Page 86 of Leading Conviction

“Well, shit, that ain’t good.”

Hannah’s eyes widened at Nora’s use of an actual curse word instead of a colorful string of phrases.

“What isn’t good? What’s going on?” Hannah leaned toward the screens, her breakfast altogether forgotten.

“No… no, no, no. Shit.” Nora muttered as she typed furiously on the keyboard. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Hannah’s pulse raced, and she wrung her hands.

“Nora. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“Wes tried to get in touch with me through the back channels of our communication system. But their service made his transmission spotty, so it’s just now getting through the receiver—”

“Nora.”

“Yeah, sorry. Mumbo jumbo. Apparently, Wes messaged us a while ago, but for some reason, it only came through just now.”

“Okay… what was the message?” Hannah unsuccessfully tried to quell the edge in her own voice.

“Ah, here it is…” Nora bent forward to read before she frowned. “It just says ‘be on the lookout.’ Well, sheesh, Superman, not very informative, just unnerving as hell.”

“Why would he send something so vague?”

“Yeah, you’re a painter, right? And I’m a classic worrywart. Doesn’t he realize how great our imaginations are?” Nora typed furiously, reading out loud as she did. “You… can’t… just… say… that… you cryptic… blue-haired… goober—”

Another beep, harsher than the other two, made Hannah jolt and sent shivers down her spine. Nora paused over her keystrokes. Her frown deepened and she switched to the mouse until the monitors changed to show BlackStone’s security feeds.

“Wes updated all the security measures in the building after the attack a few months back. I just need to check… something…” Nora’s words drifted off as she searched the monitors.

“What do you see? Is something wrong?” Hannah could hear the panic in her own voice, but she couldn’t help it as Nora narrowed her eyes at the footage.

The woman cursed and pressed a button before speaking through a small microphone sticking out of one of the keyboards. The woman’s normally lyrical voice sounded strained as it echoed into the war room from speakers in the hall.

“Callie… the viper circles the nest. Take the egg from breakfast and bring it to ground. I repeat, the viper circles the nest.”

On a screen in the middle row, Callie lifted her head. Her sleek black ponytail allowed her face to easily be seen by the camera and the small smile she’d had for whatever Tommy was saying at the bar completely disappeared.

She set down her plate and beckoned Tommy to follow her. When he slid off the chair without protest, Hannah half wondered what the magic words were to get him to move so quickly. But when Callie put one arm around his shoulder and one hand on the gun Hannah had somehow missed was strapped to her side, Hannah’s stomach dropped.

“Nora, tell me what’s going on.”

Nora muttered a curse under her breath as she typed and looked at the screens.

“Nora! Tell me right now—”

Movement on the bottom three monitors caught her attention. Nora swallowed audibly as she finally answered.

“Someone’s here.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY

Black figures stalked across the screens. They crouched with assault rifles swiveling around as they searched the area. It reminded her of the many military films, videos, and movies her father had made her watch growing up.

These men looked well trained, moving in sync with one another. And from what she could tell, they had the building surrounded. At least three men took up the monitors depicting the ground floor of the facility, and one more climbed the fire escape on ropes before dropping the ladder down for his companions.

“They broughtgrapplinghooks? What in the underworld is going on here?” Nora lamented. “Who are these people?”

Hannah had the same question, except there was one person shedidrecognize. Her skin crawled as her tormentor sauntered out of a large black van right in front of the BlackStone Securities garage.