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“Yes, outside your room door with your backpack,” Garcia said.
“I’ll be right there.” She pulled her jeans on and then went to the door. “Thank you for bringing it to me.”
“Do you want an update?” he asked, pointing into her room.
She stepped back and opened the door wider, inviting him in.
“West spent time in his office at the university sending emails, text messages, and placed a few phone calls after he left the library,” Garcia began. “Whiting has provided a full digital trail of his activities for us to look into. We’re pretty sure we have an I.D. on the guy who watched you leave the parking lot of the library. He’s a Chinese national by the name of Jin Ma. He’s a student at the university, here on a student visa.”
“He was watching me. He wasn’t just there by chance,” she said.
“I think so too.”
“Now what?”
“I talked with Shepherd. He’s on his way back to HQ from South Carolina. Captain Burnside has been arrested for espionage. She refused to make a statement. Zelda Dobson gave up the email account code, confirming that dollar amounts were being discussed as well as time frames in each e-mail’s content. I think she’s still holding something back.”
“Like what?”
“There has to be information embedded in those emails that will lead us to who the players are besides IP addresses. The Digital Team has tracked a few down to Starbuck’s Coffee Shops, so that won’t identify anyone. She’s still claiming that West is her only contact. I’m not buying that.”
“Any updates on Jessica Lansing?”
“She’s still in a coma,” Garcia said. “We need to move this along fast tomorrow. West will soon notice some of his assets are no longer in place.”
Laura Lee nodded. “I’m ready to do whatever you need me to. West crossed a line tonight when he threatened to kill my family.”
Garcia nodded. “Yes, he did. Don’t worry. That fucker will get nowhere near them.” He paused for a moment. “Do you have it in you to kill him?”
His question surprised her, but she didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes.”
“Good. Get some sleep. Meet in my room at zero seven hundred.”
Laura Lee was far from rested when she knocked on Garcia’s door. She’d never gotten the chance to speak with Brad after Delta’s Op concluded. After Garcia had left her room, she went right back to bed, knowing that she had to be up in less than six hours.
“Good morning,” she greeted BT, who opened the door.
“Coffee and eats are on the counter,” he said, pointing to the small counter in the kitchen area of the room.
“Thank you to whoever thought of it,” she said, making a beeline for the coffee.
“You’re welcome,” Garcia called from the desk chair.
She took a seat on the couch between Michael and Jimmy. That’s when she noticed that Mike, Sebastian, and Carter weren’t there. She also noticed that Garcia had his tablet open and signed into a video chat room. No one else was logged in yet. She sipped her coffee, her eyes glued to the screen of the computer.
Simultaneously, two windows opened. Shepherd in his office on the left, and Cooper and Madison seated beside each other, obviously on a bed, on the right. “The team minus Powder, Moe, and Crash are here,” Garcia said. “They’re covering our three suspects.”
“Miller, Coop, sorry to interrupt your sleep again,” Shepherd said. “I need you to wrap up your interviews today and return to HQ.”
“Roger that, Shep,” Coop said. “We’ll revisit Second Lieutenant Cruz and drop the hammer on her this morning. We’re already booked on a flight at thirteen hundred.”
“To bring you up to speed,” Shepherd said. “Second Lieutenant Jacinta Cruz gave nothing up when Coop and Miller interviewed her yesterday. Now that we know what we do from both Dobson and Burnside, they’re going back at her again. She’s one of the most recent graduates of Mary Washington to become a commissioned army officer. Chances are she isn’t compromised yet and can be saved.”
“But she has to give him up for the rape and blackmail scheme,” Madison added.
“Garcia, your team needs to have that second meeting with West ASAP before he realizes his assets are out of play. He reached out to over a dozen people last night after the meeting with Saxton. We’re tracing them and Whiting will deploy units to scoop them up when I notify him, but we need to get something concrete as to the scope of this from his mouth first. Whiting is sure he’ll refuse to make any statements once he’s under arrest.”
“I’m sure he’ll eat his service weapon if he has the chance when he knows he’s made,” Garcia said.
