Teddy thanked his patrons for their help, then said, “Espressos for everyone.”
As cheers erupted, he made his way toward Sydney.
“Handled like a bossman,” she said as she stroked his arm. “Love that about you.”
Back in his office, she brought him up to speed on their plan for Wednesday. Between BLACK OPS and ALPHA, they would be ready and equipped to stop the TSM women from boarding that plane.
He launched the additional code to get into Robby’s account, then he completed the server’s schedule for the following week.
Another “BING!” had Sydney scurrying around his desk to peer over his shoulder.
“You smell good,” he murmured before she kissed his cheek.
“Your hacking skills are wicked good,” she said. “You got into Robby’s account.”
“Looks that way.” Teddy clicked on Robby’s account.
A week earlier, ten million had been deposited from the Bank of Karakistan. There was a message attached to the deposit.
Ten now. Twenty when the first package arrives.
“Thefirstpackage,” Sydney bit out. “Just when I thought I couldn’t hate Robby more, we find out he’s planning to send overmorewomen.”
Teddy snapped a screenshot and emailed it to Greystone and Cooper with a message of his own.
Make it happen.
AT FOUR IN THE MORNING,Wednesday, the team was in position. The past twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind of nonstop activity. Every op in BLACK OPS and ALPHA had been deployed to Dulles, but the top-secret takedown had to be handled with the utmost of discretion.
There could be no interruption of flights coming into or going out of Dulles. As far as every passenger and crew member would know, it was business as usual at that major international airport on the first Wednesday in December.
But for Teddy, it was a mission to stop a sex trafficking ring from kidnapping five hundred women… and he couldnotfucking wait.
A fleet of busses were ready to drive the women to a nearby hotel. There, thirty FBI special agents would collect their information. Because Teddy and his BLACK OPS team expected a full-on assault from the pilots and possibly their crew, they were ready to take them out. If this was a terror-organized plot, these international criminals would fight to their deaths.
Of that Teddy was certain.
His theory that the private jumbo jet was headed to Karakistan got confirmed when an intelligence officer with NSA found a third flight plan listing Karakistan as their final destination.
A one-way trip to hell.
Airport security had cleared a hangar, allowing Special Forces to usher the waiting women into the makeshift holding room. All BLACK OPS and ALPHA Ops were dressed in full SWAT gear, which only magnified the gravity of the situation.
At 4:37 am, the first group of women were bussed from the charter terminal into the hanger. The biting cold of January had them hugging themselves. Most were dressed in clothing suited for their tropical destination. Their conversations had risen to a frustrating pitch.
“Excuse me,” one of the women said to Sydney. “What’s going on?”
“We’ll explain as soon as you’re all here.” Sydney directed them to the back of the enormous space.
Forty minutes later, all but four of the passengers had arrived.
Let’s do this.
Teddy motioned to the maintenance workers who rolled a platform over to the entrance.
Sydney climbed to the top, Teddy followed. Together, they stood on a twenty-foot-high platform, looking out into a vast sea of 496 angry women. The cacophony of chatter had Teddy shutting down the sound on his comms, just so he could collect his thoughts.
“Take off your helmet,” Teddy said to Sydney.
