Formula for Danger, page 22
part #6 of The Phoenix Agency Series
The lab building was dark like every place else, but by design. The few windows had been painted matte black, and the door, which was in the back, was solid steel. Leo had managed to eyeball it by taking a detour through this very alley the last time he came into town, although he hadn’t been able to linger. The last thing he’d wanted was for someone to ask him why he was hanging around there. He couldn’t see any lights inside, although they must be on. People didn’t work in the dark, for fuck’s sake.
He wanted a better look. During his last visit to that stupid coffee shop, he’d overheard someone mentioning a lot of new equipment had been hauled into the building. Putting the fact together with what he now knew about Cole Martin, he’d bet a bonus from Horner they’d installed some fancy new security. Well, Guerra hadn’t come up against a system yet he hadn’t been able to finesse in some manner. But first he needed to get a sense of what he faced.
Somewhere, somehow, Horner had managed to get blueprints of the original layout of the building. Probably paid off someone at the county offices. The interior had most likely been altered, but at least it gave him a starting point.
No one could see the lights on inside or the guard Leo had seen when he tried to get into the lab the one time. Horner reminded him whoever was on duty would be alert at his desk, ready to act at any disturbance.
“Be damn careful,” he’d warned.
Like Guerra needed someone to tell him that. He had thought this a bad idea to begin with, but Horner had insisted.
“Get in, knock the guard out, pull the hard drive from her computer,” Horner had continued, “and then get the hell out of there.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is. Are you saying you’re not up the task?”
He should have said yes. But he and Damon Horner went back too far.
Earlier, he’d parked for a moment on Main Street, rolled down his window, and used a high-intensity monocular to scan the roof of the lab building. The damn assholes had placed the cameras so they were nearly hidden from sight. But Guerra had spotted them when he drove around the block, while there was still some light to see. He also had special goggles that could detect things like heat sensors so he could avoid them as he stole across the parking area.
Now, dressed all in black, he moved silently behind the buildings, toward his destination. He had made his way stealthily to a point where he had a good view of the lab without being picked up by the cameras when something caught his eyes. He had to squint to make sure, but damn! Another figure, also in black, snuck up on the lab. What the fuck?
He pressed as hard against the wall as he could and watched. The person crouched and eased toward the door of the building. Was the fucker going to pick the lock? Where did such idiots come from? But then he spotted yet another figure easing between the buildings backing up to the lab’s parking lot. Shit! Had he stumbled upon a flash mob for intruders? Any chance he had of doing any more scouting was circling the drain like soapy water.
Rod Vetter had been inclined to turn down the request when he got the phone call.
“I’m not going back there,” he’d told the caller.
“It’s night,” the voice on the other end had reminded him. “They roll up the sidewalks before the sun sets. Park away from the lab building and ease your way to the entrance. There won’t be a goddamn person to see you.”
“What about the security cameras? What about the guard?”
“I’ve got a gizmo for you that can tell you exactly where the cameras are located. Some other toys that will help you, too.”
“And if I get caught? You’ll take care of it?”
After a moment of silence, the voice said, “Yes. No worries.”
“Yeah, right.” Vetter snorted. “Get rid of me is more like it.”
“Do your job and everything will be fine. Get inside, disable the guard, grab the hard drive from her computer, and get out of there.”
It had all sounded so simple, yet so much could go wrong.
He drove down Main Street and circled the area three times before he parked on a side street. He saw only a couple of cars parked in driveways of small houses located near downtown and a pickup tucked out of the way under an ancient oak tree. He found a place for his own vehicle, parked, turned off the ignition, and leaned back in the seat.
He could do this. He’d been doing this kind of stuff for years. Why get the willies now? All of a sudden?
Maybe because there were so many unknown factors. Maybe because the person who hired him was himself an unknown quantity. Sighing, he unscrewed the dome light in the truck and eased the door open, sliding out with his knapsack filled with the toys delivered to him. He could do this. He could definitely do this.
Moving very carefully, he made his way to the area behind the lab building. Using the equipment from his knapsack, he scanned for the cameras again and checked the parking lot for pressure sensors. The little gizmo he held could read them like infrared signatures and would help him navigate to the door.
Once convinced he had a path plotted where he wouldn’t be seen, he removed the gun and stuck it in his waistband, stuck his set of rare lock picks in his pocket, and slipped the knapsack on his back. Then he began to move stealthily toward the door.
I am an idiot, the man in black jeans and black T-shirt said to himself. Stupid. That’s my name. How could I have even agreed to such a thing? This thing has failure written all over it.
He’d said as much, right when the idea was explained to him.
“You’re just chicken,” he’d been told. “I thought you were tougher than that.”
“I’m not stupid to want to come out of this with my skin intact and not be in some jail.”
“Do it right and you’ll be fine. Like I said, get in, get rid of the guard, grab the hard drive, and you’ll be out of there before anyone is the wiser.”
“And all the alarms they’ve set up?”
“You’ve got equipment to help you avoid them. Use it. And call me when it’s done.”
So here he was, easing his way along the side street where he’d left his car, sure he was about to get his dick in a wringer, when he saw something that nearly made his heart stop beating.
He wasn’t there alone.
Leo kicked his brain into gear and began to inch his way back to the alley. All he wanted was to get back to his truck and get the fucking hell out of here. If anyone got in trouble, it wouldn’t be him. How in hell had whoever this was chosen this particular night to break into the lab? They all had to be after the same thing. But he wasn’t about to get screwed up because of Amateur Night.
So he held his position, waiting until he could slide on out of there. But then the crouching figure moved another couple of inches, and a terrible screeching sound filled the air. At once, hidden spotlights came on, pinning the other two men in their glare. Holy fucking damn! Guerra watched them as they ran like hell behind the lab toward the far side street. He barely made it to the shadow of the stores backing the alley when an SUV pulled into the parking lot beside the lab and parked with its lights illuminating everything.
Two men exited the SUV almost before it settled on its tires. Their movements identified them to Guerra at once—trained security experts, maybe even former special ops. They held guns and powerful flashlights and began an immediate sweep of the area. As one of them inched toward where Guerra hid, he forced himself to move. Little by little, he worked his way behind the rest of the buildings on the block and back to his truck.
Shit, shit, shit!
Well, he might not have gotten all the information he came for, but he knew one thing for damn sure. The Phoenix Agency was all over this thing. Breaking into that building would be next to impossible. A fact he was in no hurry to pass along to Horner.
Chapter Eleven
Cole lay in bed, JL nestled against him, both of them basking in the warm afterglow of some extremely erotic and outstanding sex. After their interlude at the B&B, she had thrown herself back into her work, determined to block out everything to do with people after her formula and speed up the results. When Cole wasn’t with her, one of the men living in Clayton stuck to her like glue, but Cole always took her home.
The past two nights it had been to his house, a habit she was finding it hard to break. Tonight, he’d brought sandwiches to the lab when she wouldn’t leave to eat. Then he’d coaxed her out of there, at last insisting she take a break, and once again had taken her mind off the situation in the way he did best.
The ringing of the phone created an unwelcome intrusion, startling them out of the period just before sleep.
“I may have to kill whoever this is,” Cole grumbled.
“I might be right there with you,” she sighed.
He groaned as he eased his arm out from beneath JL and reached for the cell phone on his nightstand.
“This better be good, Blake,” he told the person on the other end. As he listened to one of the two agents they had staying in Clayton, every muscle in his body tightened, and anger raced through him. “Okay, don’t let anyone into the parking lot. I’m on my way.”
He pressed Off and turned back to JL. “Bad news, darlin’. I have to go into town.”
“One of your guys in Clayton, right?” She turned to watch him as he pushed himself to a sitting position.
“Yeah. A bit of unpleasantness at the lab.”
“Unpleasantness? What kind? Don’t try to hide it from me, Cole.”
He sighed. “Someone tried to break in, but—”
“Break in? Did they get anything?” She sat up, throwing back the covers. “I’m coming with.”
“JL . . .” he began.
“It’s my lab. I’m not staying out of this.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s hustle.”
During the tense ride into town, neither of them said a word. Cole did his best to tamp down his rage that someone had been close to attacking the lab. JL sat rigidly beside him, hands clasped tightly in her lap. He knew her fear was for her formula, not for herself. As important as it was, formula be damned—his first priority her safety.
It was easy to spot the lab as they raced down Main Street, the whole area lit up like Times Square at midnight. JL leaped out of the vehicle almost before he could bring it to a stop.
“Did they get anything?” she demanded of Noel Harris, who stood in front of the entrance to the lab.
He had his cell phone to his ear, but he disconnected to answer JL.
“No, Dr. Mitchell. Those special sensors the security company installed in the ground set off the alarms like they were supposed to.” He looked at Cole. “Kevin’s inside with the guard, checking video footage. It seems our intruders knew how to spot the cameras and did their best to avoid them. But—”
“They didn’t know about the ones we set up at night that no one can see,” Cole finished for him.
Noel nodded. “You got it. That’s some slick system. Oh, and that was Mr. Romeo on the phone. He’ll be here shortly. Ed’s flying him.”
JL turned to Cole. “Dan’s coming here? How did he even know?”
Cole gave her a tiny grin. “We’re hooked into the Dragon, remember? Andy got the signal at the same time. His orders were to contact Dan if anything happened, since he’s the one working with the security company.”
“Speaking of which,” Noel said, “are they sending someone, too?”
Cole shook his head. “They’ll only show up if we ping them. Our arrangement is we test their equipment but use our own manpower. Okay, let’s go inside and see what’s what. Then I want to do a walkthrough out here. Noel, don’t leave this parking area.”
The other man nodded.
Cole reached for JL’s hand and tugged her along with him, her hand trembling in his.
“We’ve got it taken care of,” he assured her. “Everything worked. Your stuff is safe. And if we have to make additional adjustments, we will.”
“At least no one got hurt.” She blew out a breath. “I’m grateful for that.”
Cole keyed in the code for the door, pulled it open, and he and JL hurried inside. Craig Levinson, the guard on duty tonight, sat at his desk in what they laughingly called the reception area, his eyes glued to his monitor. Van was behind him, leaning over him, one hand pressed to the desk. Both men looked up when the door opened.
“Hey, boss.” Van straightened. “You’d better come see this.”
Cole and JL both crowded in behind the guard’s desk. Craig punched some keys on his keyboard. Whatever they’d been watching rewound and began to replay. At first, Cole could see only blackness, the building barely distinguishable from its surroundings. Then, as his eyes adjusted, he saw the definition of the building, the parking area, and the small copse of trees behind it all.
“Is that a man I see?” JL asked, pointing to an image moving on the screen.
“Sure is,” Van told her. “Now, watch what happens.”
Suddenly, the spotlights came on, flooding the area with their white light, and a terrible screeching noise blared from the speakers. Trapped in the vortex of it were two men, both dressed in black, greasepaint on their faces. For a moment they both froze and stared at each other, shock evident in the lines of their bodies.
“You can see them haul ass,” Craig noted.
“Yeah.” Van gave a humorless laugh. “They ran like their dicks were on fire. Uh, begging your pardon, Dr. Mitchell.”
“It’s okay.” She managed a tiny smile for him. “I know what dicks are.”
“What’s that?” Cole pointed to the screen where they could barely see the edge of the alley that ran behind the stores.
“That,” Van answered, “is something else that makes me want to kiss this whole system. The cameras are so sharp, so precise. They caught movement over there. That, folks, is contestant number three.”
They all leaned forward and peered.
“Can you enlarge the frame?” Cole asked. “Make it sharper?” This whole situation rubbed his nerves raw. And JL was squarely in the middle of the target.
Craig nodded. “With this system, I can do damn near anything.” His fingers danced over the keys, the narrow portion of the video enlarged, and the figure became clearer.
“Another man all right,” Van agreed. “Doing his best to blend into that alley. Okay, there he goes, heading for the side street over there.”
“Do you recognize any of them?” JL asked Cole.
He shook his head. “No, but I can’t be sure. I’d need clearer pictures.”
“I think that’s the best I can get from this machine,” Craig told him.
“No problem. We’ll just—“
At that moment they heard the familiar whop! whop! of the chopper, and the radio on Van’s belt crackled to life. Blake’s distorted voice came over the air.
“Will you tell Mr. Martin that Dan and Ed Romeo are here?”
Cole unhooked the radio, pressed Talk, and said, “Got it. Send them on in.”
Before he could do more than hand the radio back to the agent, the interior door opened, and two men strode through it. Cole had seldom been happier to see two people in his life. Dan Romeo had a grim expression on his face, and Ed Romeo, Dan’s brother, who had flown him down here, had an equally severe one.
“Fucking assholes,” Dan said in a hard voice. “They don’t know who they’re messing with.” He frowned at Cole. “What’s the sitrep?”
Cole filled him in on the details, with Kevin adding where necessary and Craig filling in from his angle. Dan nudged Craig out of his seat, and his fingers danced over the keyboard as he replayed the video yet another time, enlarging the one area and studying it as the others had done.
“I’m going to send this to Andy,” he told the others. “He can isolate the three men, even the one in the shadows, and give us back clearer pictures.” He took out his cell phone and hit a speed dial.
“Does that poor man ever get to sleep?” JL asked.
Ed laughed. “I think he sleeps with his eyes open and his brain in full throttle. Anyway, he was so excited this system worked and he might have something to play with he told Dan he’d be waiting to hear what we needed him to do.”
“All I can say,” Cole put in, “is the agency is damn lucky to have him.”
His radio squawked again. “Deputies are here,” Van told him. “They want in.”
Cole and Dan exchanged looks. It didn’t pay to piss off local law. You never knew when you might need them.
“We’ll be out to talk to him in a second,” Dan told him.
“He wants to check out the lab.”
Dan snorted. “I’ll bet.”
“And he wants to talk to JL.”
Dan looked at Cole. “He won’t leave until he talks to her,” he pointed out. We might as well get it over with.”
“Okay. Tell him we’ll send her out for a few minutes. In fact, we’ll all come out, and maybe that will satisfy them.”
They left Van inside just in case. The three of them managed to get the deputies settled down and promised someone would meet with Sheriff Davis the next day. No one wanted strange operatives or agents coming into their territory and taking charge of a hot crime scene. Cole’s promise to meet with Davis the next day was the only thing that sent them on their way.
“We need to have a powwow here,” Dan told them when they were all back inside. “Kevin, you’re out in the parking lot with Noel. I want you guys to comb every square inch of the area plus the alley running into it. You never know if someone dropped something or left something behind.”
“We’ll go over it with a fine tooth comb,” Van promised.
“How about some coffee?” JL asked.
“I think we can definitely use some,” Cole agreed.
When everyone had filled a Styrofoam cup from the single-serving coffeemaker, Dan leaned against one of the tables and eyed each person. “Okay. Let’s analyze this.”
