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“So he was being recruited just like Dr. Clybourne,” Kessler said. “He’s a patsy, then?”
Alder nodded. “O’Dell’s job offer was for Chicago, twenty minutes from his suburban hometown, where not so coincidentally it was known he wanted to settle down.”
“Bait,” Sparks said. “But what’s his tie to Clybourne? And why were they meeting in Chicago? O’Dell and Clybourne both currently live—lived—near DC.”
“And they met there once,” Alder said. “But I’ll get to that. Once we had the offer letter, I backtracked to the server, Jensen broke me into it, and I found two more letters from the same time period. Two other soldiers about to leave active duty. One near San Francisco, the other near Atlanta.”
“They’re targeting my army field surgery team,” Red said. “But why?”
TJ stepped in and took over from Alder. “We have the HEAT intel team working day and night on this. Their analysis points to HEAT registering on Carbonados’ radar after the attempt by Li’s former colleague from her army sharpshooting days to recruit her a few months back.”
“Shit, you mean they’re piecing together our existence because of me?” Li looked horrified.
“No,” X said. We all turned our attention to her. “You’re a piece of a much larger puzzle they’re building. They’re coming at us from all angles.”
“And somehow they know there’s a former army field surgeon in our agency,” Red said. “They just don’t know which one of my four-person unit it is.” She locked eyes with TJ. “But to have narrowed it down that far, their information must be coming from somewhere really high up. A leak—”
“We’re not jumping to any conclusions,” TJ said. “We’re working on our own puzzle, piece by piece, starting with what we know for sure.” He clicked back to O’Dell’s obit. “O’Dell’s family will have a small, local service for him next Friday. His army friends and colleagues won’t be able to make, so they’re holding their own memorial in a couple of weeks at Fort Meade, which is lucky for us.” TJ clicked to another slide. “Because only a few of his close work friends have met the woman he’s been dating seriously for about four months.”
“Has she been cleared?” Li asked.
“She’s unimpeachable,” Alder answered. “And they were serious. He charged a ring to his credit card the day after he got the Carbonados offer letter with its hefty signing bonus.”
“Poor kid.” I glanced at Bennet. We’d seen far too many young soldier’s lives cut short through too many means. “Why’d they kill him?” I asked TJ.
He shrugged. “He was working in the intel community. Maybe his training finally kicked in and he started asking questions. Or maybe he was suspicious that his recruiters were cutouts for a shady operation all along. Anyway, we expect the Carbonados’s next move to be—”
“Infiltrate the funeral,” Kessler said. “Try to determine whether O’Dell spilled the beans to anyone close to him, like his soon-to-be fiancée. I can’t help but notice she’s in her mid-to-late twenties, blond, average height.”
We all looked at Kessler, who was close enough in general description to pass for O’Dell’s girlfriend.
“I take it I’m going to a funeral,” Kessler said. “But what about the real girlfriend?”
“Chicago PD have her under secret protection,” Alder said. “She’s devastated she can’t attend the funeral service, but they’ve assured her they’ll do all they can to make sure it’s safe for her to attend O’Dell’s memorial in two weeks.”
“I’d like to help them keep that promise,” TJ said, “so Friday’s plan needs to go off without a hitch. Kessler and her partner will be the eyes and ears inside the funeral home, but they’ll be backed up by a multi-team squad. We’re throwing a net over sixteen square blocks. No one will get in or out of the area without us knowing who they are and how they’re connected to O’Dell.”
“I take it you expect to smoke out some Carbonados rats,” I said.
TJ nodded. “I can pretty much guarantee it.”
“Wait, you said my partner, not Mai,” Kessler said. “I take it she can’t go in with me because after the Malone bullshit a few months ago, her cover is blown with Carbonados.”
That sounded like an interesting story, but it was probably one I wasn’t cleared to hear, so I didn’t ask in the meeting and I wouldn’t ask Red later.
“Not to mention, I want our sharpshooter in position to take down anyone who’s an identified threat,” TJ answered. “The logistics of managing such a large dragnet will be almost too much for two people, let alone one, so Penn and Sparks are off the table, too.”
“Jensen and Alder, I love you so no offense,” Kessler said, “but I don’t want non-field operatives to have my back when I might be walking into a hive full of Carbonados.”
“Ditto and no offense taken,” Alder said.
“A little offense taken,” Jensen said. “But ditto to Alder’s ditto.”
“Will the E3 Team be part of this, TJ?” Li asked. “I’d trust Cat Johnson to have my partner’s back.”
“They’re tied up with a mission at the economic summit in Brussels,” TJ answered. “And before you even ask about Derek, Kessler, I’ll remind you why he’s no longer your HEAT partner.”
I hadn’t realized Kessler’s life partner had started out as not just a colleague, but as her Tactical Team partner. That was a story that piqued my interest and I was disappointed I probably didn’t have the clearance to hear more about it.
