Page 11 of Baby Take Me Home

Sparks shook her head, holding back a smile. “That’s just it. I can’t find any masseuse’s schedule that aligns with that appointment.”

“Just Ms. Armand in an empty room.” I glanced at Penn again. “Like the Kyiv job, where we met our contact in a health club steam room. Do we have security footage of anyone else entering the room while she’s there?”

“There are no cameras in that hallway,” Penn said. “We need someone on the ground.” He glanced at our tactical team.

“Not one of them,” I said. “Same problem as Saturday night. She’ll recognize them from the party the night of the kidnapping. She probably already suspects they’re working with me, so seeing them at her club would tip her off that we’re watching her. Since she’ll need to be monitored in the women’s locker room as well, it’s Alder or Sparks.”

“I’ll need Alder analyzing data we can pull from any devices Armand or her contact have on them.” Jensen glanced at X. “Assuming we have warrants in place by then.”

Sparks grinned. “Looks like I have a spa day coming.”

“And we’re still sitting on our hands,” Li grumbled.

There are few team members harder to manage than kick-ass adrenaline junkies like our tactical crew when they’ve been sidelined.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll come up with something to keep you and Kessler busy.”

“We have a thought,” Kessler said, glancing at Li to indicate both of them. “Jensen and Alder have been using publicly available information to track the Subcommittee senators, too, but nothing actionable has come out of that. So maybe we need to stir things up and create a little action.”

“I already hate the sound of this,” X said.

“I know it sounds reckless on the surface, but it gets better,” Li said. As a former army sharpshooter and the daughter of a highly respected Navy Admiral, her pronouncements carried a gravitas that sometimes seemed lacking in her senior partner Kessler’s delivery, but the truth was, they were a dynamic duo that held the Alpha team together.

“I’m willing to hear the plan,” I said. I was trying to foster a more collaborative atmosphere. That had been one of the bullshit, micro-managing suggestions of the Subcommittee, one of the few I was willing to implement.

“Jensen can fake credentials to get us in anywhere,” Kessler continued. “We can be at every public event and reasonably accessible private ones of the nine Subcommittee members. We’ll build a HUMINT dossier,” she said, referring to human intelligence, good old-fashioned spy craft.

X pinched the bridge of her nose. “HUMINT dossiers on sitting US senators.” She sighed audibly, but she didn’t say no.

“Alder, can you build a program to analyze the data we need to set up a schedule of events and prioritize them?” I asked.

“On it,” she responded.

“I’ll check with the other teams, bring in some other tactical crews to help carry the load,” X said.

The energy in the room shifted. For the first time in far too long, there was palpable excitement about the possibility that we could turn the tide of negativity.

“Anything else we can do to support the effort?” Penn asked.

X sighed again. “If you’re religious pray. If you’re not, get religion.”

I stood again and took over the meeting before X’s melancholy deflated the team all over again. “On that note, Alder and Kessler, I want a plan laying out a schedule of events for the next ten days. Have it on my desk this afternoon. Team, you’re dismissed.”

“Yessir,” they said in unison and mock saluted.

X made a quick exit, but the rest of the team meandered toward the door, exchanging barbs and insults in the way only those who love each other can. A small amount of tension eased out of my neck at the sight of their exuberance.

“Samantha, hold back,” I said as the rest of the team filed out of the SCIF.

She waited until we were alone in the room, then asked, “What’s up?”

“I’ve wanted to ask you about this for days.” I’d tried to forget it, then to avoid the memories that kept popping into my head, but it wasn’t working. I needed an outside perspective. “Something happened Saturday night. Actually, it was Sunday morning, when I was at Ms. Armand’s house.”

Sam sat back down and motioned for me to sit. “Tell me everything.”

“Everything? There’s nothing… I’m a professional doing a job.”

Samantha nodded. “With a woman you’re wildly attracted to, who returns the admiration. That’s according to Kessler.”