“The one about meeting at headquarters ASAP?” Draco asked.
“That’s the one.” Cate picked up her pace to match Draco’s as they hurried into the building and up to the conference room.
Half a dozen people were gearing up with weapons, body armor and communications devices.
“What’s happening?” Draco asked.
Hammer appeared in front of him, buckling body armor over his T-shirt. “Dmytro and Lucie zeroed in on Marcus Calloway. He’s been in Zurich for the past month.”
Cate’s pulse picked up. “You know where he’s staying?”
“Not precisely,” Dmytro strode to the conference table with a remote control and a keyboard. He raised the remote, clicked a button and a large screen on the wall at the end of the table blinked to life. He set the remote down and tapped on the keyboard until an array of images appeared. “We started at the tram platform from three days ago and worked our way through the days before and after, tapping into the CCTV footage of stores and buildings in a six-block radius of the platform. Facial recognition software identified him on a number of the streets to the west of the platform.” Dmytro pointed to several frozen images of Marcus Calloway walking along streets. “He alternates which streets he travels, probably in an attempt to keep from establishing a pattern someone can follow.”
Lucie came to stand with Dmytro, her bright purple hair almost too much that early in the morning. “But he always ends up on the same platform around the same time every morning.” She glanced down at her watch. “If he remains a creature of habit, he’ll be at that platform in forty-five minutes, give or take a few.”
“We should notify Inspector Brandt,” Cate said.
“I thought she was a red flag in the Alpenhorn ledger,” Hammer said.
Cate gave him half a smile. “She showed up at our hotel last night and explained what happened with the ten grand deposited in her account. She thinks she was getting too close to discovering who was laundering money through Alpenhorn, and they set her up to appear as if she was part of the theft ring. She reported the money and then donated to a charity.”
“Her donation was made as she said, the money going from her account into the charity’s account,” Dmytro said.
Cate frowned. “How?—”
Dmytro nodded toward Draco.
Draco’s lips twisted. “I texted the information to Dmytro last night so he could verify her story.”
“Next time, let me know when you do things like that.” She turned to Hammer. “She’s our contact at local law enforcement and has been trying to corner Calloway for the past eight months.”
Hammer nodded. “Call her. If she can get here in the next twenty minutes, she can ride shotgun.”
Cate dug Inspector Brandt’s card out of her pocket and placed the call.
The woman answered immediately. “Inspector Brandt.”
Cate gave her the information and their timeframe.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” she said and ended the call.
Dmytro turned off the screen, grabbed his keyboard and started for his desk with the computer in the corner. He’d only taken two steps when he spun back. “Hammer, I meant to tell you,” he said, “we’re getting closer to accessing the bank account holding the nine million dollars.”
“Great. Keep me informed.” He shrugged into a leather jacket that covered the body armor and his handgun. “Dmytro and Lucie are our base for communications support. We all need to get fitted for radios before we head out.”
Once Inspector Brandt arrived, she, Cate, Brandt, Hammer—and two members of his team—plus Dax, Franklin and Fearghas—along with Draco and his teammates, Crusher and Phantom—climbed into two SUVs. They drove to two separate locations within a block of the tram platform Dmytro had identified through his search of CCTV footage.
Cate had convinced the team to let her be the one to approach Calloway, though Draco was not a fan of the idea.
“I know him. I’ve had dinner with him and Dana at their home a couple of times. Being female, he might not see me as a threat and take off immediately.” She’d glanced at the former military men and shook her head. “If any one of you gets within twenty yards of him, he might run.”
“That might work,” Hammer said. “If Cate gets close to the target and distracts him, the team can move in.”
Draco’s lips were pressed into a tight line as if he was fighting hard not to give his opinion, going along with Cate’s rule that she handle the investigation while he was in charge of security.
The van carrying Cate, Inspector Brandt, Hammer, Crusher and Draco parked in an alley behind a bakery.
Hammer touched his radio earbuds and spoke, “We have a short amount of time to get in place and blend in. If you spot Calloway, speak up and give his location.”
