Page 72 of Leading Conviction
She rolled her eyes behind her rose gold frames. “Fine. Wethinkwe found him. But once you see the footage, you’ll know we found him, too.”
Her fingers flew over the keys and mouse until the map image she’d blown up zoomed in farther and farther on the monitors like one big screen. “Hannah, the vacation home you’re talking about, is it… here?”
She finished typing with a flourish and pointed to a mountain in northeastern Georgia.
“Yeah.” Hannah sat straighter in her chair. “Is that where he is?”
Nora shook her head. “No, but where we think he is, is… here.”
She moved the aerial map to show a large building at the bottom of the mountain.
“What’s that?” Devil asked.
“It’s a CTI warehouse,” Nora answered. “According to their former CEO, Gail Haynesworth, and Naomi who used to work for her, the warehouse was supposed to be finished this summer,butwith the ‘PR debacle’—”
“Is that what we’re calling aiding and abetting human traffickers these days?” Hawk growled.
“That’s whatGailcalls it,” Nora scoffed with yet another roll of her eyes. “That woman is a baton twirling master when it comes to spinning her words. Anyway, thanks to all of us catching their trafficking asses, CTI’s operations and new projects have been on hold, including”—she pointed to the monitor—“building this warehouse. In our research, this location seemed like the most likely candidate for nefariousness and Hannah just now confirmed that likelihood since the General obviously used the vacation home nearby.”
“Do youthinkhe’s at the warehouse or are you certain?” Hawk asked, trying to listen between the lines when it came to the creative way Nora delivered news.
“Here,” Wes offered and twirled back around in his rolling chair to face his desk. He pulled up a video that took up the wall of monitors. “I was able to assess which buildings around the warehouse would likely have the best view from their security cameras. Conveniently enough, they all use a security company we’ve worked in tandem with before.”
“Must’ve been an area discount,” Jason snorted.
“Probably,” Wes agreed with a smile. “Anyway, once I convinced my contact we weren’t trying to do anything shady with their clients, they sent me over the videos. Although Vlad must have remembered this location from working with the General, I don’t think he knew about the gas station cameras across the street.”
“And gas station security footage is.” Nora kissed her fingers. “C’est magnifique.”
Wes snorted and shook his head before pointing at the screen.
“Check this out, you guys.”
A black van that looked like the one they saw on the video surveillance the day before slowly rolled up to park in front of the unfinished warehouse. Hawk had to narrow his eyes to see clearly, but he was able to make out a huge man exiting the driver’s side.
“Vlad,” Draco growled.
The Russian giant glanced around as he opened the van’s sliding door. Another man hopped out of the passenger side and blocked their view. Wes zoomed the camera in to the point that it was almost too grainy, but Hawk squinted to see the two men carrying someone outside of the van and disappearing into the warehouse.
Wes pressed a key on the keyboard and the video froze. “So… yeah. Either they put the General in that warehouse,orwe have someone who needs saving. Either way, we have a warehouse to get to.”
While Hawk still held Hannah’s hand underneath the table, he used his other to trace his lips with his index finger. The pressure of everyone’s bated breath weighed down his shoulders as he thought.
Whether the actual “bad guy” at the moment was the General or Vlad, if they went to that warehouse then BlackStone could take them both down. It’d be everyone in one place, finishing this shit once and for all.
But what if Vlad was manhandling someoneelseinto the warehouse? What if the General was free now? Or was it all a ruse? That meant Hawk would be leaving Hannah all by herself so he could do his job…again.
It didn’t sit right with him to leave her. Not now. He’d done it once before for her safety, and he regretted it with every fiber of his being.
But before Hawk could make a decision, Nora cleared her throat.
“So, that’s all for thegoodnews.” Her voice turned somber, an alarming departure from her normal singsongy cadence. “Ready for the terrible, horrible, no good very bad kind?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
“What’s the bad news?” Hawk asked, trying not to growl his frustration at the situation.
“Well, we also found this on one of the flash drives.” Wes let out an exhausted exhale while he typed. “It’s pretty damning, but I think the General kept it as blackmail in case his plan went south.”
