Stains covered the coat, though, and he smelled a bit like garbage, pungent and ripe, but he’d sadly smelled worse. In the Corps he’d been stuck behind enemy lines more than once and had forgotten about showering or bathing in those conditions.
His aviator hat with wool lining was dingy but kept his ears and half his face covered. He smelled bad enough that most people were purposely ignoring him and definitely not looking at his face, but the extra cover was perfect in case any agencies were scanning CCTVs for his face. Burkhart might have let the heads of various agencies know they were cleared, but the locals certainly didn’t know it. It was a risk he was willing to take to be part of this op even if he and Cole were basically just lookouts. If they spotted Hillenbrand entering the subway, they’d let the team know.
Keeping his head angled down, he scanned the people coming and going. Everyone was rushing, huddled into their coats, and trying to stay warm. Some were looking at their cell phones as they headed down the stairs into the subway entrance, not paying attention to their surroundings at all.
Hillenbrand was thirty minutes late for the meet. And each minute that passed increased the likelihood that either he wasn’t showing up or he’d sent someone else who’d spotted one of the NSA agents. Tucker didn’t think the latter was likely.
The team of agents all had their earpieces perfectly hidden. According to Burkhart, everyone in the group had undercover training, so they were all used to blending in to their surroundings.
When two uniformed cops came into view around a corner, talking and drinking to-go cups of coffee, Tucker held up his hands to his mouth, pretending to cough. The last thing he needed to do was get stopped for loitering. “Two cops at my two o’clock. Heading into the station. I’ll use my pass, enter, then loop back out in a couple minutes.”
“Affirmative,” Burkhart said. “Still no visual on the tango.” His voice was tight, but if he was frustrated, he was keeping it in check.
Tucker moved casually, keeping his movements steady as he fell in stride with other commuters making their way down the stairs.
“You’re clear,” Karen said less than a minute later. “They’ve continued on. No other visual of local authorities in the direct vicinity.”
“Affirmative, moving back to street view.” He casually scanned the platform and waiting passengers as he turned to leave.
Vane was standing near one of the back walls with two agents flanking him. But Tucker wouldn’t have known they were agents. One looked like a man in a business suit, talking rapid-fire into his cell phone, and the other was a woman wearing running gear much like the kind Karen had on. She had on earmuffs and hadn’t looked at Vane once.
On his way up Tucker spotted a few of the other agents but only recognized them because he’d seen them in pre-op mode.
He remained in his undercover role as he shuffled up the stairs, not moving too quickly. He was tense, though, wanting this thing done. Unfortunately he knew that it didn’t matter what the hell he wanted.
? ? ?
“He’s not coming,” Wesley murmured to the team of analysts in the command center.
Karen nodded in silent agreement but didn’t move her gaze from her oversize screen. Almost an hour had passed now since the set meeting time between Vane and Hillenbrand. She and the other five analysts in the van were monitoring the surrounding area and keeping tabs on the agents on the ground.
For the last half hour it had been mostly silent other than the scheduled check-ins. Even though she and the others in the van had eyes on them via security cameras, everyone still audibly confirmed their position at intervals.
When she saw another uniformed police officer heading Tucker’s way, she said, “Victor, a local headed your way.”
The agents all had call signs for this op. Normally he’d be a T or P call sign, but they had others on the team who’d already been assigned those letters.
“Moving down the stairs now.” His response was crisp.
She couldn’t wait for this whole thing to be over. Normally when she was on an op, her head was completely in the game. For the first time ever she was truly worried about one of the agents. It was hard not to be concerned about Tucker even if she knew how trained and lethal he was. The truth was he was really just a glorified lookout, but he hadn’t been publicly cleared, so her mind immediately went to worst-case scenarios. She had this fear that a local cop might recognize him or Cole and . . . anything could happen. But she shook all those useless thoughts away.
“Everyone pack it in,” Wesley said suddenly. “We’re getting out of here.” Without waiting for a response, he exited the back of the van.
Karen couldn’t know for sure, but she guessed he was headed down to the subway to get Vane himself. Wesley was going to grill the man now, find out if he’d set up their team and wasted a lot of valuable resources on this meet that never happened.
“What the hell is that?” Selene muttered, more to herself than anyone else.
Karen was still watching the multiple feeds on her own screen but glanced over at Selene.
The tall blonde’s jaw was clenched tight as she stared at one of her own feeds. “Karen, pull up sector two, section four. There’s a guy crouched behind a tree, but I can’t zoom in enough to see what he’s doing,” she murmured.
That was where Cole was waiting, on the opposite side of the station from Tucker. Karen’s fingers flew across the keyboard as she pulled up the feed Selene had indicated.
“Oh my God,” Selene said just as the feed flashed on Karen’s screen.
Karen’s stomach dropped. A man had stepped out from behind a tree with a small RPG, a shoulder-launch missile with deadly capabilities. “Evacuate now!” she shouted at the same time Selene said something along similar lines into her own comm. “All teams move out now. There’s a man with an RPG headed for the south entrance. Charlie, he’s out of your line of sight,” she snapped out to Cole, using his call name. “Move west about twenty yards and take him out.”
She saw Cole and the others on various screens moving into action even as raw fear detonated inside her. The team was moving out, with two of the agents grabbing Vane and running for the exit. She could hear them over the comm shouting at people to run. Where the hell was Tucker? She couldn’t see him on the screen.
Cole cleared the pillars that had been blocking his line of sight, his weapon raised.
It was too late.
Karen jumped to her feet out of instinct as he took aim at the man. The rocket fired, a whoosh of smoke emitting from it—
All their screens went to static as a rumble shook the ground. Their van was across the street, so without the visual she couldn’t see a thing.
“Tucker!” she shouted, not caring about using his call sign.
No one responded, not even Wesley.
“All the comms are down,” Selene said, her expression tight but her voice calm. “You armed?”
Karen nodded even as ice flooded her veins. The entire crew of analysts were always armed for on-the-ground ops like this.
“Come on,” Selene snapped to Karen, then barked out orders to the rest of the team in the van.
Under normal circumstances Karen would be the one giving orders to the team, would know what to do. But right now all she knew was that she needed to get to Tucker.
Chapter 20
Oscar-Mike: from the phonetic alphabet meaning “on the move.” Often used by Marines.
There was a ringing in Tucker’s ears as he looked at the bits of sky visible through the busted concrete above him. Blocks had fallen everywhere, covering most of the stairs leading down to the subway.