by April Zyon
“I always worry about them, they are more than my team or employees, they are family. We long ago bonded together not merely out of a sense of self-preservation but because we’re all weirdly kindred souls. I may have been their commanding officer back in the day, but even orders wouldn’t have kept the unit together without that bond we forged.” Tobias had made a promise to himself, and to her that he’d never lie to her from day one. Which meant he couldn’t lie now either. He could omit, but he wouldn’t outright say an untruth. “I would be with them if you weren’t here, but that was a different plan. Had I been there it would have been Whip sitting in this chair on over watch duty instead. We might all have our specialties, but we can interchange when it’s necessary with some minor tweaks to how things are done. We all know how to adjust on the fly to whatever life hands us for specific circumstances and are damn good at it.”
“Thank you for staying with me. I’m not certain that I could handle having someone else watch over me. Especially someone that I don’t know. I don’t even know how many people are in your group or what their names are. I hope to be able to meet them all eventually.”
“There’s six of us in total including myself. I’ll introduce you to them formally when they get back, but their field or code names are, Herc, Whip, Scout, Ripper and Cherry. They are a bunch of characters that’s for sure, be warned now that they will most likely be highly inappropriate and generally say whatever the hell they want. I’ve tried my best with them but one can only do so much with what was available.” In his ear, he heard some extremely creative language abuse coming from said team. Tobias hid his grin. He’d said it because they’d been listening and he knew it would ease any tensions in the field. Yes, he wished he could be out there with them but he’d made the call to stay with Gabriella, and it was a damn good idea in his book despite what the team might say to the contrary. Once they’d met and got to know her they’d understand too.
“I want to be with you and I’m thankful that you stayed with me. I don’t think that I would have told anyone else what I told you.” He knew that it was because of the connection she felt with him. Had it been another there was no way that she would have told them anything and he knew it. He knew that the only reason that she had done anything at all was because of the feelings she felt for him.
“I know, sweetheart.” Brushing a light kiss to her forehead he gave her a squeeze. Right about then he noticed a notification flag, and leaning forward to click on it he found an image loading. “There’s our scapegoat, do you recognize him?” If not, he could probably get Ripper to pat him down for ID but that went on the assumption the guy would have some on him. Around these parts these assholes all assumed people knew them and feared them.
She looked at the image and nodded. “Marco Alvarez. He’s an asshole of the nth degree. He has five children brides and I wish I were kidding. I’m not however. They are all between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. I’m glad it’s him. Maybe those girls will get free and be able to find some help for the trauma that I’m sure that they’ve suffered.”
They could only hope, and despite the tug to his heartstrings Tobias knew there wasn’t anything the team could do. On completion of the job they had a tight timeframe to get out and back to the States to ensure their cover held. All part of the package with their employer. Rubbing her back he turned the laptop her way. “Set the funds to move into his account in ten minutes. We want it to be obvious he’s not coming even though he should have been there already, but not too obvious. This will look like he’s figured out he’s fucked, maybe got intel that everyone else is in the compound, and is preparing for his getaway. When you’re done use a portion to purchase a ticket in his name to Mexico with another one within two hours of landing heading to Europe. Doesn’t matter the flight, all your father and his compadres will see is this guy’s running and heading for the one place they don’t have a network in.” Once in Europe the guy could travel anywhere under the radar. Something else Tobias knew would occur to Moreno.
Gabbie nodded and wiggled her fingers. She let them fly over the keyboard, timing everything just right as he had told her to time it. “Are you sure that this timing is going to be enough?” She simply needed to make sure that it would be enough to make her father suspect Marco. Then again, her father would suspect anyone of anything when it came to his money.
“Should be given when they grabbed him. If he had actually stolen the money he would, if he was smart, sent a man to watch the compound. Mainly in case your father sent Quan and his squad out. But getting news back from our fictional watcher our patsy will realize the noose is closing around his neck. Since we all know he doesn’t personally have the skill to do the hack he would have hired or threatened someone. Getting that person into gear after discovering all your counterparts showed up for a meeting you were damn well expected at means you’re now on borrowed time, but still require this mythical hackers’ skills. Thus, the gap in time that’s enough yet not too much.”
“I will go with what you know and just be the one who’s behind the keyboard. I think that London and then a train to Switzerland would be good, don’t you?” She asked him with a smile, turning to face him when she asked.
“I think that should work, he could potentially jump off at any stop between the two points and rent a vehicle. Good call,” he complimented. Running his hand over her back in slow circles he watched her fingers fly over the keyboard. She was quite good at the subterfuge end, at least electronically. It gave him ideas that he’d sit on until later, much later. “Make sure you buy three different tickets though. Different times with different end stops. Switzerland will be the last one with a car rental from somewhere in the train depots area, but at least five blocks away.”
“Good call. I forgot that part. Sorry about that.” She did a little more changing to what she was doing he noticed and then leaned back once more. She looked awfully smug. “Okay, so we have trails left for dad to try to find Marco. There are false leads all over the place so we are good. Now what do we do?”
“Now we ensure the monies all reach his account leaving none of what you originally transferred in the others’ accounts. Then you will need to dump the entire lot into an offshore account. This will help mess up your father and Quan, mainly because certain offshore banks have uniquely horrifically terrific ways to keep their clients’ money hidden. From that point, we will move it through several other accounts once we’re stateside before it vanishes completely for a time. Even should someone go looking for it they’ll never find it with the way the banks systems work, everyone is a number with no name or face and their security is unreal. In a couple weeks. you can then donate it to whatever charities you wish discreetly and while at a public location using their Wi-Fi on one of the laptops, either mine or whichever one we have available.” It was convoluted, but in case there were survivors from the compound they would need to tread carefully for a time with the money. Reaching around her pulled up a file and opened the document within. “Any one of these you can use. They are all technically ours, and you’ll use them over the next couple weeks to toss the money around between.”
“I am all for being safer than sorry, trust me. Any and every possible safeguard that we can put into place would be wonderful. If you think we should do it from a cafe that’s good, although most of them have CCTV systems so that would have to be something we would need to think about. We should check into either a library or something else like that. Something to ensure that they won’t ever be able to trace back to us in any way possible.”
“It’s adorable that you think I can’t avoid being spotted on cameras.” Tweaking her nose, he grinned when she pulled a face at him. “You let me worry about the where and when, and you be brilliant with all the geek stuff that makes my head spin. For now, why don’t you go plug that in to recharge and we’ll get the table ready for the team when they eventually get here. Ripper should be arriving in about ten, maybe fifteen with our patsy and once
he’s stashed away you can meet the first team member. Ease you into this so you’re not totally overwhelmed.”
He saw her hesitation and then chewing her lip she asked him. “Are you sure I should be down here? I understand if you want to keep them separate from me for a time more. I don’t want to get any of you in trouble and I don’t want to have them giving you grief because you let them see me and I certainly don’t see them wearing their masks and gloves and whatever to hide themselves from me while they try to eat.”
“It’s perfectly fine, relax. They are going to adore you. Not like I do which is a good thing since I have no intentions of ever sharing you. Besides it will be a good thing for you to meet Ripper first. He’s got an uncanny skill of reading people. If you get his approving nod it will make meeting the others a lot more relaxed.” Winston had taken many a course at Quantico for profiling after figuring out he had a natural skill he could hone further. Like the guy needed more skills, but the entire team trusted his judgment in the field, and would here, which was all that mattered.
“As long as you are sure that they won’t mind me seeing them.” She moved her hand so that it would close over his. “I guess that I have to meet them eventually anyway. I’m as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, but you will be here with me so that’s what matters, right?”
“Not going anywhere, promise. Now plug in the laptop and I’ll get some coffee going. I’m sure they will all need some before we have to start our exfil.” Lifting her off his lap Tobias gave her ass a little smack. It was one sweet ass, after all. At her sharp look, he gave her a wink and made his way to the coffee maker to get it going.
“Your exfil? What is that?” She looked back with a grin at him when he had smacked her ass. She liked it, damn he liked that she liked it. “I’m plugging it in, no worries.” She went to do just that, plugging in the laptop so that it could charge. “But seriously, what is an exfil?”
“It’s shorthand for exfiltration and basically means our withdrawal from our current location with due caution for the current dangerous and explosive climate we are in. In other words when we hit the road for the plane. Like I said, shorthand. We military folk are big on it and acronyms too.”
“Ah, okay well I hope that I don’t have to learn them. Do I? You will explain to me what I need to know and don’t need to know, right? Because let me tell you, I am not so sure that I will be able to learn all the stuff that you already know.”
“You don’t need to learn any of it. You might pick up a few things here and there, we use it from time to time without consciously thinking about it, but for the most part we do try to limit it only to when we’re in the field.” Turning to face her, the coffee maker gurgling behind him, Tobias enjoyed looking at her. She was one sexy woman, not only her exterior but also everything on the inside including her too smart brain.
“I do pick things up quickly.” He recalled her telling him about how she started with the hacking so that would be true. “If I do, I do but if I don’t I don’t. I will just leave it for you to explain to me.” She told him with a smile. “Now, the laptop is plugged up, the coffee maker is going and your people will start to arrive in ten minutes. What should we do in the meantime?”
“Not much to do until Cherry sets off the explosives. They’re still getting into position to keep an eye on anyone that may tear out of the compound. They have orders to ensure no one from the meeting survives on the off chance the explosives aren’t enough.” Which was a possibility given the information Gabriella had supplied him with regarding her father’s office and other rooms. On the plus side with the protective measures in place it was all in his team’s favor when it came to things that went boom. Since the glass was bulletproof, and the walls lined with some metal or other the explosion would bounce off those surfaces and back into the room with percussive force to do even more damage to the soft flesh and organs of those inside.
“Then that is what we will do. We are just going to sit here and hold on tight until they get here and then we will get out of here as soon as we possibly can. You need to start to call me by my new name so that I can get used to it. Have your people call me by Ella as well.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said snapping her a salute. Grinning when she gave him a look he shrugged and walked in closer to her. “While we’re waiting on them we’re going to start packing up. Since we now have a rough timeline for departure we’re going to go pack up our room and do the scrub down. Each member of the team will do their own spaces, and then we’ll work together in the common areas we’ve all used.”
“I’m assuming by scrub down you mean to remove any and all possible DNA traces like hair and so on? Do you take the bedding with you as well? I’m assuming that you do because you wouldn’t want to leave anything like that here, right?”
“We don’t take the bedding. We roll it all up, soak it with lighter fluid, and stuff them into a barrel we acquired several weeks ago to burn them. Anything we can’t transport in our duffels gets the same treatment. We bleach everything down followed up with some special mixes that spray on and are left to further screw up whatever possible testing they might think up. But the bleach is our big one for destroying potential DNA evidence. The spray is for any areas we might not get with the bleach or can’t reach.” He went to a bag on the table and after a quick look through, hefted it over his shoulder. “Ready to get started? We’ll need to open all the windows after quickly wiping them down with the bleach because from that point on it’s going to be relatively noxious in there. But we are prepared with masks, long gloves and goggles.”
“I don’t have any of those things. Maybe I should help you and then wait outside? No, I can’t do that because what if someone saw me. Okay, so I will just have to let you do anything that needs gloves and goggles. I will remain close to a window so that I don’t pass out from the fumes.” There was a slight hesitation and then she frowned. “You brought enough for everyone, including me? How would you have known that you would have been keeping me, or keeping me alive?”
“I didn’t, but we always bring several sets of everything in case one or more end up damaged. We believe in being mildly over prepared for every situation. You never know when a key piece of equipment might fail, out on a mission you can’t exactly run into the local store for parts so you bring whatever you think you need plus duplicates for all the really obvious problem items. Upstairs woman, we have things to do. Plus, this will ensure that our guest doesn’t see you when Ripper brings him in. He’ll have on a hood but one can’t be too careful.”
“Okay, that sounds like a plan because the last thing that I want to have happen is him see me. He would know immediately what was happening. He hates me, I won’t lie. I know just how silly that sounds but it’s the truth. That’s why I’m so happy that it’s him because he’s a complete and utter asshole and he knows that I feel that way about him.”
There was a story there. He’d have to try and get her to talk about it partially because he was curious, but mainly because he now needed to know how badly to hurt the asshole. Following her up the stairs he tossed the duffel onto the bed and pulled out packages of gloves until he found some that would work with her tiny hands. While she tore into the packaging he pulled out a new mask, and a set of goggles for her. “We’ll wipe down each window fully from the inside, then lift it and clean the bottom and outside where fingers normally reach to on the wood. Each frame will need to be down too and once all the windows are open we’ll start in the bathroom. Given it’s the smallest room we will have to do it in pieces. When we need air, we’ll wash our hands and pack up things in here before going back in working from the furthest point to the doorway. Once we’re done no one enters a room with shoes on, and without gloves on.”
“Sounds like a plan and since you are the one whose done this before I’m trusting you completely on this.” Gabbie took the gloves that he offered her and the bleach so she could begin to help him clean up their prints and any possible DNA th
at might be there left from them. “You point the way boss and I will do it.”
He pointed to the first window with a grin. “I could get used to being your boss,” he said. Tobias had a feeling it wouldn’t fly often but he’d take it where he could get it. The glance over her shoulder told him he’d better damn well enjoy it while he could. Shaking his head, he pulled on the goggles, mask and gloves before joining her to do all the high spots she couldn’t reach.
Chapter Twelve
Gabbie was nervous. She was clinging to Tobias’s hand while they flew through the air. She couldn’t believe that it had actually worked. That when Cherry blew the explosives it literally killed every single person inside of her father’s rooms made of glass. There hadn’t been a single person to live except for the man who was to take the blame for everything. A man she had no idea what they were all doing with him and she was thankful for that.
She saw the looks that the men and one woman were giving her but she ignored them, they weren’t hostile, they weren’t mean but they weren’t warm and inviting either. In fact the men all looked at her and Tobias as if he had lost his ever loving mind because he had decided to keep her instead of letting her go.
She was still trying to get used to being called Ella, in fact everyone was now calling her Ella and she was doing all she could in order to answer to that name. It was difficult, but she was getting better. Now she rested back against the seat of the plane on the way to America and held tightly to Tobias’s hand so that she could stay in the moment with him.
He gave her fingers a light squeeze and stroked his thumb to her knuckles again. Tobias had done it each time she’d tightened her hold on him. Like he may have understood she was freaking out a lot and need the anchor he was providing her. Turning her head slightly she took a peek at the laptop he’d been working on since they’d taken off. She wasn’t quite sure what he was doing but he definitely had a handle on the one-handed pecking. That he didn’t seem to mind she’d confiscated his other hand made her happy if mildly guilty.