Page 18 of Astrid
“With Justin and Alex upstairs with Joyce and me, that leaves two empty beds down here. Not only can he stay here, but he can get the information as soon as we get it, then if something happens and we are being watched, not now, but when we get closer to taking these guys down, then he won’t be coming and going at certain times. You know, being monitored.”
“Shit, I never thought of that.” Carl looked at the women in concern. “Are you sure you have the room?” He didn’t know if he should be concerned about their grins, but he followed them when they told him to. He was led to the other side of the gym, and when the door was opened, he whistled at the seven beds there, but they weren’t crowded. Each bed had a night stand, a dresser, and even what looked like a foot locker. After inspecting the bathroom, he nodded. “If you’re sure, I’ll run this information by my supervisor, and see what he says. I’ll work on the warrants to get those hidden cameras installed, but don’t think I’ll be back in days, it could take up to two weeks.” He paused long enough to look at each woman in the eye. “In the meantime, please help Dillon work with the men who will be installing those cabinets. I know I mentioned earlier to have them work an hour a day, but it might not be enough.”
“As long as you’re back here by the time Alan and I have to install the cupboards, I don’t see any problem with it, do you guys?” Astrid looked at the other women and saw they didn’t have a problem. As they started to leave, while they were in the gym area, Joyce whipped around, and demanded, “What about Frankie?”
“Who is Frankie?” Everyone asked as they frowned at her.
“Francesca Mancuso from Idaho, she’s your counterpart there, isn’t she?” Joyce asked Carl, and the women watched in shock as he swore.
“What?” Astrid asked.
“I never told her about the information that Alex had done with that information from the tracking device from Stella.”
“Do you think she needs to be read in?” Ava asked.
“Yeah, because from what you’ve already pieced together, I’m going under the assumption that everything starts in Idaho, and ends up here in North Dakota.” He looked over at Morgan with a frown. “You have any more operatives you can send to Idaho to do what these ladies are doing? Maybe a couple of your bothers too? Not that I don’t trust the women, but you know, let them have some backup, because I don’t want to have the powers that be read into why they are there. Your operatives would have to be stealth.”
Morgan frowned, then sighed. “In the next three to four weeks I definitely have three more operatives coming in. The fourth one might not be until sometime in late September or early October.”
“May I ask why so late?” Carl asked as he followed the women back into the war room.
“Because, she may be medically released from the Marines. We won’t know until she completes all her physical therapy. That’s all I know right now.”
“Okay, but can you send the others coming in to Idaho? I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but I’d feel better if we had people like this,” he pointed to Joyce, Ava, and Astrid. “Doing reconnaissance over there.”
“Would you have them report to anyone there?”
“Maybe Francesca,” Carl sighed, and rubbed the back of his head. “But we’d have to bring her here first, and read her into what you’ve already uncovered, and what we want the new recruits to do.”
“Let me discuss this with Uncle Chip, and get his take on it. Once I hear back from him, I’ll let you know, then we can read this Francesca person into our plans.”
“Deal,” Carl said as he stuck out his hand and shook theirs. Within minutes he was gone, and the women looked at each other with raised brows.
CHAPTER8
Around lunchtime Monday,Astrid finished setting the plate of sandwiches on the table, then went back for several bags of chips. Over the last day and a half, she’d been able to organize the first shipment of equipment Uncle Chip’s office had sent, and compiled a list of other items she needed, not including the things being shipped to her this week. When the door opened and all the men entered, Astrid went to the door leading down to the basement, and hollered that lunch was ready, then she went to one of the offices down the hall, and knocked on the doorjamb to one of those offices. When Morgan looked up, she said, “Lunch is ready.”
“Thanks, I’ll be right there.” She turned back to her phone conversation, and by the time Astrid arrived back in the kitchen area, Morgan had joined them. They all sat down and dug in, but John frowned at her.
“Who did this?” He indicated the food spread out before them. “It was my turn to fix lunch. I was going to start it at noon.”
“Sorry,” Astrid said as she picked up her half of sandwich. “I was bored and decided to start it.”
“Bored?” John asked in confusion. “Don’t you have enough equipment to set up? Why would you be bored?”
“Because, I don’t have all the equipment I need. Not only am I waiting for the things from Uncle Chip, but I need to find an electronics store and purchase some more items.”
Morgan waved her hand before her face, then finished her mouthful of food. “If I give you a credit card, can you pick up some groceries for here?” She looked around the house. “I know I don’t live here, but I’ve been eating my lunches here, and I know you guys have to be running low on food.” She looked around the table and saw the others wouldn’t look at her. “You have to tell me when you need something. Uncle Chip left the credit card with me, but there’s no reason why I can’t give it to you guys.” She reached in her back pocket and pulled it out to place on the table. “Astrid, after lunch, please take this and go get what you need, along with groceries for the house. I’m sure there’s a list started somewhere.”
“On the refrigerator,” John said as he rose from his seat, and went to retrieve it. When he returned, Astrid saw he took the pencil from behind his ear and poised it over the paper as he continued to eat. As everyone ate, they came up with a list of items to purchase. It was decided that John would drive Astrid to town to get what she needed, as well as help her with the groceries. An hour later, they were pulling out of the driveway, and heading toward town.
“How’s the office coming along?”
“Better than I thought,” John admitted as he sighed and held up his left hand. “Especially with what happened to me last Friday. I swear it was a day from hell, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am about throwing that screwdriver into your tire.”
“Don’t worry about it, at least you didn’t intentionally throw it.” She smirked when he only gave her a quirked brow. “You didn’t do any damage to my Jeep. How’s the finger?” She noticed he hadn’t put a bandage on it since he’d hit it with a hammer and gotten a blood clot beneath the nail. “Will you lose the nail?”
“Probably, but it’s hanging on for now.” He shrugged. “All part of the job.”
