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He took several steps into the room. “How do you feel?”
“Good,” she assured him.
“Shepherd asked me if you had full medical clearance yet, but until I can give you a complete exam, I can’t give that signoff. My team is deploying in ten minutes. I don’t have time for that exam now, so you’ll remain on restricted activity until we get back.”
“No problem. I don’t plan to do anything crazy in the next week,” Laura Lee said.
“Like chase after a suspect and tackle him.”
“I didn’t technically tackle him. I pushed him.”
Doc grinned. “How’d it feel to run?”
“Honestly, I was a little sore after,” she admitted.
“I didn’t see a medical note by either medic on site.”
She knew her return gaze was guilt ridden.
“Because you didn’t mention it to either one of them,” Doc filled in.
“It wasn’t that bad. I was a little sore, which I expected. And it’s fine now.”
“Let me be clear. No running. No exertion that stresses the muscles in your abdomen where your incisions are until I’m back and I clear you.”
“Understood,” she said.
“By the way, I understand you’ll be at HQ for the next month. Make an appointment with a GYN. Call my wife or talk to Angel to get the name and phone number of Doctor Norman. And that wasn’t a suggestion.”
Laura Lee couldn’t help but laugh at him. He came across as gruff, but he cared about her physical well-being. “I’ll do that. Thanks Doc.”
She checked her backpack for her phone after he left. Not finding it, she was sure it slipped out of her pocket in the car. She took the stairs up to the apartment and gathered up the belongings she’d left there. Then she took the elevator to the parking garage. She loaded the duffle bag into the back seat and found her phone on the floor of the front seat, along the door. Sure enough, there were two missed calls and a text from Doc. Thankfully, there were no other missed calls.
Whiskey
Several hours later, Garcia poked his head into Lambchop’s office. “We’re having a team meeting in Ops in fifteen minutes.”
She glanced up for the first time in over an hour. “Did you figure out which phone was Xi Laing’s yet?”
“Yeah, just got into the last of them. I’ll give it to you at the meeting. Bring what you’ve found.”
She watched him leave the office and then heard him share the same message a couple of doors further down the hall. She knew that Brielle’s office was two doors down and she’d also talked to Michael briefly when he passed by. He was working in Danny ‘Mother’ Trio’s office in that hallway as well.
Laura Lee left the office, stepping into the hallway at the same time Brielle, Michael, and Caleb were leaving their offices to also go to the meeting. She hadn’t heard or seen Caleb all morning, had forgotten he was in. “Hi,” she greeted them.
The four of them made small talk as they rounded the corner and went into Ops. Laura Lee smiled at Brad, unable to keep her face neutral as she entered. Garcia and BT were already inside with Madison and Brad. The room felt crowded.
“I wanted to share what we know so far,” Garcia began. He clicked on a keyboard and the largest monitor came to life. “Jin Ma flew out yesterday afternoon.” The video footage showed him passing through a security checkpoint. He wore blue jeans and a dark blue hoodie with a black backpack on. A New England Patriots ballcap dangled from the backpack. “This was taken at Richmond International Airport. He had no checked luggage. Just his backpack.” He clicked a few more keys. Another shot of him with the hat on, though it could have been anyone as his face was covered by the hat with the camera angle, showed him scanning his phone on the ticket reader and walking down the jetway.
“Are we sure that’s him?” Laura Lee asked. “Can’t see his face.”
“Yes, because here he is at JFK where he changed planes.” Several more keystrokes showed him staring up at the board that listed all flights and their gates. The hat was on, but the upward angle of his head clearly showed his face. His gaze was just as intense as it had been when he stared through the back window of the car at her. “His phone was used to scan his ticket.”
“Do we have confirmation he made it to Beijing?” BT asked.
“Flight doesn’t land for a few more hours. Shepherd has asked Mason to have one of his local assets be at the airport when the flight is supposed to land to corroborate that it’s actually Ma who arrives,” Garcia said.
Beauregard Mason was the Deputy Director of the CIA and Shepherd’s direct line of communications with the agency.
