Karen raised her eyebrows, but Elliott continued. “She discovered that all six men work—or worked—for Hillenbrand. All under different company names, but he’s the one paying their salaries. And I just found a link between him and a man named Daniel Vane. The DEA guy on your list.”
Wesley stood, his expression intense, but he was definitely pleased with the news. Tucker, however, looked pissed. Vane was on his list as a suspect, so she understood his anger.
But this was the link they’d been looking for. Now that they’d found it, they could move forward with clearing Tucker’s name and discovering why he and his guys had been set up.
“There’s more,” Karen continued, with that unmistakable hum she got when they were about to break open an investigation. “I ran the names of the three other men who were part of that same rifle platoon. One’s dead, the other’s a teacher, maybe involved, but from preliminary reports I don’t think so. I ran the information of the third guy, a man named Toby Austin. He was stationed at the same base the drone was taken from.” She sure as hell wouldn’t need to explain which drone either. “As a mechanic, he had direct access to that drone.”
“You said was stationed?” Tucker asked quickly.
“Yeah. ‘Was’ because he’s dead. I haven’t had a chance to read any official reports, but I just pulled up a local news article that he supposedly committed suicide two nights ago.”
“All this is connected—the drone, the setup of you DEA guys,” Elliott said almost absently, just mirroring what everyone else in the room was thinking.
“Karen, run down the rest of the intel on the teacher. Eliminate him or we bring him in to be questioned. I’m going to contact the base and get every scrap of information on Austin. Elliott . . .” Wesley continued barking orders.
Karen was listening but shot Tucker a hopeful look. The half smile he gave her had butterflies erupting inside her. She knew they couldn’t talk much now, but she wanted him to know that she was fighting her butt off to clear his name. She couldn’t wait for all this to be over. Tucker was the type of man she could see having a real relationship with, and she wanted the chance to find out if this incendiary attraction between them could be more than just physical.
Chapter 16
Situation report (SITREP): an intermittent report of the current high-risk situation.
Tucker glanced over at the sound of the conference room door opening. After Karen and her colleague had come to see Burkhart, he’d been put in another room to wait while they hunted down more leads.
That had been almost two hours ago. He’d been feeling useless just sitting here, the energy inside him building each second that passed with nowhere to go.
Seeing Karen step inside was a punch to his senses. Still wearing her running clothes, she’d pulled her hair up into a complicated twist thing and looked sexy as hell. She had a throwaway coffee cup in one hand and a small brown bag in another. All he wanted to do was kiss her senseless.
“I brought you some food and coffee,” she said, a soft smile on her face as she rounded the table to his side.
He automatically stood and took the stuff from her, setting it on the table. Seeing her now, he could think of nothing but last night and being inside her, how he was definitely taking her on that date once this mess was over. “Thanks. Are there cameras in here?”
She shook her head and before she could audibly respond, he leaned down, slanting his mouth over hers, needing to taste her. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she leaned into him, teasing her tongue against his as her hands slid higher and linked around the back of his neck.
When she let out a soft moan, he forced himself to step back, knowing it could hurt her reputation if someone found them in here making out. That was the last thing he ever wanted to do. Breathing hard, he stared down at her, unable to think straight for a moment. He found his voice first. “Can you stay for a few minutes?”
Her eyes grew heavy with desire. “Yeah. Come on, sit with me,” she said, pulling him by the hand down into one of the cushy chairs.
Not caring about the food or coffee, he held both her hands in his, swiveling her chair so that they faced each other, wishing she was in his lap instead of her own chair. “You doing okay?”
Her cheeks flushed slightly as she nodded. “I think I should ask you that.”
“I mean with Burkhart. You’re not in trouble for anything, right?” Tucker knew what the man had told him, but he needed to hear it from her.
“No, of course not. He wants me to talk to the agency psychologist and head home early, but after what we just discovered, that’s definitely not happening.”
“Maybe you should go—”
She snorted. “Seriously, Tucker? You think I’m going to go home and get any rest knowing you and your team are still suspects? That other agencies are out there hunting for you?”
“I like it when you say my name,” he murmured. To his delight, her cheeks went crimson.
She’d started to respond when the door opened. They both turned in their seats, their hands automatically pulling apart. He missed the feel of touching her immediately. Burkhart and Selene strode in, all business.
“Have you told him anything?” Burkhart asked Karen.
She shook her head. “Haven’t had a chance.”
Burkhart moved farther into the conference room, but didn’t bother sitting, which told Tucker this was going to be quick. “I’ve got a team trying to locate Hillenbrand. He’s not at his office in D.C. or at his home, but he’s got a lot of places he could be. We’ve triangulated his cell to his main place of residence, but he’s not on location. If you’re willing, I want you to approach Vane at his house. We’ve got him under surveillance too and he’s alone. This will all be off the books.”
Tucker pushed up, eager to hear everything. Karen stood too. If they wanted him to go after Vane, in any capacity, he was in. “What do you want me to do?”
Burkhart didn’t seem surprised by his acquiescence. “Break in, incapacitate him, make it look like you’re on the run with nowhere to turn and you know—or at least suspect—that he’s behind setting you up. We need more on Hillenbrand and we need that damn drone. We need to know who else he’s working with and what their end game is. There are too many unknowns right now, and you’re our best bet for getting that out of him. You’ll be able to get him to talk faster than we will, especially if he thinks you’re willing to kill him unless he talks.”
Tucker was willing to kill the bastard, especially if he’d had a hand in Max’s death.
As if Burkhart read his mind, his jaw tightened. “We need him alive. I can’t protect you if you kill him.”
Tucker might want to, but he wouldn’t. “Understood. I want to bring Cole on this with me.” His guys were at a D.C. safe house lying low. It wouldn’t take Cole long to meet him. He knew his other men would balk at being left behind, but he needed at least some of them safe. It would be better to go after Vane with a partner. The two of them facing off with Vane would scare the shit out of the man. Right now they needed all the intimidation factor they had.
“Fine.”
“I’ll be part of the on-the-ground command center, monitoring everything,” Karen added.
He glanced at her, and it took all his restraint not to cup her face or pull her into his arms. The woman was incredible. He loved that she believed in him and was so concerned about him. “Good,” he said quietly, which earned him another soft blush from her.