“Hannah, you know I have absolute confidence in your ability, and in everything you’ve ever done for us…” Tuck paused for breath, trying to keep his extreme frustration from making the words come out as an accusation. “But it’s been four days, honey. Is there any way your information was wrong, and Lucky Vega and her men are still on the Mexican side of the border?”
The only thing worse at that moment than the collective gasp of horror that he had actually doubted Hannah’s abilities, was the collective silence that had followed it.
Ten people in a room shouldn’t be this still, or this silent.
Hannah leaned forward in her seat, and in his mind, Tuck could almost see the cartoon image of her giving him a verbal tirade in response, and how it would blow his hair back with the force.
“Tuck, sweetheart, I know it’s been four days. And do you know how I know?” Hannah gave him her sweetest smile. “I know, because for twenty-three hours out of each of those four days, I’ve been sitting at your desk, trawling through CCTV footage, going over partial matches on facial recognition programmes, and liaising with each of the Federal agencies to make sure that the minute Luciana Vega crawls out from whatever hole she’s been hiding in, we spot her and intercept her straight away.”
“But…” Tuck began, but was immediately silenced, when Hannah held up a single finger to let him know she wasn’t finished talking yet.
“And while I’ve been doing that job here, Sacha and Abbey have been working similarly long hours, tirelessly trawling through images and intel to see if we can find our targets anywhere on any CCTV footage in the entire country!” Hannah still smiled at him, but Tuck was starting to see the signs of strain and tiredness in her eyes that he’d not noticed before. “Believe me, Tuck, we’re doing everything we can to ensure that our families stay safe, and that we eliminate any threat. But of course, if any of you think you can do any better, be my guest.”
“Hannah, nobody could have worked harder to track down Lucky Vega or her men than you, Sacha, and Abbey.” Tuck stepped towards the pocket rocket, slipped his arms around her shoulders, and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry if my words suggested I thought otherwise.”
Tuck kissed the top of Hannah’s head before letting her go.
“If my frustration came across as criticism, then it was most certainly unintended. I’m just trying to work out how it is that you, of all people, haven’t been able to track Luciana Vega since she arrived in Philly.” Tuck shrugged his shoulders to release some of the tension he was carrying. “It’s almost as though she became invisible the moment she disembarked the plane.”
“It’s not just her, though.” Hannah pointed out. “She arrived in Philly with at least a dozen people with her, so you’d think we’d be able to trace a multiple room booking made at short notice. The Feds have checked every half decent hotel in the area looking for multiple room bookings made at short notice, but there’s been nothing. Either she’s staying in some two-bit flea infested rathole, or she’s borrowed a Winnebago for a couple of days.”
“Somehow, Mrs Vega doesn’t strike me as a ‘Recreational Vehicle’ kind of woman.” Danny smirked.
“The Feds have checked all the RV parks too.” Hannah smiled at Danny. “Nothing.”
“Ok, so, if we assume that Hannah’s original lead was correct, because, let’s face it, she’s never been wrong yet…” JT noted with a smile. “Then where is Vega likely to have gone?”
“Perhaps she had a contact in the city already, and they have her in a house somewhere, out of sight.” Marcus suggested. “Have the Feds also checked known associates of Luciana or Hector Vega, or her father maybe?”
Hannah’s stare was possibly the most intimidating Tuck had ever seen it.
“Marcus, honey… do you really think that the Feds, and that’s all the agencies, not just the local Feebies, as well as the military intelligence community, because you know I have friends in high places who owe me big favours, plus my little protégées, Sacha and Abbey, and I, are all as dumb as donkeys and wouldn’t have thought of that?” Danny placed a hand on Hannah’s arm, obviously as convinced as Tuck that she was about to launch herself at the next person to make a silly suggestion.
“I was just…” Marcus voice trailed off as he realised that nothing he said was going to help.
“If anyone can think of something we haven’t tried, then I’ll be more than happy to give it a go.” Hannah threw up her arms. “In fact, I suggest that you all brainstorm this without me, and write down every idea you come up with on one list. I’ll go for a walk, and when I come back we’ll see if you’ve come up with something we haven’t tried already. How’s that?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, simply slipped out of Danny’s hold, and walked out of the room, leaving all her friends shocked, and feeling a little guilty.
Candy stood up and went to follow Hannah.
“Candy, no.” Danny stopped her. “Hannah’s just as frustrated as everyone else that she can’t get to the bottom of this. She’s not mad with you guys… she’s mad with herself. I’ll go and speak to her. Why don’t you just do as she suggested, and make that list?”
Tuck watched Danny head out of the office in search of his wife, while everyone else started staring at their shoes.
“Ok, rather than sit around feeling bad about what just went down, let’s do exactly what Hannah suggested.” Tuck took the seat at his desk. “Start thinking outside the box, people. Where could Lucky Vega be hiding?”
“Hannah has already ruled out hotels, motels and RV parks.” JT recapped. “And from her outburst, it’s fair to say that she will have already ruled out known associates. So, where does that leave us?”
“Apartment rentals?” Sara suggested. “Although normally you wouldn’t be able to get a rental agreed in such a short time-frame.”
“What about one of the golf or country clubs?” Candy suggested. “They don’t always come up on hotel booking sites, so maybe Hannah’s search hasn’t covered them?”
“Have we narrowed this down geographically?” Marcus suggested. “I mean, has anyone considered that she’d want to base herself within a reasonable distance from Gregor’s house?”
“Gregor only lives a few miles from here, and like us, he’s outside the city perimeter.” Tuck pointed out. “There aren’t any hotels or golf clubs or anything similar within a three-mile radius that I can think of.”
“What about empty properties?” JT suggested. “Is there any way of checking whether any of the properties should be empty, but aren’t?”
Tuck tried to think quickly.
“Most of the bigger properties have external security, which if triggered will send a signal to the security company.” He suggested. “Those companies will be aware if the clients are going out of town for an extended period of time, and they may patrol the properties while the owner is away.”
“Is there any way of tracking down all the security companies around Philly, to see if they’ll provide a list of all the empty properties in the area?” Sara asked.
“Yeah, because they always give that information out to anyone who asks!” Marcus chuckled.
“Well, we can get the Feds to ask on our behalf, can’t we?” She turned a very cold shoulder on her husband.
Tuck wrote down each suggestion as Hannah had instructed.
“Has anyone done an areal study of Gregor’s property to look for weak spots in his security?” Candy asked. “It might be worth checking with Gregor to see if his team has access to satellite imagery. It might be something we can do while we sit around twiddling our thumbs.”
“I’m sure they will have already looked at that.” Tuck suggested. “I’ll add it to the list anyway, but I’m fairly certain that Kris and Yuri would have that angle covered, if you’ll excuse the pun.”
He finished writing, and then looked around the room.
“Can anybody else think of anything?” He glanced from one friend to another. “Ok, then I’ll pass these to Hannah to see if it helps at all.”
“If nothing kicks off soon, do you think you can persuade Danny to get her out of here for a few days?” Sara asked. “She works non-stop and worries constantly that she’s missing something. She needs a rest.”
“If Danny was capable of persuading her to take a break, don’t you think he’d have done so already?” JT pointed out. “Nobody cares more for their wife than that guy, and everyone knows it. But even he can’t get her to stand down when situations like this arise. It’s like Hannah takes personal responsibility for the safety of the whole family. Nothing is going to stop that from happening this time, either. Not Danny, and not even CJ. We just have to let this thing run its course, and let Hannah work through it. Danny will be there at the end to catch her when her energy levels hit zero.”
“Ok, well assuming he’s had a chance to calm her down, I’ll show her our list, short as it is, and see if it sparks off any ideas.” Tuck stood up. “And if you think of anything else… “
“We’ll tell you and you can pass it to Hannah.” Marcus finished, ruefully.
“Yeah, something like that.” Tuck smiled before going in search of the exhausted Queen of Badass.