished . . . and not a moment too soon.

“Voila!” The man’s Texas drawl returned with a touch of dramatics. “The firewall is down, so the phone should restart in a few seconds. Once it does, you’ll have all the direct access you need. I set it up to go to your PC as well, so you should see some windows popping up soon.”

West had no more said the words when the phone went momentarily dark. A second later, it flared back to life. At the same time, the computer screen appeared to briefly glitch before becoming filled with a slew of information.

“It appears to be in order.” Rafe studied the screen.

Lena homed in on the treasure trove of data. “This is awesome, Derek. Thank you.” To Rafe, she added, “It’s going to take us forever to go through all of this.”

“There’s definitely a lot there,” West agreed. “If you’ll give me more specifics on what you’re looking for, I can have my program run a narrower search.”

Rafe took the lead and shared what they needed most. Namely, proof he was hired to kill them and by whom.

“We need names,” her formidable partner explained. “Things like bank statements or large deposits. Any financial anomalies that stand out, that sort of thing.”

“No problem.” The former SEAL made it sound so easy. “I’ll look into those and let you know what I find.”

Leaning closer to the phone’s speaker, Lena offered a sincere, “Thank you.”

“Yes, thanks, Derek,” Rafe added next. “We appreciate the assist.”

“Don’t mention it. And hey, anything else comes up, don’t hesitate to call. Y’all stay safe. We’ll talk soon.”