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“Morning, and thank you,” Garcia said, taking the cup from her.
“Hey Laura Lee,” Smith greeted.
Brad joined moments later. He was at home. She recognized his kitchen in the background of his screen. As they greeted each other, Shepherd logged in.
“Good morning. I apologize for the earliness of this meeting,” Shepherd said. “Cooper and Miller will be on momentarily.”
When they joined, seconds later, they both sat with their backs against the padded headboard in their hotel room. They were on the west coast. It was zero two hundred there. Laura Lee imagined they’d set an alarm and just woke.
Her gaze went back to the window Brad was in. She let her thoughts drift to what it would be like to sit beside him in bed. It had been so long since she’d had a relationship. It had been so long since she’d even thought about having one, but here she was, acting like a pre-teen, fantasizing about being with him.
The meeting began with a recap of everything that the Digital Team had dug up. There was a substantial amount of intelligence to sift through. That would be their focus that morning, beginning with sketchy financials on West and all potential victims. Several shell companies were found with multiple transfers into several of their potential victim’s bank accounts disguised as rental payments for rental property.
“Garcia and Saxton were able to substantiate the ongoing abuse by our target yesterday during one of their interviews and discovered a second professor is involved, a Chinese national. Garcia and Smith dove into questionable financials shared by both men last night and where it’s leading is disturbing. So much so that we’re going to alter our approach and the trap we’re setting for West.”
Laura Lee didn’t like the sound of that. Her gaze shifted to Garcia. Had he slept at all last night?
“As I said from the beginning of this case,” Shepherd continued, “I could not ignore the blackmail component. Add in a Chinese connection and this feels like a recruitment vehicle for the Chinese.”
“Recruitment?” Laura Lee asked. “To spy for the Chinese?”
“It’s not a stretch,” Madison remarked. “How far would you go to keep your mom from seeing the photos or video that West claims to have?”
“Agreeing to not press charges is one thing. Selling out my country is another altogether. I’d tell her and anyone else myself before I would become a spy for the Chinese,” Laura Lee said.
“Any recruitment is a slow progression and the scope of what they want happens without the victim really realizing what they’re getting into. Look at the Lansing woman,” Garcia said. “If we’re right, she’s already so deep in to them, she won’t be able to say no to anything they want.”
“Garcia’s right,” Shepherd chimed in. “They own her.”
“I still think she’ll call me,” Garcia said. “Something clicked when we talked to her. She realized the depth of the situation she was in, maybe for the first time.”
Laura Lee wasn’t as sure. She knew all too well that once you lied about what happened to you, it was difficult to admit what really transpired, to others as well as yourself. She wouldn’t voice her thoughts, though.
“Hopefully she’s smart enough to realize that you’re her only way out of it,” Cooper said.
“What’s the new play, Shepherd?” Garcia asked.
“We’ll accelerate the timetable and make Saxton an even more attractive potential asset,” Shepherd said.
Laura Lee’s heart froze in her chest at his statement.
“Both field teams will keep the current schedule with active potential assets, but we’ll eliminate visits to the parents of the young women who killed themselves. I’d like you to wrap up those visits by the end of the day tomorrow.”
“Did you make a decision on pushing the major we spoke with yesterday?” Madison asked Shepherd.
“She made the decision for us,” Shepherd said. “I had the Digital Team enact surveillance on each of your targets to begin immediately after each of your visits. Major Canfield reached out to West immediately after Miller and Cooper were ordered out of her office.”
“I’m very disappointed she did that,” Madison said. “And here I thought she and I had made a connection.” Her tone was sarcastic.
The corner of Shepherd’s lips tipped up slightly. “I have a meeting at zero six hundred with Whiting. It’s time to bring him in on our Op.”
“And the major?” Madison asked.
“I’m catching a hop to the west coast later this afternoon,” Shepherd said, his lips pulling up into a fuller grin. Shepherd reveled in any field time he could get. “Major Canfield will have one opportunity.”
“Did Jessica Lansing reach out to West too?” Laura Lee asked.
“No, she didn’t talk to, text, or email anyone after your visit. Her phone rang with several incoming calls, and she received several text messages last night, none of which she answered,” Smith reported.