Page 27 of Monochrome (ORCA #4)
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
FELIX
“Goddamn it.” I slammed my laptop lid closed, then lovingly ran a hand over it and carefully opened it again, mumbling apologies the inanimate object would never hear.
I had done the best I could to set up a mobile coms unit in the rear seats of Nero’s Suburban, but given the limited time, it was nowhere near as nice as the one I’d had in Amsterdam.
“What’s wrong?” Marcus was next to me on the back seat, watching the same feeds I was on the monitors I’d rigged up from the entertainment system.
During the recon missions last night, I’d had small, nearly undetectable cameras placed to cover any entrance and exit we thought the asshole behind the twins’ kidnapping would use.
They weren’t the best, but since there were no surveillance feeds for me to hack because there was no surveillance on any of the properties at all, it was the best I could do.
Ethan had a pin camera on his shirt, but until our perp came into view, it didn’t do me much good.
All I could see so far was the empty warehouse, and I tried not to shudder at the memories of my time spent in a similar place.
At least we knew the twins hadn’t been kept there, but since we didn’t yet have visual confirmation that they were on the premises, that was only a small comfort.
“I can’t shake the feeling that the answers we are looking for are right outside our reach. I started running facial recognition, looking for matches between the Grove Core employees and any name on the FBI list we have. I was really expecting to get a hit, but nothing.”
Before I could further lament the lack of progress I’d made following one last idea, Cal’s voice sounded in my ear over the coms. He was talking to Hadrian who had just confirmed they’d arrived on site.
Marcus and I had watched them pull up, so I was already aware.
The op was in full swing now.
We’d run out of time to dig any deeper.
But that didn’t mean I was giving up.
I let the program run in the background while I quarterbacked the op from the small copse of trees across the industrial parkway from the warehouse.
Activity at the rear of the building had my attention, and I watched as a boat carrying three men pulled into the warehouse from the downstairs slip off the water.
Marcus’s nose was practically pressed to the screen embedded in the headrest of the driver’s seat as he studied the feed that showed the boat.
“I don’t see the twins. I wish we had thermal imaging on these cameras.”
“You and me both, but I did the best I could with what I had.”
Marcus held up a hand.
“No shade. Just saying it would make this more helpful.”
Nero’s voice came through the coms. “The guy from the deck is heading your way. The two others are staying with the boat.” My mate swore.
“Just saw a flash of metal. He’s armed. Be on your guard.”
My computer chimed the alert tone I’d set for the facial recognition program I was running.
“Marcus, watch the feeds. I’ve got a hit.”
“Roger.”
I switched over to the program I’d built, and my heart stopped beating.
“Holy fuck. Holy fuck.”
“Not the words we want to hear on an op like this, Lucky,” Nero said in my ear.
“Can we get more than that?”
“It’s… He’s… Fuck. How did we miss this? Constantine Yang. He’s Chen Lin. Ethan’s uncle.”