Page 154 of Defenders of Jawhara

It took them three hours to make sure there wasn’t any sort of monitoring devices on the boxes, and then to sort through the contents of both boxes. The top layers were assorted marketing materials that looked much like the ones that Trent had seen in their office.

There were several smaller boxes of swag along with some VHS tapes with labels indicating that these were marketing pieces about the Guardians’ success stories. Setting those aside, they kept looking, but Slade picked up one of the VHS tapes. “Anyone think it odd that they’re using VHS tapes?”

They immediately began sorting through everything that was there. Starting with the swag, they pulled everything out and then carefully removed the plastic wrap from the videos.

“I’ll be damned, that is seriously creative,” Travis commented as he let out a low whistle. “Slade, if you hadn’t said anything…just look at this.”

Cleverly mixed in with the swag items for giveaway were the electrical components to make sophisticated timing mechanisms for bombs. Slade was practically growling as he surveyed everything. They’d figured out how to open the video cassettes and hidden computer components and a flash drive inside. Travis had sent the drive’s contents over to Bethany and they were waiting to hear from her.

“Bethany. Did you get a look at the drive?” Slade practically bellowed to his girlfriend who was peering back at them from video chat.

“First, keep your voice down, Jason is sleeping. He didn’t have a good day today. And second, this is some amazing code.” They could hear tapping as she typed.

“So what are we looking at?” Slade demanded and she glared back at him.

“Basically, using this, they can turn most any cell phone into a transmitter. When launched, it’s designed to target any available phones within a limited radius, which can then be used to trigger an electronic device. It’s clever,” she told them.

“Any chance you can figure out who wrote it?” Trent asked her.

Biting her lip, she tapped away. “Possibly? Something this good, I would think they’d leave a calling card in the code somewhere, but then again, if they’re being paid enough for it, maybe not. I’ll keep looking at my end and text you if I find anything.”

“Do what you can and let me know,” Slade told her as he started to disconnect the call.

“Be careful!” Bethany called out and Slade paused. “Seriously. If this app is launched and is successful, anyone could set off a bomb and not even realize it, and there’s no way to trace where the call came from. Jason needs you, Slade. I need you.”

“Understood. I love you both.”

Slade disconnected the call, his shoulders tense, and Trent was going to give him a pass, but Travis didn’t let it go. “Oooo, he loves them,” he said. “Ow!” Travis rubbed his arm where Slade punched him.

“Shut up. Now let’s get this all put back together. We have bad guys to catch, starting with Mr. Al Shabib.”

He was Trent’s Guardians contact once he made it into Jawhara. The guy was supposed to show Trent the devastation that the Jawharan officials were keeping from the world. Meyers had asked Trent to deliver the boxes to him, and then to take photos and get them out of the country.

Eight hours later, stomach knotted, Trent tried to reach Chloe one more time before getting on the plane, but she still wasn’t picking up the phone.

“Dude! Give her a break. She said she’d talk to you when you got back, and we haven’t even left yet,” his brother called out. Lifting his head, he glared at Travis who smirked in return. “Whoa, someone’s got it bad.”

“Enough with the…I don’t even know what it is…banter?” Slade groused from where he sat in the cabin of one of Slade Security’s private jets.

At that moment, the pilot came over the intercom to let them know that they were cleared for takeoff, and they settled down while the plane began to pick up speed. As soon as they reached cruising altitude, Trent fired off a message to Bethany to see if she could get a location on Chloe.

Bethany responded quickly telling him to give her space. Was everyone up in his business? He was about to respond when Slade cleared his throat. “Do you want to tell me why you’re messaging my girlfriend?”

“Well, for one, she works with us now, and two, I need her help to find Chloe. and I’m hoping she can get a ping off her cell phone.” Slade sighed and had just opened his mouth when Trent stopped him. “Save it. Something is wrong, I know it.”

Slade gave a quick nod. “Okay. I need your head in the mission, so do what you need to do before we land and then let it go until it’s over, got it?”

“Agreed.” He’d feel better knowing Chloe was safe.

Four hours later, Trent was pacing the interior of the small cabin wearing treads into the carpeting.

“Would you give it a rest already?” his brother groused at him from where he was trying to sleep. “Seriously, Bethany said she’d let you know.”

At that moment, a phone pinged with an alert, and Trent reached for his phone, but it was Slade who was looking at his own phone and frowning.

“What is it?” When he didn’t answer immediately, Trent asked again. “Slade, is it about Chloe?”

With a couple taps, the video that Slade must have been looking at on his phone suddenly appeared on the large monitor mounted to the wall. Trent slowly walked back to his seat as he stared at the video.

---