Burkhart stopped at another table where a printout of a detailed schematic of one of the D.C. Metro stops had been rolled out. There was also a laptop open with a 3-D image of the same thing. Half a dozen men and women were all looking at handheld devices, likely with the same specs. Was Burkhart bringing them in on an op?
He tensed in anticipation at the thought and spared a glance at Cole, who he could tell was thinking the same thing. He resisted the urge to look over at Karen, who was busy typing away at a computer station with Elliott, Selene, and three others who he guessed were analysts. It was hard to believe that he’d just been inside Karen about five minutes ago. Something he did not need to be thinking about right now. It didn’t help that her cheeks were still flushed. He was counting down the seconds until they could be alone again.
“Vane has set up a meeting with Thad Hillenbrand,” Burkhart started, eyeing the quiet group of eight, which included Tucker and Cole. “Everyone’s been debriefed.” His gaze flicked to them for a moment. “I’ve been in contact with the heads of any agency—including the DEA, but only in a limited capacity—with a vested interest in you two and your teammates. And only the heads—we can’t risk a leak if there are more dirty agents. They know you’re not terrorists, but we’re not informing the media or anyone without a top-level clearance yet. We want Hillenbrand in custody before that happens. Even so, I’m giving you the option of being part of the team to bring him down.”
Tucker guessed he was doing it out of respect for Max. He didn’t much care what the reason was; he was just grateful to be part of the operation. “What’d the DEA say?”
Burkhart shrugged. “They’re pissed and want access to you two and Vane.”
From his tone it was clear the DEA wasn’t getting their way. Fine with Tucker. “Where’s Vane?”
“Restrained and waiting in an SUV a couple blocks from here.”
“You’re sure he’s not setting you up?” Tucker asked.
“We’re not sure of anything, but we’ve got two trackers on him. Only one he knows about.” Burkhart grinned at that. “All his financials are frozen at this point and he knows there’s nowhere for him to run, so it’d be stupid to try. Even if he does, we’ve got him boxed in. The meeting goes down in an hour. Before then I want you two to listen to the audio between Vane and Hillenbrand.”
Tucker started to nod, and then Karen strode up to their group. Her cheeks flushed only the slightest bit as she looked at him, but she swallowed hard and held out a tablet for Burkhart.
After a second of scanning, Burkhart grinned and nodded at her. “We’ll add it to the warrant.” His attention was on the agents now. “Vane gave us the address for where he’s been meeting with Hillenbrand. It was buried deep, but Karen found a link between the address and H-Brand Security. We’ve got eyes all over the city looking for him, Rayford Osborn and a few other conspirators Vane gave us. There are ten of them total and it seems he has an administrative person from the local D.C. PD in his pocket. It was how he knew Karen’s name from when she went missing. We’re not moving on any of them, though. Not until we’ve got Hillenbrand locked down. He’s the key to all this, and the only one who knows where the missing drone is according to Vane.” Turning toward the table, Burkhart motioned for Tucker and Cole to move closer.
“You two are going to be dressed as homeless men and you’ll be outliers for the op. I’m sorry I can’t give you more, but you’ll be in the vicinity at least when we bring Hillenbrand down. You’re going to be on opposite ends of the Metro stop.” He pointed to two separate sections of the map.
Tucker understood why they couldn’t be in the thick of everything, especially since their faces had been splashed all over the news. If they were dressed as homeless men, most people would avoid looking at their faces and give them a wide berth. It was smart as far as keeping them undercover went. He figured Burkhart was just trying to include them, probably out of a sense of loyalty to Max. “We don’t mind being on the fringe. We just want our lives back.”
“Thank you for including us,” Cole added.
Burkhart grunted an acknowledgment and then motioned to the tables where the analysts were set up. They fell in step with him as he talked. “This is only one part of the op. Like I said, we’ve got teams out looking for Hillenbrand right now. We might not even need Vane’s meeting with him, but just in case, I’d like you to listen to the audio.”
Tucker nodded as he and Cole sat in front of two laptops at a table connected to Karen’s. “What did you give Vane in return for his cooperation?”
“He’s not getting the death penalty,” Burkhart said, but he wasn’t looking at them. “Is it ready to go?” he asked Karen.
Capital punishment had been abolished in D.C. and Maryland but Vane and his group of terrorists had committed enough crimes over state lines that they could be charged and convicted in multiple states. They’d also broken numerous federal laws. Not to mention the theft of a drone from a military base, which was a whole other beast. Tucker figured there was more to the negotiations than that, but didn’t push because it wasn’t his problem. As long as Vane went away for his crimes, Hillenbrand was caught, and Tucker and his men could return to their lives, that was what was important.
“Just put the earbuds in and press PLAY,” Karen said to Tucker and Cole before returning to her own computer. Despite what they’d recently shared, she was in complete work mode now.
It was sexy.
Tucker and Cole both put in the earbuds and were silent, focused as they listened to the conversation between Vane and Hillenbrand.
Hearing the voice of the man—a stranger—who’d had a part in trying to destroy his life made Tucker’s blood boil. Corrupt people like that made him sick. People who thought rules of the world didn’t apply to them and tried to prey on anyone they could.
“You want to tell me why I was just attacked in my own home?” Vane snarled, his rage definitely real. That was good. It would sell it to Hillenbrand.
“By who?” Hillenbrand’s voice was cautious.
“By someone you were supposed to have taken care of.” A pause. “Pankov.”
Hillenbrand sucked in a breath. “Don’t say—”
“Yeah, yeah. What the fuck ever! My nose is broken and my hand is fucked up because of your incompetence. I’ve laid a lot of groundwork for our op. This shouldn’t have happened. He never should have known about me.”
“Where is he now?”
“Cooling in my garage.”
“Did he say how he found out about you?”
“No. Our conversation wasn’t long, but he mentioned a woman he’d taken. After that, things turned ugly.”
“Was the woman with him?”
“He was alone.”
A long pause followed, but Tucker could hear breathing, so he knew the two men were still connected. Finally Hillenbrand spoke. “I sent someone after the woman I think he took. My guy hasn’t reported in. It’s well past check-in time too.”
“She wasn’t with him. And we need to meet, but first I have to clean out my garage.”
“Meet?”
“I retrieved burner phones and other identifiers off him. I can’t risk running anything at work. Maybe your guy can.” It was a very plausible reason even if it was a lie.
Another pause. “Fine.” He rattled off a busy Metro stop.
Vane agreed, which was smart on his part. Burkhart had probably told him to agree to wherever Hillenbrand wanted to meet. It would make him seem less suspicious. And the place was public, which could be good and bad. It was always bad when innocent civilians could get caught in the cross fire.
? ? ?
Tucker had his gloved hands shoved into the pockets of the long, threadbare coat the NSA had given him as part of his cover. Underneath the coat he had on military-style fatigues, but as part of his cover, he had to appear down on his luck, if not completely homeless. At least the coat didn’t smell like urine—which was more than he could say for Cole’s disguise.