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They’d get away with murdering her son.
Jenna’s fear and subsequent flight after she learned that Tommy had been killed had likely saved her life.
Regan pulled out her phone and sent Charlie a text.
Jenna is in grave danger. Double up security on the safe house. Do what you can to get her into full protective custody, I’ll explain soon.
She didn’t tell him she’d found Grant; she didn’t want to put Charlie in that position. He’d already deflected Detective Quincy’s inquiries, and Regan would have to deal with the police as soon as she got back to Virginia. But for now, she had to figure out what was evidence and what was conjecture.
They needed hard evidence.
Her phone beeped.
Already done. Me, O’Dare, and SWAT are about to raid Brock Marsh offices. Holy shit, Regan, it’s been a wild Saturday. Stay safe and call me when you can.
Forty-Two
While Regan was on the road to the Catskills, Charlie had put an extra detail on Jenna Johns and her friend Lance Martelli. After the attack on Regan last night, Charlie wasn’t taking any chances with an untrained nurse and her former military nurse boyfriend. Well, maybe notboyfriendyet, but Charlie was a romantic at heart and he saw the signs.
He touched base with Lillian O’Dare, fully briefed his boss, then slept a couple hours on the lumpy couch in the Marshals break room. At two that afternoon O’Dare called him.
“Donald James Portman,” she said in lieu ofhello. “That bastard. He’s been on my team for two years, and he’s the mole who sent those goons after your witness.”
“Is he in custody?”
“No. He left the office at five last night and no one has seen him—not his wife, not hismistress, not his neighbors or friends. He must have known the gig was up. We’ll find him. He’s not smart enough to run for long.”
“I talked to my boss. He said I’m on your team when you’re ready to go.”
“I’m working on it. About to debrief my boss, just waiting for him to get in. He’s pissed about everything—but he’ll authorize it. We need warrants, and that might take a couple hours. Hell, maybe longer because we have to convince a judge that our circumstantial evidence is enough. You good for a night raid?”
“I’m good for a raid anytime.”
Four and a half hours later, they were in Arlington staging out of line of sight of the Brock Marsh offices. That wasn’t as easy as it sounded—the security offices were in a dedicated building in the middle of nowhere, complete with security cameras, gates, a loading dock, more. They’d be able to see anyone comingliterallya mile away.
The FBI had a search and seize warrant, and they were going in, but they didn’t want to give anyone inside time to destroy evidence.
O’Dare was not SWAT and she was manning the tactical van with the communications officer, while letting the head of FBI SWAT, Bob Dodge, coordinate the raid. Charlie had trained and worked with FBI SWAT many times over the years, and he fell seamlessly into the structure.
“Everyone has their assignments,” Dodge said. “This is a security company. Tactically trained. We secure the facility, disarm and detain anyone inside, lock it up. Everything inside is covered under the warrant—full sweep. Once it’s clear, B team comes in to start the evidence collection—document everything, bag and tag it, prepare for transport to headquarters for review and analysis. This is the fun part, we’ll leave it to the nerds and lab rats to find the smoking gun.”
Charlie grinned. Yeah, this was the fun part.
They drove to the gate in a half dozen SUVs, each with four agents, Dodge in the lead vehicle. He showed the guard the warrant and told him not to contact the building. The guard didn’t object, and volunteered that there were only two janitors inside the building.
They couldn’t trust the information, not without verification, but by the time they swept and cleared the facility, they knew the guard hadn’t been lying. Two janitors were detained, questioned, ID’d, and released. The B team came in and started processing documents.
O’Dare followed them in. “We’re looking for financials to tie Brock Marsh to Legacy CPA, Archer Warwick Bachman Law Offices, or BioRise Pharmaceuticals. Names, money, accounts, papers, contracts; if any of those names are on it—or the names of the principals that are listed on the warrant—flag them. We can’t touch any records unless they have one of those names.”
She turned to Charlie. “Building secure, shall we track Bruce Rockford at his house?”
“We need a team. These people are trained security.”
“I have one. Dodge is giving me two of his people for the night. And I have you.”
“True, I’m worth at least three FBI agents.”
“And here I was beginning to like you,” she said, rolling her eyes.
