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“Some?” she repeated.
“I’m still trying to work out my schedule to align with what I think yours will be.”
“Well, my training is supposed to be done by Cooper, Lambchop, Garcia, and Jackson. But it won’t start until after Lassiter gives me the all-clear to proceed and Doc has to give me my medical release yet, too.”
“I’m sure there are parts of the training that Garcia and Jackson can start on without the medical release. I’d bet Lassiter will have that meeting with you today.”
“Yes, I was thinking that, too. You know what I just realized? Thanksgiving is next week.”
“Yes, it is. Smith is off Wednesday through Sunday. He and Hollyn are taking his dad up to Michigan to have Thanksgiving with her family,” Dupont said. “The CIA Referral case Delta Team is working on should be wrapped up by this weekend. If nothing big blows up anywhere, Shepherd isn’t going to staff any missions until the Monday after Thanksgiving.”
“So, it could be pretty quiet around here for a few days,” she said. “I wonder if we’ll all be required to hang around or if I could sneak away to go see my mom and sister for a few days,” she said.
“Haven’t you had enough of Richmond?” he asked, chuckling.
“You’d think,” she agreed. “I would like to see my mom and find out in person if that clinic she was at had any new treatments. And yes, my sister can be a pain in the ass, but she is my sister.”
“And you were worried about her and your niece and nephews,” he added.
“Yes, I was. And I’m sure both my mom and Donna have questions about this past week. They had to see the news and know about the shootings at Mary Washington, and they probably knew I was in the area.”
He watched her take another drink of his coffee and smiled at the sight of it. “Then you should ask Shepherd to go. If there are enough people to staff Ops, I’d like to go with you if you think we’re at a place in our relationship that you’d like me to meet your family.”
She smiled as she finished his coffee. “I like that idea. I was thinking of asking Shepherd too if I could go visit Michelle Keslar in Roanoke to tell her in person what happened. She was willing to go on the record and press charges against West. She deserves to know he’s dead, and it’s over. They haven’t released the names of anyone shot at the university yet.”
“If he approves the conversation, you could do that by phone,” Dupont said.
“I know. I just thought it would be better in person and with the Roses too. I know we don’t know for sure if West killed their daughter or if she did it to herself, but I think they should know it’s a possibility.”
“Laura, I’m not sure Shepherd will approve that. You need to be prepared to let it go if he won’t,” Dupont warned.
“Missus Rose is beating herself up that she didn’t recognize that her daughter was suicidal. Don’t you think it may give her peace if she knows that might not have been the case?”
“Unless it was. And we still don’t know one hundred percent for sure that she was one of his victims,” Dupont reminded her.
“Oh, come on, of course she was. All the others we identified have proven out to be his victims. I’m not wrong about this, Brad.”
“Just tread lightly, Laura, that’s all I’m saying.”
At zero eight hundred, Dupont entered the very crowded conference room. He staffed Ops with Miraldi, who would handle it for the short time he’d be in the meeting. Shepherd motioned for him to close the door. He took a seat across from Laura Lee, who sat between Garcia and Madison. Jackson, Joe Lassiter, Brielle Jarboe-Sherman, BT, and Michael Cooper were there as well. On the monitor were two windows. Cooper, Lambchop and Doc, seated together in a car, were in one, in the other were the three members of Charlie Team and Sebastian Roth logging in from Iowa.
“Good job on this one team,” Shepherd began. “Whiting sends his thanks. I read the mission report and would like to address this man who got away yesterday. Saxton reported she was sure it was Jin Ma, who we had confirmation had arrived in Beijing and we do not show re-entering the country. Garcia did not see the man. I have asked Mason to have one of his assets in Beijing get eyes on Jin Ma for confirmation that he’s there. I’ll let you know when he has reported back.”
“Thank you, Shepherd,” Laura Lee said. “I know what I saw. It was Jin Ma. I’m sure of it. There’s something about his eyes and how he focuses when he looks at you.”
“We’ll see what Mason’s asset turns up,” Shepherd said. “We were instrumental in detecting and shutting down a cell of the Chinese mafia and the Chinese State Ministry operating in Virginia. It is believed that Zhou has a direct link to both. And that was a direct result of our Digital Team’s intelligence gathering of the data on the confiscated cell phones and computers.”
Laura Lee felt an enormous amount of pride wash through her. Pride in this team and pride in herself.
“I have an update on the U.S. Army officers involved. They have all been referred for court martial. The DoD will fully investigate each woman’s communications with West, and what intel may have been compromised. Zelda Dobson in Florida made a deal and is still working with the authorities to identify the users of the rental account as a money laundering vehicle. She will give up her law license but won’t be prosecuted.”
“Any update on Jessica Lansing’s condition?” Brielle asked.
“She’s still in a coma. The FBI pulled camera footage around her apartment building. An image of Jin Ma was captured a block away,” Shepherd said.
“So, she must have had a burn phone or another way to contact someone after Saxton and I visited her.”
“She was probably rattled by the visit and West, or whoever she called, feared she’d expose them,” Lassiter chimed in.
