Page 25 of Baby Take Me Home

Jensen, her team lead, took over. “We know why Ms. Armand thought Izak Kovac was the connection to Carbonados. Her late colleague was paying off informants, mostly couriers, who move in and out of that embassy.”

“Anything actionable for us?” I asked.

“Not without a warrant,” X interrupted, “which we will not get when we tell the judge our basis is the work product of investigative reporters.”

“That was our concern.” Alder glanced at the tech room. “But it’s a shame because there’s good data there.”

“Which we are not going to look at,” X said, then looked at me, “until we can acquire it for ourselves.”

I scowled at her. “Without the warrants that we need to conduct surveillance.”

“Then it sounds like it’s time to expand upon your new tactics,” X said. “Have your new friend push hard on Luka Kovac.”

Jensen and Alder exchanged a look, then glanced at me.

“So, you ream me out for involving the reporter, and now you want me to paint a bigger target on her back?” I asked.

X arched her eyebrow again. I was treading damn close to insubordination.

“Ma’am,” I added.

X frowned, unimpressed. “I want you to use the resources at hand, which in this case, is a cooperating witness. She’ll be much safer working with us than she was working alone, and when things get too hot, we’ll move her into WitSec.”

“But ma’am,” Alder said, “what if she doesn’t agree to go?”

“She had a panic attack at the parking garage,” Jensen added. “Doc said that was when the realization of what she’d agreed to do hit her.”

X glared at me as if this whole damn mess was my fault. Which it was.

“There might be a way to get around WitSec,” I said.

“There might have been,” X said, “but not anymore. We need her front and center with Kovac, after which, she will be burned. The only way to keep her alive will be to convince the world she’s dead.”

I rubbed at the vise of tension on my neck. “I realize that, but Alder’s right to worry Ms. Armand will turn down WitSec when she realizes she has a choice.”

“Then I suggest you convince her she really doesn’t,” X said. “She loves her family. She’ll want to protect them. That’s the screw you have to turn until it hurts.”

She was right, and tomorrow I would make peace with that. But at that moment, I remembered the abject fear on Ashlee’s face, the way she gasped for breath as she understood she had agreed to cut ties with everyone she loved. I’d wanted to hug her to my chest and hold her tight until the shock of it passed. And I hated X for making it worse by doing what had to be done for HEAT.

“Convince her, TJ.” X picked up her black bag and slung the strap over her shoulder. “Because if you don’t, I’ll come back here and finish the job myself.”

CHAPTER 10

Ashlee

I saton a medical exam table in a suite that Dr. Bond referred to as the medical bay. To my left, there was a window that looked out over a nondescript parking lot and some distant office buildings. Below the window was a neatly organized desk, with shelves of medical books and journals lining the walls in the office alcove.

Where I sat, in the middle of the space, there were all the implements of a doctor’s office, with a sink, cupboards, and drawers presumably full of medical supplies, and separate receptacles for trash and medical waste. The was also the door to the hallway, now wide open, and two other doors. One of those led to the bathroom I’d already used. The other was fitted with a sturdy lock, so I assumed it housed controlled substances.

“Do you provide all the medical services for the team?” I asked Dr. Bond, who was reading the test results of bloodwork she’d been able to run herself using equipment lined up on the countertops.

She glanced at me. “I can’t perform surgery here, address major traumas, or perform tests that require large equipment. Other than that, yes, we are rather self-contained.”

My mind stuck on “surgery” and “major trauma” but I knew she wouldn’t elaborate even if I asked, so I remained silent.

“Yes, send her up,” Dr. Bond said.

It took me a few beats to realize she was talking to whomever was on the other end of her comms unit. She had informed me she was wearing it and that the other team members who spoke with me would be wearing the units as well, and that every word of our conversations was being monitored. I took that to mean TJ was somewhere on the other end.