Page 122 of Storm Warning

Another thought popped into Riley’s head. “Wait, Violet.”

Andre turned toward her. “What is it, Riley?”

“We have to go after Sam Cowan tonight.”

“Why?”

“Cowan and Berkley always had a scheduled check-in every few hours, even during the night. The calls seem erratic, but there’s a rhythm to them. We don’t know when Nathan contacted Sam, but I’m betting a scheduled call can’t be too long from now since Nathan always rises around 5 o’clock. If we don’t grab Sam now, he’ll go underground, and we’ll never find him.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ANDRE SCRUBBED HISface with his hands. Oh, man. Riley was right. The teams didn’t have any other options. They had to go after Cowan, or he’d bolt. If the agent slipped past them, finding him again could take a long time. Andre preferred not to look over his shoulder all the time, wondering when Cowan or one of his hired thugs would take a shot at him or Riley. “All right. Lucky for us, Zane found Cowan’s current whereabouts and sent me a message with the spook’s address.”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.” Elias made a rolling motion with his finger. “Where is Cowan, and please tell me he’s not in D.C.”

“You’re safe, my friend. Cowan is in Franklin.”

The other operatives stared at him. Andre shrugged. “My guess is he either wanted to supervise or gloat when his hired man caught Riley. I’ll wake Seth, and then we’ll go from there. Elias, wake Grant and Rayne, then gear up. I’ll need you with me. The rest of you wait here.”

He walked to Seth’s door and knocked. Since his friend had the hearing of a bat and was always half alert even when he slept, Andre knew Seth would wake easily.

Less than a minute later, Seth opened the door and stepped back for Andre to come inside. “What is it?”

He updated his team leader and waited.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Seth’s narrowed eyes and reddened face clued Andre in to how angry his teammate was.

“Elias and I had this under control until we talked to Berkley. Riley remembered that the two men had an arrangement to check in with each other even during the night hours.”

“Neat way to control your partner, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Give us two minutes. And, Andre?”

“Sir?”

“This discussion isn’t over.”

He swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.” Great. Just great. Now he’d ticked off his team leader to where he had another session coming. That session, Andre knew, wouldn’t be pleasant. He’d be lucky to escape the censure with his skin intact. Seth was a great man and leader, and he didn’t tolerate insubordination in the ranks. Andre sighed. Yeah, he was toast.

At two minutes on the dot, Teagan and Seth entered the living room. Andre stood. “Sorry to interrupt your night, Teagan.”

“Worth it if we’re able to take the monkey off your back and Riley’s.”

“Thanks.” He opened the door to the corridor and led the way back to his suite. The rest of the team was waiting for them.

Seth said, “I hear we have an enemy combatant to catch in Franklin. Let’s make a plan in the next fifteen minutes, and get to it.”

For the next few minutes, they came up with six plans, choosing the one most likely to succeed. Seth looked at each member of the two teams. “Are we set?” Heads nodded.

Grant wrapped his arm around Rayne’s shoulders. “How many of us are going on this mini-operation?”

“Echo only.”

Iona scowled. “Wait a minute.”

“This isn’t about Artemis having only women on the team. This is about having too many people on an op in a residentialneighborhood. We can’t afford to draw attention. Ten strangers going into a house will definitely draw the eye of anyone awake at this hour. Look, you know the plan. Capture and carry Cowan back here. You won’t miss anything except the initial contact.”