“I think I’m done. I’ll send it to the e-mail address now,” she told him.
“Good. Let’s also pack up the rechargeable battery,” he instructed.
Alex took her keys out of her purse and unlocked the cabinet next to her desk. She took out the battery and new power converter and handed them over to the agent.
“If you want to make a few phone calls, now is a good time to do it,” suggested Michael. “Then Lucas will take you home to pack for the trip.”
Then he was gone, leaving Alex and Marco alone. It was time to say good-bye.
“You won’t know where I am,” she stated softly.
“I know, but we’ll stay in touch,” he replied, reassuringly. “We’ll come up with some code words for the project so you can keep me updated on your progress.”
Alex smirked, appreciating his effort to lighten the moment.
“Sure. I’ll pretend I’ve discovered a new appreciation for wine, so you can ask me how I’m doing on a tour of the major wineries across southern Europe,” she elaborated.
“See! You’re pretty good at this,” exclaimed Marco, his eyes sparkling.
There was a long pause.
“It will be fine, Alex. You’re in good hands,” he finally added.
Alex nodded, suddenly emotional. They hugged.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his ear with one final squeeze to his shoulders.
“For what? Profiting from your genius?” Marco teased when they stepped apart.
“Whatever,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “For believing in me, investing in my crazy ideas.”
“That’s the easy part. Dealing with your temperamental bossiness, and high-maintenance demands? That’s what you should be grateful for.”
Alex opened her mouth with outrage and slapped him on the arm. Marco laughed.
“Send me a note a soon as you can?” he finally asked.
“I will.”
Then he was gone and Alex was alone. She checked her watch again. Only about ten minutes left. She walked over to her desk and took out her cell phone from her purse to make a few phone calls.
“Hi, Dad,” she started when he picked up the phone. “Did you enjoy the wedding?”
“Hey, Alex. It was a really good time,” he replied in his low, slow voice. “You looked really nice.”
“Thanks. No comments about how weird it was for Shawn to have a girl as his best man?”
Her dad chuckled, used to her teasing him about all the things that were very untraditional about his daughter’s life.
“Yeah, it’s a first for me. But different times, I guess.”
Alex smiled. He really was trying to let her live her life with no rules.
“Dad, I’m going to take off for a last-minute vacation,” she finally stated, biting her lip in anticipation of his reaction.
“Really? Where’re you going?”
“Europe, for a few weeks.”
“That long, eh? Is everything okay?” he asked with some concern in his voice.
“I just need a break, that’s all,” Alex explained with some honesty. “That big project I’ve been working on? It’s dead. So I’m going to enjoy some downtime.”
“Dead? What happened?”
Alex paused, uncertain of how much she should reveal.
“There was a small fire at the shop, and it destroyed the prototype. And there just isn’t enough time to start over.”
“Oh baby, I’m sorry to hear that,” her dad exclaimed. “How bad was the damage?”
“It was limited, thank God.” She looked at her watch, conscious of the fact that she would have to go soon. “Anyway, Dad, I just wanted to let you know about my trip. I’m leaving tomorrow, but I’ll stay in touch while I’m gone. Okay?”
“Sure, sweetheart. You deserve to relax and have some fun for once. So have a good time.”
“Thanks, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you too, baby.”
Alex hung up with a mix of melancholy and relief. Then she made the next call.
“Adrian?”
“Hey, Lex, what’s up?” replied her twin brother.
“What would you say if I took off for a few weeks? On an extended vacation?”
“Cool. Where to?”
“Europe.”
“Nice,” he exclaimed. “Does this have anything to do with the new boyfriend?”
“No! And he’s not my boyfriend,” she insisted.
“Whatever,” he dismissed, clearly not hearing her. “When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Wow, that fast.”
“I know. It was a last-minute thing,” she conceded, hoping he wouldn’t ask more questions.
“Okay. Well, have fun and keep us posted on where you are,” he insisted “And don’t forget to bring me back something.”
Alex smiled. Typical Adrian.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
CHAPTER 15
“Petrov hasn’t left the building and the car is still parked in the back,” Michael confirmed though the earpiece Lucas and the other agents were wearing.
“We haven’t seen him yet, so maybe he’s in the kitchen or an office in the back?” Lucas suggested.
He and Ned were sitting at the bar in the small pub in the west end of Toronto. They had arrived about fifteen minutes earlier and ordered draft beers. Lance stayed in the truck to provide eyes on the outside.
“Any sign of his partner in crime?” Michael asked.
“Negative,” Ned mumbled in a low voice. “There are five men in here, including the bartender. But none fit the general description.”
“Well, let’s settle in, boys. See what develops in the next hour or so,” Lucas instructed.
He and Ned then spent a stretch of time making small talk and nursing their drinks while remaining vigilant about their environment. The bar was in a trendy part of the city near the lakeshore among a string of boutiques and other restaurants, and the area was pretty busy on an early Saturday evening. The five patrons quickly doubled, then tripled as the dinner crowd started to trickle in. Yet none of the men who entered the establishment looked like the second man in the arson video, or the person who had hired their services.
The six o’clock news came on, broadcast on a large television behind the bar. They started with local city events, including a fire at a closed auto shop in the downtown core. The anchor read a press release from the fire marshal, putting up a picture of the Magnus Motorsports building. He noted that the cause had not yet been determined, but that the investigation was ongoing.
Lucas and Ned listened to the summary of what they already knew and watched the room for any telling response to the story. The bartender didn’t pause to look up, and no one else seated at the bar or at the dining table looked particularly interested. Except an older man sitting on his own at a table in the back, nearest to the kitchen. He took out his phone and made a call while his eyes never left the television screen.
“We have some action,” Ned stated quietly into his earpiece, where the other Fortis agents were connected. “Image coming.”
The agent then lifted his cell phone as though responding to something on it, quickly snapped three photos, and e-mailed them to Michael.
“Got it,” Michael confirmed within a few minutes. “Searching the database.”
“Is this your doing?” Lucas asked Ned with a nod up to the news broadcast.
“I may have mentioned to the marshal that the public may have seen something that would be helpful to the case,” Ned admitted.
They were both former Secret Service agents, and having worked many cases together over the years, employed similar methodology.
“Good move. Public confirmation that the deed was done successfully,” Lucas stated.
“Hopefully, it helps remove the heat from Magnus and Cotts, and gives us some breathing room.”
“Hopefully,” Lucas agreed though his tone was skeptical and laden with concern.
Ned looked at him hard then touched his earpiece to put it on mute. Lucas noted the move and did the same.
“Do want to tell me what’s going on with Cotts?” Ned finally asked in a low tone.
“What are you talking about?” asked Lucas, doing his best to seem unfazed.
“You called her
Lex
today,” Ned replied. “Twice. We’ve worked together for a long time, Lucas. Protected a lot of people over the years. I’ve never seen you call an asset by a nickname.”
Lucas took a drink of beer then carefully put down his cup. He knew exactly what Ned was referring to. He had known the moment he felt Alex’s fear and apprehension in his gut and let his professional guard down.
“It’s nothing,” he told Ned. “I had met her briefly before arriving at Magnus, and she had introduced herself as Lex. The name just stuck, that’s all.”
“It’s no biggie. Just curious,” Ned replied, shrugging and taking a drink of his own. “She’s a very attractive woman. We both know shit happens in this job.”
Lucas definitely knew that. Now thirty-one years old, he’d gotten into the security-consulting business in his freshman year at MIT. Fifteen years later, he understood that an effective protective strategy for vulnerable people often meant extremely close contact in stressful, dangerous environments. That occasionally led to an artificial sense of intimacy that was hard to resist.
There was nothing in the unwritten rule book against relationships with clients or assets, as long as it didn’t cloud judgment or impede the mission. While Lucas hadn’t gotten physically involved with a woman during an assignment, he had seen it happen on occasion. His friend and partner Evan had met his girlfriend, Nia, just last year on his first mission with Fortis, and their relationship had survived the ordeal.
Not that Lucas was contemplating the same thing. What had happened with Alex just hours earlier was a one-time thing. He had no intention of encouraging something more between them. He preferred his relationships to be less complicated and less intense.
Thankfully, Ned didn’t really require a response to his statement, and Michael’s voice came through the earpiece with an update.
“We have a match to the photo you sent. His name is Frank Nunez from Chicago. Security manager for a venture capitalist company called Red Creek,” Michael outlined. “No criminal record, nothing else noteworthy.”
Ned and Lucas discreetly unmuted from their earpieces.
“Chicago? That can’t be a coincidence,” Ned muttered. “Do we have any info on his movement over the last few days?”
“Yup, looks like he arrived in Toronto Thursday afternoon,” confirmed Michael. “I’ll get Laura at headquarters to do a full review of all his activities since he arrived.”
“What about this company, Red Creek?” Lucas asked. “Any obvious ties to the auto industry?”
“Nothing I can see immediately from their Web site or media clippings,” Michael told them. “They seem more focused on buying out small to medium-size companies, then liquidating their assets and intellectual property.”
“Okay, thanks, Michael. Let’s see if Nunez makes contact with Petrov while he’s here.”
The team went on radio silence for another thirty minutes or so, but Nunez didn’t appear to be in any hurry. They watched as the middle-aged man ordered another glass of wine followed by a prime rib dinner.
“I’m hitting the head,” Lucas eventually announced. “I’ll scope out the back area while I’m there. Let me know if anything changes with the target.”
“You got it,” Ned replied.
Lucas stood up from the barstool and casually walked to the right side of the pub, following the sign to the restrooms. As he walked down a narrow hall, he passed a row of autographed pictures that caused him to pause.
“Boys, I’ve got something,” he said quietly. “They have a wall of photos, all related to car racing. There’s everything from signed portraits, shots from race events, three pictures inside the bar with guys wearing racing jackets. Looks like Red Inferno has hosted events for at least one team.”
“Anyone you recognize?” Michael asked.
“Not yet, except from the sponsor logos,” Lucas stated as he walked along the line of twenty or so pictures. “Shit! The racetrack. There’s picture from the racetrack that the Magnus race team uses for trials. I’m going to get images of each of these. There has to be something here that will connect back to who’s targeting Magnus.”
“Lucas, I hate to rush you, but Nunez is getting ready to move.” Lucas was working his way through recording each of the framed photos. “He’s paid his bill and headed toward you.”
“Got it,” replied Lucas, who looked down at his phone when the target entered the back hallway.
But instead of turning into the door labeled for the men’s restroom, the older man brushed by Lucas and went through a door at the end of the hall labeled as private.
“Tracking him into the back of the building,” Lucas whispered as he easily reached under his jacket and unlocked his pistol inside the shoulder holster.
“I’m at your back,” Ned acknowledged.
“I’ve got eyes on the back door. All quiet on my end,” confirmed Lance.
Lucas paused by the closed door Nunez had gone through and listened for any activity. After a few seconds, he pushed it open with his left shoulder, keeping his right hand in easy reach of his gun. Through the exposed crack, he could see a passageway leading farther into the space.
“I’m going in,” he notified his team, then stepped fully into the space.
It was a hall with a door on the right. From the sounds and clanging and running water, Lucas knew it led to the kitchen. In front of him was a door that led outside, and beside it, a staircase to the upper level of the building. He took the stairs two at a time, careful not to make any noise. A few steps near the top, he paused hearing voices. Lucas pressed his back to the wall and went up farther until he could see into the room.
There were three men: Nunez, Petrov, and a third whom Lucas instinctively knew was the unidentified subject who had planted the incendiary device. They were talking, but based on where they were standing in the room and the angle of the staircase, Lucas couldn’t make out the words. Then there was laughter, and the sound of their voices moved closer to his position, suggesting they were headed toward the staircase. He backed down as quickly as possible, taking the fastest cover, which was the rear exit to outside.
“Ned, the targets are on the move,” he whispered to the others as he quickly pulled out his gun and darted behind one of the parked cars. “There are three of them including our mystery suspect.”
“I got ’em,” Ned added. “Petrov and his partner went back upstairs. Nunez is leaving through the front.”
“Lance, can you make your way to the front and get the license plate?” Lucas asked. “Then let’s meet back at the truck.”
“You got it,” the ex–Army Ranger replied.
Lucas waited a full minute before he retreated through the back parking lot and around the side of the building, then casually to their rented vehicle parked a block away.
They were driving back to their client’s location within five minutes. By the time they arrived at almost seven thirty that evening, Michael had Laura, the Fortis analyst at headquarters, running search strings to assimilate all the new information uncovered. Evan and Sam had also sent the details needed to implement the Omega protocol.
“Let’s see what Laura can uncover by tomorrow to confirm who exactly Nunez is working for,” Lucas stated as he and Lance started packing up their things. “Then we can hand over the security footage from the fire to the Toronto police. They’ll be able to round up Petrov and the other guy pretty quickly, and we can track Nunez to his boss.”
“His rental car is now parked at a hotel near the airport,” Michael told them from his seat behind the laptop. “Looks like he’s headed back to Chicago.”
“Good. That will get us to our target faster. Maybe we’ll only need to tuck Cotts away for a few days before we can shut this thing down,” Lucas added, then checked his watch. “I’m going to get moving to take her home. Michael, Ned, I’m going to make a digital copy of the Magnus storage server. Then I’ll do a full system restore to ten days ago, prior to any updates about the Cicada testing.”
“You want to bait them into another network attack?” Ned asked.
“No, just covering all our bases until we solve this,” explained Lucas. “Let’s not underestimate them again. If they’re still after the Cicada design as well, then they’ll try again and soon. If they get in, then the data will be stale.”
“And we’ll be here to take them down,” Michael confirmed.
“That’s what I’m counting on,” Lucas added with a quick grin. “Ned, I’ll confirm a rendezvous time later tonight.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Cotts should be ready to go. I have her list of requirements, and I left her to make any calls needed,” Michael noted.
Lucas slung his duffel bag across his chest, and said bye to his team. He found Alex in her office, sitting on the edge of her desk and staring into space with her cell phone in her hand.
“All set?” he asked in a soft tone as though not to startle her.
Alex blinked a little and straightened up.
“Yeah,” she replied in a firm voice.
As Lucas watched her put her cell phone, iPad, and a few other things in her purse, he had to admire her fortitude. Though she looked calm and resolved, he knew she must have some trepidation about what was to come.
“All set,” she added as she met him in the doorway.
He looked down at her face with its strong chin and bright, sharp eyes and felt the strong urge to touch her, hold her, give her the reassurance that she must certainly need. Lucas tightened his fists from the effort to resist. Instead, he waved her in front of him.
“Did you speak with your family?” he asked as they walked out through the back of the building.
“Just my dad and Adrian,” she explained. “Adrian will tell my other brothers, and I’ll tell Noelle tonight. You know, she’s going to think I’m taking off with you.”
Lucas smiled to himself since Alex sounded more mischievous than concerned about the idea.
“Stranger things have happened. And it could work in our favor. Where did you say you were going for vacation?”
“Europe.”
“Good choice. We’ll create a profile to match,” he told her.
“Michael said the same thing, but what exactly does that mean?”
“It means that we’ll reprogram your cell phone SIM card to point to wherever we want. So anyone that’s looking for your digital footprint will find you there. Any pictures you take will be coded to the right coordinates.”
“Not sure how that will work. The pictures won’t exactly have the Eiffel Tower in the background,” she shot back sarcastically.