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Sweet. That small amendment would still seer Lester’s butt.
Joe heard the warehouse door opening, then the bus contingent had eyes on the group as everyone from within trooped from the building, into the woods.
“Fifty yards this way,” they heard Lester state with surety.
Yup. He was following the tracker Galici had been supposed to plant on Joe’s body. In reality, Cisco had been the one to put it in position the previous night, as part of the plan to trap Lester.
“Over there,” Lester finally said a few minutes later.
Joe pictured the group hoofing it to where Lester was indicating.
Mason gave a grunt. “I don’t see anything.”
Lester’s voice sounded tight. “Impossible. My intel says this is where her phone’s located.”
There was the bait…
“That’s funny,” Mason replied evenly. “Because her phone happens to be back in the impound area of my station, having been logged in there by me, last night.”
Snap! The trap had been sprung.
“What? No. This indicates it’s here. She’s here,” Lester spluttered.
Joe had never heard the pooch-bag sound so uncertain, and she grinned over at Hank, who was looking pretty darned pumped, himself.
“You, uh, wouldn’t happen to be getting a reading on this, would you?” Cisco asked. He must have retrieved the tracker and held it up.
“Wh…what’s that?” Lester bloviated, trying to take back the authority that had just been abruptly stripped from him. “That’s nothing of mine.”
“Strange,” Mike chimed in. “That’s not what Banito and Galici said.”
“Gal…? Who? What kind of game are you playing here?” Lester attempted outrage, but it sounded a bit desperate.
“No game,” Mason replied easily. “We have sanctioned recording of your last conversation with Glalici, as well as having you on camera last night in Agent Pikens room, planting false evidence,” Mason told him dispassionately.
“No. It’s not me,” Lester spluttered. “It’s Pikens. She’s somehow managed to manipulate this whole thing.”
Mike wasn’t as composed as his superior had been. “You fucking asshole. After all the hard work Joe’s put in to do her job. You’re attempting to implicate her to save your sorry keister? Fucking despicable.”
“Nobody’s implicating anybody,” Lester blustered. “Agent Pikens has clearly gone rogue, and…and…” Desperately, he must have turned to his lackies. “It’s their fault. They planted those drugs. I had no knowledge?—”
“Stow it, Gavin,” Mason finally barked. “Besides the audio recording and the camera footage, we have Galici, Banito, and Havastill all in custody. They’re willing to testify to everything you’ve done. And I’m thinking perhaps, to save their own asses, these gentlemen here with you today might turn evidence, as well. Especially now that you’ve shown exactly how well you reward their loyalty.”
Ooh. Mason sure knew how to turn the screws.
“I’ll have your badges for this,” Lester continued, raging. “You’ll all answer to me when this is over.”
Mason’s calm voice cut through the cull-brap.
“You have the right to remain silent…”
Joe easily pictured the rest of the scene; Lester and his cohorts would have been surrounded and cuffed.
“Can we go meet them, now?” she pleaded with Hank, itching to move and confront Lester.
“I don’t see why not,” he answered easily. He stood up, but let her lead the way.
Joe’s feet flew down the steps, following the team’s trajectory out into the woods. She stopped when she saw the group walking toward her; settled her face into a blank stare, crossed her arms over her chest, and waited.