CHAPTER TEN
Brent grimaced. President Martin calling less than twenty-four hours after his last contact wasn’t a good sign. “What do you need, sir?”
The Commander in Chief sighed. “I hope your team is ready, Brent. The situation in Mexico is heating up.”
“They’ve been alerted. Time to activation?”
“Immediately. Get them in place. Wait for my order to execute.”
“Copy that, sir.”
“Brent.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Tell them not to get caught.” Martin’s tone was grim.
The statement needed no explanation. The authorities and cartels active in the Chihuahua province hated Fortress. If St. Claire and his unit were caught, they would be locked in a Mexican prison and forgotten, or outright killed. “I’ll pass the message, Mr. President.” He ended the call, then placed another to Zane. “Z, activate St. Claire’s team.”
A soft whistle from his tech guru.
“I want to know what our people are walking into before we deploy. Tell St. Claire to pack heavy.” In other words, prepared for heavy resistance when they rescued the ambassador’s family. Brent wondered if he needed to activate another unit to help. Maybe Durango, Cahill’s Delta team.
“Copy that. Anything happening with Rowan’s situation?”
“Guy named Carlos Salazar took a run at her last night.”
“She okay?”
“Oh, yeah. The lady has courage in spades.” His gaze locked with her puzzled one.
“You get him?”
“Taylor has him down at the station.”
“Good job, boss. I assume Salazar has a few new bruises.”
Not as many as he’d wanted to dish out, but enough. “What do you think?”
“That’s he’s lucky to be breathing. I’ll get back to you soon about the situation in Mexico.”
Brent turned to Rowan. “Find the flash drive?”
She passed him the original and a blank one. “Mr. President? You’re not talking about William Martin, are you?”
His lips twitched. “You’re surprised I know the President of the United States?”
“Well, yes. You talked to him like he’s a friend.” That wasn’t normal. None of her friends knew high-powered politicians, let alone treated them like pals.
“He is. We were friends before his election.” He crossed to her side. “One of my teams rescued his daughter and grandson.”
“Oh, wow,” she whispered. “I remember Charlotte being kidnapped. She gave birth to her son during the rescue.”
Brent chuckled. “Our medic had the privilege of helping Sam into the world. He said Sam’s birth was the one bright light on that harrowing journey to freedom.”
“I’d love to meet her and Sam. I admire her resiliency and ability to be a great mother, and still represent her father. I hope I do as well with Alexa.”
“Charlotte won’t be traveling much more.”
“Why not?”
Brent figured telling Rowan about the new pregnancy wouldn’t be a problem since the news media would catch on soon enough. Besides, Rowan could use good news. “She hasn’t announced it yet, but Charlotte’s pregnant again.”
Rowan smiled. “That’s great. I’ll keep quiet about the baby until Charlotte releases the news.”
“Would you like to go with me the next time I travel to D.C.?”
“Sounds like fun. Are you sure you want me to go, though? I can’t leave Alexa behind.”
“Baby, I don’t expect you to leave your niece here, especially not now. I thought she’d enjoy playing with Sam.”
“Thank you, Brent.” She kissed him lightly.
A knock sounded on the door. Chase stepped partially inside the office. “Sorry, boss, but foot traffic is picking up and Lacey isn’t here yet.”
“I’ll be right there.” She eyed Brent. “Do you want to work here?”
He shook his head. “I’ll sit at the coffee bar until Adam arrives. Then, if you don’t mind, I will work here. I have calls to make.” Calls better conducted behind closed doors. Brent picked up his laptop and coffee, and followed Rowan to Coffee House’s main room.
Customers were lined up for coffee and pastries. The shop buzzed with conversation and the sounds of the machines used for some of the specialty coffee drinks.
Instead of logging onto his computer and copying the flash drive, Brent watched Rowan. She greeted most of the customers by name, laughed with them, made suggestions for coffee flavors for those who asked for a recommendation, provided a free small cookie for each child who came to the counter, and kept the orders going as she connected with her customers.
She was good. Really good. He’d been impressed with her since he first walked into her shop. Brent was usually one of her first and last customers of the day so he didn’t see her in action like this. No wonder Coffee House was popular.
The bell over the door rang and his operative strode into the crowded shop. Adam looked more energized than the last time Brent had seen him. Probably had something to do with him having a mission, even if the work was local. Brent’s operatives didn’t like inactivity. Most of them returned to duty sooner than they should.
A table in the corner at the back of the room opened up. Brent indicated for Adam to follow him and moved with his computer to the new location. The coffee bar was too busy and noisy for a conversation with Adam. He knew the other man needed to sit with his back to the wall. All his people were twitchy with strangers too close. Brent’s lips curved. He was just as bad, but he had a great motive for ignoring the fake spiders crawling on his skin. Rowan.
“Thanks for coming, Adam,” Brent murmured.
A snort. “You don’t have to thank me, boss. I’m happy to be off the couch. Has the doctor’s report on me come through yet?”
He shook his head. “Should be in any day now.”
“What is her problem?” Adam Walker scowled. “It’s been a week already.”
“I called her office. She’s out because of a family emergency and not expected back for another week. She left a message that she’d be working remotely on case files.”
Adam’s eyes glittered with annoyance. “Good thing I’m not sick.”
“Isn’t it? I imagine she has someone covering her day-to-day patients. Reporting results like yours for Fortress isn’t a priority.”
“They are to me.”
“Won’t be much longer, Adam.” Brent laid the blank flash drive on the table, then handed over Heather’s. “Take a look at this. The drive on the table is empty. Make a copy of the original to work on.”
“What am I working on?”
“I think it’s a list of names written in code.”
The aggravation in Adam’s gaze disappeared to be replaced by curiosity. “This related to a case?”
“Yeah.” And much more. Brent summarized what happened with Rowan and her family.
Adam scanned the busy room until his gaze found Rowan. He inclined his head in her direction. “Your woman?”
His cheeks burned. Hard to justify calling Rowan his woman, but he didn’t correct his operative. “That’s Rowan. I think her niece’s disappearance is related to what’s on this drive.”
A short nod. “I’ll work on it.” Adam unzipped his backpack and grabbed his laptop. “Anything else?”
“Keep an eye on Rowan. Someone may try for her again.” And with people in the shop, many could be hurt in an attempt on Rowan. “I’ll be down the hall.”
Rowan walked up with two mugs of coffee and set them on the table. “Hi, you must be Adam. I’m Rowan.”
The Force Recon Marine laid his laptop on the table and stood to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Rowan. I’m sorry to hear about your family.”
“Thanks.” Rowan cleared her throat before continuing. “The coffee is black. I’ll be happy to add flavored creamer.”
Adam grimaced. “No, thanks. That’s my sister’s thing, not mine.”
“His sister, Claire, is married to Zane,” Brent added.
“Zane’s a good man.”
The operative shrugged. “Z’s an all right guy. Claire’s happy and that’s all that matters to me.”
“Would you like a snack?” she asked both of them.
“Sure, as long as you eat something yourself,” Brent said.
“When Lacey arrives,” she promised. “Any preference on the snack?”
“Whatever is not selling today,” Adam said.
“Scones. They’re usually my bestsellers.”
“Their loss, our gain.” A small smile curved his mouth. “We’re not picky, Rowan. Whatever you bring will be happily devoured.”
She grinned. “I’ll be right back with your food.”
“Nice woman, boss. Pretty, too.”
Brent froze, his gaze darting to his operative. “True on both counts,” he growled.
Adam chuckled. “I have no intention of pursuing her, Brent. She’s interested in you although I can’t figure out why.”
“Thanks a lot.” Was she interested in more than casual dating? He hoped so. The more time he spent with her, the more Brent admired her.
Rowan returned with a tray of assorted pastries. “Let me know if you need anything else. We also have water and soft drinks in the refrigerated case by the coffee bar if you want something other than coffee. Everything is on the house.”
“Thank you, baby.”
She smiled and returned to the coffee bar.
“You good, Adam?” Brent asked.
“I’m fine. I’ll watch over Rowan.”
He clapped the other man on the shoulder and stood. Tucking his laptop under one arm, Brent carried coffee and a scone to Rowan’s office. As he swallowed his last bite, his cell phone chirped with an incoming message from Zane.
Brent called his friend. “What do you have for me?”
“Nothing good. The Navarro cartel is after the ambassador’s family.”
“Oh, man.” He sighed. Of all the cartels to tangle with, this group in particular had it in for Fortress. Brent had lost count of the number of skirmishes his people had gotten into over the years with Navarro. In fact, the antagonism had gone all the way back to the end of his SEAL days. The cartel had been new back then, but they’d been big and powerful even then. “They have a complaint against the ambassador?”
“Alvarez is pushing against drugs, gun-running, and human trafficking. If it’s illegal, Navarro is making a profit from it. The federales are coming down hard on Navarro because of Alvarez.”
“Fantastic. Activate Rodriguez. I want him piloting St. Claire and his unit.” Julio Rodriguez was the best pilot Fortress employed. The guy was combat trained, a top gun pilot.
“Copy that. I’ll keep monitoring the Chihuahua province.”
Brent dropped his phone on Rowan’s desk and rubbed his face with his hands, considering his limited options. He didn’t want to send Durango back out, but St. Claire might need additional help if the mission went critical. With them operating in the heart of Navarro territory, that was almost a given.
Rowan walked in. “Lacey is here. Do you want to go to the police station now?”
“Let me check with Adam, see how he’s doing on that list.” Laptop in hand, he made a beeline for Adam’s table. On the way, he noticed a pretty blond behind the coffee bar with Chase. Must be Lacey. “Progress?” he asked Adam.
“Here.” He slid a flash drive across the table. “I brought an empty flash drive with me. I figured Taylor would want a copy as well. The document is definitely in code. There are a few popular options I’ll check first. Might take a while,” he warned.
“I understand. Do what you can.”
“You’re sure it’s a code, Adam?” Rowan asked, a thoughtful look on her face.
“Yeah, why?”
“Heather loved secret codes. When we were kids, she always made up her own to leave me secret messages about boys she liked or if something one of our parents did upset her. We weren’t allowed to complain out loud. Got us in even more trouble.”
“Would she have used one of your childhood codes?” Brent asked.
“I doubt it. Heather played around with so many she probably couldn’t remember any one in particular.”
“Did she have a computer at home that was hers?” Adam folded his arms and leaned on the table. “Or would she have used her husband’s computer?”
“She had her own. Jay didn’t want her or Alexa in the study.”
“I’ll keep working the code,” Adam said to Brent. “It would be easier if I had access to Heather’s computer. She probably researched secret codes on the Internet. If I access the same websites, I’ll know which codes she didn’t use and eliminate them.”
“Their house is a crime scene,” Rowan said. “We can’t get in there.”
Amusement lit Adam’s gaze. “If I don’t make progress by the time night falls, I’ll take a look inside their place. Do you know where she normally kept her computer?”
“Her bedroom or Alexa’s. But their place is huge,” she said, dropping her voice. “How will you know which rooms to focus on?”
“I’ll draw him the layout.” Brent squeezed her shoulder. “He won’t have a problem.”
“What if you get caught, Adam?” she whispered.
He grinned, the smile lopsided because of the scar on his cheek. “I’ll call the boss to bail me out of jail.”
Brent almost laughed out loud. Adam Walker wouldn’t get caught.
The shop door crashed open. A big, beefy guy stormed inside, and headed for the coffee bar.