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“I hadn’t thought about it, but that isn’t a bad idea. Maybe I wait until I’m forty before I put myself out there for a serious relationship.” Belle laughed like she always did when trying to hide her pain. “A little gray hair, a few more pounds, some wrinkles. That way any man who would date me would know what they were getting into.”
“I never thought you would be such a chicken, Belle. Where’s my tough sister, the one who put herself through nursing school waiting tables on the graveyard shift?”
“I’m still that tough sister, Amber.” She didn’t feel that tough, but hoped it didn’t show. “That’s why I’m making this tough decision.”
Chapter Four
Standing in a recently vacated part of TBK’s headquarters, Corey entered his security code into a keypad.
“Welcome, agent.” The computerized voice from the hidden speaker sounded British, which amused him. “Place your right hand on the pad for final verification.”
He did, and the door to Shannon’s Elite’s temporary offices opened.
In the high-tech conference room were some of the other members of the team around the long glass table.
Dylan sat next to Jason and Nicole Coleman, Jason’s deputy sheriff.
Jena, the talented hacker, sat across from them with
her husbands, Sean MacCabe and Matt Dixon.
“Shane’s not with you?” Dylan always did get right to the point.
Corey shook his head. “Black assigned him to guard duty for Kip’s sister for the time being.”
“I bet we’ll all get a crack at guard duty as long as Trollinger remains in town.” He couldn’t agree more with Jason’s assessment.
“Black will not trust anyone but his own agents to guard her,” Dylan stated flatly.
Sean put his arm around Jena. “I doubt Black will let the woman leave until we get our hands on Lunceford.”
“You’re right about that, Mr. MacCabe.” Black walked into the conference room with Joanne Brown, his second in command of the team. “Cindy Trollinger is our best chance at capturing Kip Lunceford. Have a seat Corey. There’s much to discuss.”
“You can say that again, boss. Shane and I were there when Kip’s sister passed out at Lucy’s.” He recalled how quickly Belle had reacted to help her and just as quickly had been ready to accept her story on its face. He loved how trusting Belle was, but it also worried him. “I don’t have a good feeling about this Cindy woman, boss.”
“Can you expand on that for us, please?” Black asked.
“I think that fainting spell was all a ruse. I can’t put my finger on it, but according to Belle, Doc, and Paris, her vitals were normal. The fact that Cindy got inside the restaurant before she fainted seems quite strange to me.” He took a seat next to Dylan. “There’s got to be more to this.”
“I’m sure there is. That’s why you are all on my team. I trust your instincts.” Black sat at the head of the table. “I understand we have a good lead that came from the letter Miss Trollinger brought with her.”
“Who has the letter?” Brown moved next to Nicole.
“I have the original. I also made a digital copy for everyone.” Dylan activated his ROC. “Check your secure files. Lunceford could be in Seattle.”
Corey looked at the copy on his screen, even though he had listened to Belle read it at the clinic. Could it really be the key to Kip’s true location?
After everyone finished scanning the letter, Black nodded. “We can’t accept this on face value. This could be just another of Lunceford’s grand schemes. I’ll contact my counterpart in Seattle and have him send some operatives to this UPS store to retrieve whatever is in that box. Miss Trollinger must remain under guard. Whether she’s telling the truth or not, which remains to be seen, Kip is clearly interested in her.”
“We’ve checked her background,” Jo said. “So far, everything points to her story being true.”
“Check it again.”
“Matt, Sean, and I can dig deeper into Trollinger’s records.” Jena typed something into her ROC. “We’re very familiar with Kip’s digital fingerprints. If he’s tampered with them in anyway, we will know.”
“Perfect,” Easton said. “Jo, you get with our counterparts at Langley and let them know this new development.”
“On it, sir.”
