Page 20 of Digit's Deflection
“Good morning. How did you sleep?”
“Hey,” I reply. “Good thanks. You?”
“Better than I thought I would, to be honest.”
“Where’ve you been?”
“Running. I’ve just come back from PT.”
Sitting up, I ask, “What’s the time?”
“A little before six. I hate to go, but I need to get home, shower, and get ready to head into the office. I just didn’t want you to think I’d abandoned you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
He nods. “There’s coffee and breakfast on the counter in the kitchen. I need to go, but is it possible to talk when you’re done at work? I can come get you.”
My stomach knots at his request. I know it’s unavoidable, but it doesn’t mean I have to look forward to it either. But I nod, knowing it’s only fair that I tell him what happened that night I ran away.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Great, then I’ll see you later.”
“Mmhmm, yep. Later.” He comes around to my side of the bed and drops a kiss on the top of my head unexpectedly.
“Later, then.”
Uncertain how to feel about anything right now, I remember at the last second to thank him for the breakfast and coffee. Not sure I’m ready to face the day, I roll out of bed and pad down the hall in search of the gifts he brought me anyway, since Father Time won’t wait for me to get my shit together.
Who knows how today will play out. All I can do is pray for the best, while preparing for the worst.
11
DIGIT
The day is dragging despite how much needs doing. My mind’s just not in the game. I know I need to focus on what’s going on here, but all I can think about is what’s going to come from this afternoon.
Ineedto know what happened back in the day, but I’m not sure I’mreadyto hear it. And then, where do we go from there? Can we find a way forward to be in each other’s lives again, or is this a fact-finding mission only? I just don’t know, and it’s driving me nuts.
“Digit, can you put the aerial shots taken by the drone up on the screen, please?”
Knight’s question brings me back into the room with a thump. “Sure thing, Boss Man. Do you want just those we shot, or images from all three teams?”
“All three teams, please.”
“You got it.” Pulling the images onto the screen, I lay them out in a grid per team. “The images in grid one were taken by Wolf’s team. As you can see from the before photos, the compound has been completely obliterated.
“A network of tunnels was revealed as a result of the destruction of the compound, and steps were taken to ensurethat those too were destroyed and rendered unusable. This exercise was executed at exactly the same time in two other locations, rendering the same results, as supported by these images.
“Each compound was found to have a similar network of tunnels beneath the structures aboveground. Each were destroyed in order to prevent Armatrout and his merry band of crazies to use them, possibly as a means to rebuild, or simply hide out in.”
“Thanks,” Knight says, before an in-depth discussion commences around the images, the tactics employed during the joint mission, and what intelligence was gathered during the raids.
“Right, so all data and artifacts recovered from the three sites is being mined by Digit and Ace, with remote assistance from Tex. With luck, something useful will come from the stuff we got our hands on, no matter how small. Something that could point us in the right direction to find where this fucker is hiding. The sooner we find him, the sooner we can bring Commander Jones home,” Knight says.
“And is Ms. Jones still being monitored?” Commander Hurt asks Knight.
“Yes, sir. Her emails and messages are being intercepted by Tex, and all those not related to Armatrout are being released to her. Her phone calls are being monitored as well. She is unaware that she’s receiving communiqué from the man.”
