Page 51 of Embedded
“Right, but I could see the area codes, and one of numbers was in Washington and the other in North Carolina.”
Cole’s brows went up, and all three men turned to stone. The tension in the room spread like the tentacles of a squid had slowly latched on to them and squeezed. “What else?”
“I heard Esmeralda on the phone with an American lawyer speaking about the soil being dry.”
“Meaning?” Chili finally joined the conversation.
“Well, maybe nothing, but add that to the blueprints I found, and a real estate pamphlet I saw in her office another time, let’s say it raised my suspicions to a whole other level.”
Paul leaned over the table as things grew even more intense. “Do you have a copy of those blueprints?”
“No. Before I could snap a photo, she came in the room. I pretended I got lost in the house, but I don’t think she believed me.”
Is there any way you could give us a sketch of what you can remember about those blueprints?”
“I already did that.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the laptop Mark had given me. I tapped on a folder and brought up a photo I took of my drawing from that night. I turned the computer around to face Cole. “This is everything I could remember.”
“Jesus, Nicole, I’m impressed.” Paul smiled at Cole. “Anything else?”
“I have a lot more I could share. It’s just pieces of a much larger puzzle, but it’s starting to take form. I know if I had another month or two, I could figure it out.”
Cole nodded. “Nicole, I can’t stress just how serious this could be. We don’t have another month. How about a week?”
A week? I ran that around in my head. “I’d have to have an in. I can’t work from the outside looking in. If it’s seven days, I’ll have to jump in headfirst.” I looked around the table as excitement grew in my stomach. “I can do this. I’ll just need some resources.”
“We have endless resources.” Cole glanced at Chili then at Paul. “Let’s hear what else you have, but we’ll have to move fast.”
A slow smile stretched across my lips. “Copy that.”
ELEVEN
PAUL
We spent the rest of the morning going over everything Nicole had. On the plane, we sifted through all her notes, photos, and possible leads. To say we were impressed would be an understatement. Nicole brought answers to questions we’d been trying to figure out for years. She had a timeline of specific events we’d been involved in and the aftermath of our extractions. Critical information came out that would help us improve our missions moving forward. It was like we got a sneak peek into their world looking at us instead of the other way around.
“Change of plans.” I grabbed Nicole’s suitcase when we landed in North Dakota.
Mike caught up and fell in step with me. “They’re here. First class lounge back in the private room.”
“Copy that.”
Nicole fought to keep up as her legs were shorter than ours, and I wished I could slow down a little, but we had to hurry. “What’s up? Where are we going?” She looked from me to Mike and back.
“We need to check in with some people, and time’s not on our side.” I spotted the sign for the first-class lounge. We stepped inside and handed our luggage to a man at the desk.
“Where did the others go?” Nicole gasped for air.
“We’ll be fast.” I addressed the guy and handed him a twenty.
“Of course, Mr. Paul.”
Nicole looked confused, but I didn’t have time to explain. We quickly moved through the room where men and women who were lucky enough to sip their drinks away from the madness of the airport enjoyed their time between flights. I made my way through to another room where only a select few could go. I waved a card at a rather round man, and he reached down to press a button without comment, and the door opened.
It was dark and cool inside, and the décor was elegant and low-lit. I looked around then turned to Nicole and put my hands on her shoulders.
“Hey,” she looked up at me, “I want you to meet some people. They’re friends of mine, okay?” I kept a hand on her shoulder but stepped to her side so she could see who I referred to.
I felt her tense under my hold and wished I’d taken a moment to give her a heads up, but there really hadn’t been time. “Oh, fuck,” she breathed.
