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“Get in your gay little car and fuck off,” he reiterated.

“Cop faggots,” added one of the other men before spitting on the asphalt.

“Guys, we’re not looking for trouble. Just trying to catch up with an old teammate,” said Mike as the men came closer. He opened the passenger door and gave Rick a nod.

“Get your pansy asses on the road,” yelled one of the men.

Rick lowered the rear passenger window as Mike climbed into the car, and the men closed in. They stopped when a savage growl came from inside the vehicle.

“Easy, Axe. Just give them a little scare,” said Mike.

The retired attack dog lunged through the window, snarling and barking. All four men jumped backward. One of them lost his balance and fell onto his ass. Rick reversed smoothly and drove the compact SUV out of the parking lot, with Axe sitting with his front feet over the windowsill and his tongue hanging from his mouth.

“Still got it, hey bud,” said Mike as they drove away.

Axe let out a single loud bark.

“Hopefully, we’re one step closer to finding those pups,” said Rick. “I’ll cruise around for a bit to make sure we’re not being followed. Then we can head back to the house. TJ should be able to turn those numbers around quickly.”

“The boys have sent through a bunch of numbers,” said TJ as Deb swiped him into her office. “No sign of Kane at the bar, but we’re hoping one of the bikies there tips him off. I’ve emailed them through.”

“Not a bad play,” said Deb as they made a beeline for her analyst’s desk. She forwarded the email from the burner account TJ had used. “Evan, I’ve sent you a bunch of Canadian phone numbers. We think at least one of them might be linked to Gavin Kane.”

“Got them,” replied the analyst. “I’ll run that AI over them and see what comes up.”

“AI?” queried TJ.

The SEAL was a regular in the office, and Evan knew he held the appropriate clearances to discuss the technology. “Yeah, it’s a DOW initiative. Speeds up the analytical grind and lets me focus my efforts on the niche stuff. Right now, the model is pulling apart each of those numbers and checking to see who they communicate with, what the relationships are, what topics were discussed or texted, and any mention of the keywords I’ve inputted.”

“Impressive, how long does that all take?” asked TJ.

“Oh, about this long.” His eyes narrowed. “Sorry, guys, not the result I was looking for. Of the ten numbers provided, four show suspicious activity. However, there’s no mention of Kane or associated numbers. In fact, the traffic associated with the four suspicious devices is significantly lower than normal. It’s almost certain that they’re using some web-based end-to-end encrypted messenger service.”

“Something like Signal?” asked TJ.

“More likely WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger,” said Evan. “Bikies tend to go mainstream when it comes to that sort of thing. Unfortunately, I don’t have those tools at my fingertips. Deb, do you want me to liaise with the NSA and get them to look at it?”

The veteran CIA officer shook her head. “No, Kane isn’t that high a priority yet.”

“OK, look, I’ll go over this data in more detail. There might be something in it that the AI didn’t pick up. It’s fast, but it’s not as thorough as it could be.”

“We’d appreciate that,” said TJ.

“I’m sorry, babe,” Deb said once they were in her office. “Without a clear link to a threat, I can’t take the hunt for Kane outside my team.”

“All good, I understand, and the boys appreciate the support you’re giving. I’ll let them know we haven’t found any connections, yet.”

Chapter Fourteen

“How’s Saber doing?” asked Jenny. She and Maria had arrived at Mike and Ali’s for an update on the recovery operation. They’d joined Ali in the lounge where they were waiting for Mike and Rick to call.

“She’s still pretty stressed, but at least she’s eating,” replied Ali. “I was worried I was going to have to put her on an IV.”

“Will the puppies be OK without her?” asked Maria.

“They’re old enough to wean,” said Ali. “And resilient enough to deal with the separation. I’m worried about how they’re being treated and fed. The turmoil could significantly impact their entire temperament.”

“We’re going to get them back,” said Jenny as a truck pulled up outside.