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The Lair was a war room-like conference room decked with wall-to-wall screens, servers, and other devices that granted them a glimpse into just about anything anywhere. Killion put his skills to work here in his domain, cracking just about anything he needed – whether accessing information legally or hacking to find answers illegally. He was the brains of the operation, the IT specialist, and a damn genius with all his state-of-the-art technology. Today, Killion was on the other side of the computer and technology, seated at the table with the rest of the operatives while Relay ran the show in his place. For now.
“A fair assumption,” Cane replied. “You’re sure it’s only been a couple of weeks of drive-bys?”
“No. I’m not sure.” Rainy awkwardly guffawed. “I suppose it could have been longer. I only noticed when I started sitting in the chair by the window on my own. They could have been there all along, for all I know.”
She dropped her face in her hands. “I feel so stupid. I was so comfortable there –– too comfortable –– with all the security that I didn’t give it a second thought. I literally waved, thinking it was someone I knew.”
“Nah.” Wit interrupted. “Not stupid at all. You actually probably did us some favors.”
“Favors?” she asked.
Hen chuckled. “When you waved. They didn’t know you had no idea who they were. They probably thought they’d been made. Sent a statement. A warning.”
“Not a big enough one, given what happened last night.” She shrugged. “Storming a rehab facility doesn’t exactly scream fear.”
“You don’t know that.” Killion turned to her. “What time of day did you see them, typically?”
Rainy paused and gave thought to his question. “At various times during the afternoons. Usually while you were there with the babies, which makes me sick to my stomach to think about.”
“Various times. Times they quickly learned they’d been made,” Killion said. “Did you see them at all yesterday afternoon?”
Rainy leaned back in her chair and reached for the nearby stroller, moving it back and forth as if to rock or comfort the sleeping babies. “I-I don’t think so. I don’t recall seeing anyone. It was such a busy day getting ready to leave, though, so I might have missed them.”
“Missed them because you weren’t looking?”
“Maybe, but then again, it became routine. I noticed traffic coming and going once I noticed the regular occurrence. It isn’t a busy street so looking up anytime I heard a car sort of became natural,” Rainy added.
“So you would have noticed?” Killion continued.
“I think… yes? Maybe?”
“Then it’s safe to say, by waving, as silly as you feel about it, you may have deterred them from infiltrating sooner, thinking they were made. Hence, attacking late in the evening.” Killion presented the facts as he saw them and the theory that not only came of it but would also make Rainy feel better about the situation. “Had they come on any other day, we wouldn’t have been as prepared for them. Security was increased tenfold last night, and they weren’t expecting us any more than we were expecting them.”
“You’re saying that’s a good thing.” Rainy questioned.
“I’m saying it might have kept you and the agents assigned to you out of harm’s way… maybe even saved your life,” Killion confirmed. “Maybe focus on that part more than feeling silly about waving at the enemy as they circled the block, casing the facility.”
“I… hadn’t thought of it that way.” Rainy swallowed hard and turned to the twins in the stroller again. “And the babies weren’t there. They were never there at that hour.”
Killion laid his hand on hers. “You did that.”
It was clear that everyone in the room was struck by Killion’s gesture, given the immediate silence that followed. Killion rarely showed emotion or fed into emotion, much less showed physical touch as a way to express how he was feeling. As if the moment struck him just the same, and reality settled in, he was quick to pull back his hand as he straightened and directed his attention to the team.
He cleared his throat. “We’ll continue to pull CCTV footage from the area and see what kind of patterns we can find and of course, see if identities can be made by running them through our systems.”
“I’m already on it.” Relay chimed in. “I built a quick program to search the footage for me once I find one of the suspects. Letting the program do the heavy lifting will make the process go much faster. It will also pull faces and other biometrics we can attempt to process to ID these people.”
Relay was the brains behind Dirty Dozen –– a militia-like army of elite rogue operatives with muscle, resources, and know-how that matched the likes of BK Security and the Keepers. They thought they were an off-the-books dark ops group too – until they realized they’d been used by the group known as Chalice. Doing their dirty deeds like Chalice’s own personal army. Once Dirty Dozen realized they weren’t serving the greater good as a dark secret deep OP’s unit, they revolted, joining the ranks of BK Security on various shared missions, offering assistance in an effort to take down Chalice. BK Security and Dirty Dozen were very similar: one was a seeker of justice, the other seeking redemption.
“Nice work,” Killion said. “That’s exactly what I would have done. Let me know if you need help, I’m set up in my apartment to login and do whatever I need to from there.”
“Will do, but I think I got this,” she said without looking his way. “You take care of those babies and their mama. I got this.”
Relay’s abilities were matched by few, Killion being one of them. She, along with a few others from the Dozen, had stayed on board with BK to finish closing the cases against the remaining Chalice cells they’d recently taken down while the others were off settling scores with their past enemies. Inevitably, BK Security would absorb the members of Dirty Dozen who wished to stay in the business, seeking justice like only they can while others were planning to retire and return to regular civilian lives knowing they’d always have a home there.
With Killion taking a leave of absence to tend to his children and help Rainy recover from her injuries, Relay had filled Killion’s seat behind the computer and all things tech. It was great for the team –– she was quite an asset, but it was equally good for Relay as she needed the distraction. Prior to Rainy’s return, she’d been fostering a budding relationship with Killion. A relationship that came to an end before it could even truly begin.
“Where are we at with leaks?” Killion asked. “Everyone was vetted at the hospital and at the facility. No one threw a red flag.”
