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“I’m so tired of him hanging up on me,” Laura Lee snarled.
“Good, get pissed at him and hold on to it,” Garcia said.
“This isn’t good. He’ll see anyone surveilling us. That room is a fish bowl,” Laura Lee said.
“That works both ways. We’ll see in, too,” she heard Taco in her earpiece. “Circles, you set up to record what comes through Lah-lee’s comms?”
“Roger that,” Dupont’s voice came. “You got this Lah-lee. Go get this blackmailing rapist bastard.”
She smiled at his words. “I appreciate all the confidence,” she said as she put the vehicle in park in the parking lot to the side of the library. She saw BT and Jimmy walking into it through the main entrance. “The study rooms are downstairs, straight back from the downstairs lobby, Taco.”
“We’ll see you down there,” Taco replied.
“Target has left his office, heading towards the west entrance into the library,” Sebastian said.
“Stay back. We can’t afford for him to make you now,” BT transmitted.
“Should we converge on the library?” Powder asked.
“Negative. Move halfway between your current twenty and the library. We can’t be sure he won’t send her to a secondary location to be sure she isn’t being followed,” Garcia said. “I’ll be coming in behind you, Lah-lee,” Garcia said softly to her as she opened her car door.
Laura descended the stairs to the lower level of the library, her heart pounding right along with her footfalls down the gray tile stairs. She’d spent so much time here studying and working in groups with other students to complete bullshit group assignments. She always preferred solitary assignments.
“BT and I are in position in study cubicle number two,” Taco broadcast. “I have a good view into the front portion of cubicle number three.”
This brought some solace to Laura Lee.
“Target just entered the building through the west lower-level entrance,” Roth transmitted.
As Laura Lee approached the back portion where the study cubicles were, she saw the back of the man she knew was Harrison West open the door to study cubicle number three. Her heart rate sped up and her breath caught in her chest. “Breathe,” she whispered to herself, following Joe Lassiter’s coaching. She forced her lungs to draw the breath deep and then she blew it out slowly through her pursed lips. She repeated it with a second deep breath, completely filling her lungs. Then her gaze shifted to the cubicle beside the one Harrison West entered. She saw Jimmy Wilson’s face, his lips moving. His hand held up a book. BT’s back was to the glass.
“Target is in the designated room,” Roth reported.
Laura Lee glanced around, looking for Sebastian. She didn’t see him, but knew he was there. “Approaching now,” she informed the team, not that they didn’t know. Just then, West turned to gaze out into the library, and they locked eyes. “Fuck,” she cursed.
“What is it, Lah-lee?” Dupont asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, not moving her lips to speak. “He saw me. I’m moving in to engage.”
“I’m down on level one behind you,” Garcia’s voice said. “Powder, move in and take position in the backseat of the rental. Bubbles, move to cover the front of the target building so it’s secure when Lah-lee exits.”
“Roger,” both men acknowledged.
By the time Laura Lee stepped up to the door to the study cubicle, Harrison West stood just feet inside, his back to study cubicle number two. She opened the door and stood at the threshold. “Time hasn’t treated you well, Harrison. I may know of a good plastic surgeon who can fix those crow's feet and sagging eyelids. I assume you’ve tried Botox, and this is the best it can do.”
“Lovely as always, Army Girl,” West said. “You’re a bit rougher than I recall. Come in and close the door.”
She pointed at the table. “You sit first.”
He sat, his back still to the cubicle that Jimmy and BT were in. She stepped in and closed the door, but she didn’t sit. She stood, leaning against the wall beside the door, her hand on the door knob.
“You do look lovely. Time has treated you well,” he said. “So, tell me about your current assignment. We both know you’re not with ASPD.”
“No, I’m not.”
He waited. When she didn’t continue, he lifted an eyebrow and then threw a flash drive at her. “A video you don’t want to go viral.”
She gazed at the flash drive sporting the university’s logo.