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“It’s not signed out to anyone. It should be back on the shelf in IT. Someone took it without signing it out. That’s like waaaay against the rules. Do you think someone broke in? We should call someone and tell them there was a break-in.”
A break-in?Not bloody likely.She let out a long breath. What the fucking hell was going on? The muscles in her neck tightened.Casper.What if it was her boss? She pushed that thought aside. It couldn’t be him. Yeah, he sucked at almost all aspects of the job, but would he really break the rules like that?
Dane met her gaze and then glanced at Manu. “You know what? Why don’t we go inside? You hungry, Manu?” he asked. “There’s some leftover Chinese.”
“It’s one in the morning. Do you normally eat at this hour?” Manu asked.
“Some days,” Dane said.
“Huh. Okay then.” He started toward the hangar. Jace fell in beside him and started chatting about computers with him. Cass and Tac went with them.
Cain turned and stared at Mac. “You want to tell me what the fuck is going on?”
She shrugged. “I wish I knew.”
“You trust that kid in there?” he asked.
Mac thought about it for a minute. “Yeah. He’s a good kid. I don’t think he’s involved in this at all. He does desktop support mostly. He knows computers like nobody’s business, but I don’t think he’s that good of an actor, if you know what I mean. He’s just a sweet kid.”
Dane looked at her. “That sweet kid is going to have to do some hacking so we can find out what’s going on.”
She frowned. “Not sure that’s a good idea.” If it was Casper, he’d want revenge. He was that petty. She didn’t want Manu to get caught in the crosshairs. She didn’t want to get caught herself either. She’d been down that road, and it wasn’t pretty.
Dane crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re all ears if you’ve got a better idea.”
“Look, if someone inside the CGIS took this without signing it out, then there’s a big problem. I don’t want to put Manu in any danger.”
Cain blew out a breath. “She’s got a point. We don’t want the kid hurt. Let’s go inside and talk to him. Maybe he has some ideas on what we can do to find the person without putting himself at risk.”
“Okay,” Dane agreed, “but we have to get something going. If tonight proved nothing else, it said we’re sitting ducks the way things are right now. We need to up our game.”
Mac said nothing, but she agreed. Whatever was going on was not pretty, and whoever was running it seemed to know all their moves before they made them.
Cain, Koa, Dane, and Mac all hurried inside and found Manu, Tac, and Cass sitting at the kitchen table. Jace was heating up the food. He put a plate down in front of Manu as they took the last seats at the table.
Manu took a bite of his food and made appreciative noises. “This is good,” he said after he swallowed.
“I’ll get you the name of the place and a take-out menu,” Jace volunteered.
Manu smiled and then put another forkful into his mouth.
The smell of the food turned Mac’s stomach. Tension tightened her neck muscles. She rolled her head and tried to relax a bit. She knew a headache was coming on and wanted to avoid it if she could.
She cleared her throat. “Do you have any idea how someone could have taken the GPS locator without signing it out?” She wanted to tread lightly but still get the answers they needed. She hadn’t forgotten this team had been in the apartment when they shouldn’t have been, but it was pretty hard to find a leg to stand on when someone in her department was illegally tracking Dane.
Manu tapped his fork on the plate. “Well,” he said as he finished chewing, “the equipment is in the equipment room, and Vic is usually at the window. I guess the thing would be to wait until Vic has lunch or goes to the bathroom or something and then sneak in and take it. Unless someone asks Vic for it, he probably wouldn’t notice that it’s missing.”
“Are there cameras in the room with Vic?” Tac asked.
“No, but there are cameras in the hallway outside. Anyone coming or going would be seen on them. We should be able to see someone if they broke into the room.” He took another bite of his General Tso’s Chicken and chewed slowly. Finally, he swallowed. “It would be really hard to get into the building though and, of course, you have to know where to find Vic. Also, how would they time it? It isn’t like they could hang in the hallway without Vic noticing.” His brow furrowed again. “I don’t think a stranger could have done this.”
Mac wanted to reach out and pat him on the shoulder. A big shock was coming for the kid. She said in a quiet voice, “Manu, we don’t think a stranger did it. We think it was someone who works at CGIS.”
He choked, then coughed. “No freaking way. It couldn’t be. Who would do that? I mean, it’s against the rules. Who woulddothat?”
Her boss’s face swam before her eyes, but she blinked it away. “That’s what we have to find out,” she said gently.
Then the penny dropped. He blinked. “You want me to find out who was in the hallway? See who is on the security cameras?” He put down his fork. “Just let me get my laptop.”
