Operation Stealing Christmas

by Vicki Hinze

  That Barone was likely one of Kunz’s body doubles was but one of the many other possibilities they needed to factor into the situation until they could eliminate them. Maggie issued a new order. “Will, casually ask Linda if she has noticed anything abnormal in Barone’s behavior today.”

  “Sure, Maggie.”

  She switched to S.A.S.S. frequency, looked Justin right in the eye. “Darcy?”

  “Yeah?” She seemed a little surprised at the frequency shift.

  “When Will asks Linda about Barone, monitor her reaction.”

  Worry doubled in Justin’s eyes and he reached across the table and clasped Maggie’s hand. He understood the pressure she felt. It was bad enough having to fight outsiders, but the work became exponentially more difficult when you had to fight outsiders and enemies within.

  Maggie gently squeezed his fingertips, swallowed her fear of her feelings for him, and held on tight.

  “What exactly are you expecting from Linda?” Darcy asked.

  Maggie swallowed the bitterness coating her tongue and throat. “A revelation.”

  Ten minutes later Lester gave Maggie an update, which was to say that his forensics team hadn’t come up with anything else of consequence.

  Donald Freeman at the round had more trash that needed to be collected, but nothing had gone through the net.

  Mark Cross at the Center Court stage had caught two young women stealing coats from a troop of Cub Scouts playing in the snow and he turned them over to Marty from Security. The police were called in to handle them.

  Justin checked in on his medical staff. The sound-off went down without a hitch. The prepositioned vials of antidote were verified safe by the undercover medical personnel. Local medical reinforcements were on standby status and gathered in the north and south parking garages. Local police were subsidizing the extra security staff. Will had activated with the A-stores’ blessings, reinforcing patrols of the open parking lots, watching for yellow-jacketed people carrying Krane’s handled shopping bags and entering the mall.

  The FBI reported that they’d followed the two men Maggie and Justin had intercepted earlier to an upscale restaurant on the dock in the harbor. They’d had no contact with anyone else, and it appeared that ditching the bags at the mall had been their entire assignment in the operation. The same seemed true of Mr. Ponytail and the first female bagger, who were still stashed in their hotel rooms, gorging on junk food, football games and movies.

  The Threat Integration Center reported there had been no activity whatsoever at any of the other potential targets, but it wasn’t ready yet to declare Santa Bella an official GRID attack target, due to insufficient evidence that directly linked GRID or Thomas Kunz to the incidents that had taken place.

  Matt Elden also reported in to Maggie that he had four HAZMAT teams on-site in the parking lot, cooling their heels with all the other specialists. If biological contamination occurred, they were equipped and prepared to launch decontamination protocols.

  And Judy Meyer, the guard assigned to monitor the restroom in the administration wing who’d disappeared without a trace, still hadn’t surfaced or been located.

  In a corridor on Jewelry Row, Maggie stepped out of the heavy foot traffic, a steady thump pounding in her already-aching head. Juggling all the different aspects of the operation was a challenge, but she had a strong team. It was the waiting getting to her—knowing Kunz would strike, and that his window of opportunity was closing.

  Maggie checked her watch. It was 7:45. In an hour and fifteen minutes, the Olympians and Special Forces would be leaving. Kunz would strike while they were here, which meant the launch clock was running down fast.

  “Maggie.” Darcy’s voice split the moment of silence, sounding tinny and brittle in Maggie’s earpiece. “Linda told Will she had seen Barone within the last twenty or thirty minutes and she’d mentioned to Barone that Will needed to see him. Barone told her he’d handle Will, and he was going to visit the A-store owners. He’s feeling too antsy to sit still. As soon as he left, she made a phone call. We’re running down the trace to see to whom.”

  Maggie catalogued that information, adding it to the mix. “She’s definitely placing Barone back in his office.”

  “She did, Maggie. She didn’t parse words.” Darcy let out a little moan of disappointment. “The problem is, Barone hasn’t been to his office. Colonel Drake ran the surveillance tapes as soon as Linda made the claim. Barone doesn’t appear anywhere on them.”

  “So is she covering for him? Or is she diverting attention to him?”

  “She’s playing both sides,” Darcy said. “That’s pretty clear. But whether she’s doing it to protect him and thus protect her job, or because the two of them have a premeditated conspiracy going on, who knows? Those are, it seems, significant questions at this point.”

  “Some of them, absolutely.” Unfortunately there were more questions and far too few answers. “Linda could be acting independently or in collusion with Kunz, Darcy.”

  “Yes, she could be.”

  “How long before we know who she called?” Heading back to Center Court, Maggie saw a teenager with spikes implanted in his head. He’d swear it was a fashion statement. She’d swear it was a cry for attention.

  “A minute. Maybe, two.”

  In the food court, Justin stood and stretched. A guy from the housekeeping staff was making the rounds, collecting trash left on tables and stuffing it in a plastic bag. Maggie watched him, watched Justin watching him, and wondered if much slipped past Justin.

  “It’s global forwarding, Maggie,” Darcy said. “We’ve cycled through seven countries so far, and it’s still going.”

  “Global rotator?” Maggie asked, suspecting the call would keep forwarding, changing countries and numbers with every forward.

  “Endless rotation, yes.”

  “Great.” Even suspected and confirmed, Maggie couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t seem to catch a break with both hands.

  “What does that mean?” Justin asked her.

  “It means we won’t be getting a trace. The call just keeps cycling, country to country, on and on. It means Linda Diel’s definitely working against us.” Maggie walked to the edge of the pit. She glanced at the Olympians and the Special Forces playing with them. The guys were laughing and goofing around, but they were aware and attuned, cutting questioning glances at Maggie.

  Giving them reassuring nods, she unclipped her two-way. “Will?”

  “I’m here, Maggie.”

  “I want constant observation on Linda Diel. She goes nowhere, does nothing we don’t know immediately. You get a feed on her and, Will, get it now.”

  “Sure thing. What about Barone?”

  Barone? The real Barone could not even be involved. It could be just Linda, working with Kunz and a Barone body double. “What kind of car does he drive?”

  “A black BMW,” Will said. “He parks in the management lot, right outside the administration offices.”

  Maggie started walking. “What’s the closest way to get there? Door Six?”

  “That’s right. Level One, Door Six,” Will responded.

  “Exit and then make an immediate right. His BMW should be directly in front of you.”

  Maggie moved in that direction behind three generations of women exchanging candid remarks about which male movie star should win the Golden Globe. After a healthy debate, they settled on their two favorites. Maggie didn’t recognize either name.

  She stepped around the grandmother and cut down Men’s Row, glancing into store windows as she passed by them. Sir Scot’s was swarming with shoppers, but the checkout line for Handersham’s extended out into the thoroughfare. Maggie arced around it and saw a gorgeous camelhair sweater in the window at Breck’s. Two men standing outside were on Will’s security team. She returned their nods and kept walking. The exit door was straight ahead.

  She pushed through it.

  Cool, crisp air rushed over her and chilled her skin. Shiv
ering, she looked around. It was dark now, but the area was well lit. Hanging a right, she walked straight ahead to the parking slot marked Mall Administrator.

  No black BMW was parked in it. The slot stood empty.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I don’t know, Darcy.” Maggie walked back inside the mall and went up to Level Two, uncertain what to think. “Barone—the real one—could be innocent and have bugged out because he was afraid. I wouldn’t dismiss that as a possibility, considering he freaked about the lockbox codes being changed. Actually, he’s been hiding out since then.”

  Anyone with sense would be afraid. He had to know that the clock was running out, too, which certainly wouldn’t inspire him to hang around. “He might have been taken away, or lured away, or he might not have been here at all. We could’ve been dealing with a double ever since Justin and I returned from Regret to Santa Bella last night. That’s when he began acting differently.” Frustration raced through her, tightened her chest and left a bitter taste in her mouth. “There’s just no way to be certain about this.”

  “We’ve been doing frame comparisons on him between yesterday and today, and we’ve noted a significant number of inconsistencies. That was a great catch, Maggie,” Darcy said. “Colonel Drake’s called in Morgan to take a look.”

  Officially, Dr. Morgan Cabot was a psychologist and subject-matter expert affiliated with S.A.S.S. Confidential, a sister investigative unit also under Colonel Drake’s command but tasked with very different missions. Maggie’s S.A.S.S. unit had often relied on Morgan’s expertise and training. Maggie had relied on her even more so. She’d been terrific at helping her work through this business with Jack, which oddly didn’t seem as significant now as it had for the past three years. “She’s the reason I caught them—her training.”

  “I’ll be sure to tell her. She’ll be pleased staying awake has paid off.”

  Maggie remembered telling Morgan she’d attend the training and if she could stay awake, she’d be back for more. Morgan considered that fair enough. Maggie had stayed awake, often on the edge of her seat, and she’d been back as often as Morgan held training sessions. Everyone respected Morgan’s opinion—even Kate—and God knew her respect was hard-won. “Has Morgan reported back to you yet with her opinion?”

  “Coming in now,” Darcy said. “She says Barone’s verbiage isn’t consistent—both word choices and phraseology—and even more telling, his innate expressions and body language are significantly different. Far outside the perimeters defined as normal.”

  “So we agree on all that. What’s her professional, bottom line? Is Barone really Barone, or is he one of Kunz’s body doubles?”

  “We have no hard evidence that Barone was ever Barone. It’s possible we’ve dealt with the real Barone or that we’ve dealt exclusively with a body double. We just don’t know. But Morgan is certain that since the S.A.S.S. activated on this mission, we’ve been dealing with two different men.”

  Knowing it and hearing it confirmed were two different things. For a second Maggie’s legs went weak. She locked her knees and took in a sharp breath, her mind reeling. “You’d better compile a full-frame listing of every inch of tape we’ve got on him and get it to the Threat Integration Center STAT for high-priority review. Also, put out an APB on him, and personally alert the FBI agents working this case.” Whether Barone was himself or a double didn’t matter right now. Whether he was working for Kunz or he was Kunz’s victim didn’t matter at the moment so much as neutralizing the man. They needed him secured, not loose and able to create havoc.

  “What about Linda Diel?” Kate asked.

  Maggie weighed her options. “I want her secured, too.”

  “She might make a further move that would help us.” Amanda added her opinion.

  “No, I don’t think so. She dialed a global rotator, not a specific GRID operative or Kunz’s known operations base. That’s likely all she’s got. We all know that Kunz works in segments. He compartmentalizes assignments to keep even his own operatives working in the dark to secure his missions as much as possible. He wouldn’t empower someone on the inside, much less someone like Linda, with much of anything on the off chance that we picked up on them.”

  “Maggie’s right. That is the way he operates,” Kate said. “He holds his cards close to the chest and never tells anyone anything they don’t absolutely have to know.”

  Again Kate had surprised Maggie, backing her up. She rounded the corner by Macy’s.

  “Maggie,” Justin interrupted. “I know you’re up to your ears in Barone, but something’s wrong here.”

  She stopped, not sure where she was needed. “Where’s here, Justin?”

  “Center Court, outer end. I’m with the Olympians and Special Forces, and I’ve spotted some trouble.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Poorly put. I smell trouble,” he amended himself. “Scents at the pit have been pretty vague. Now, all of a sudden, I’m getting blasted with apples and cinnamon.”

  Maggie started running. “Kate?”

  “Yeah, now I’m getting it, too.”

  “Amanda?”

  “Ditto,” she said. “I’m looking for a natural cause, but I don’t see anything, Maggie. Mark, how about you?”

  “No cause identified here. The scent is light near the stage, but it is discernable. Could be masked by all the smells coming from the food court.”

  Maggie radioed Will and told him what was happening.

  “I’m on my way down there.” Will muttered. “Every stair, escalator and elevator is jammed.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Freeman’s round. He saw someone trying to shove something through the net and called a code.”

  “Why didn’t I hear it?”

  Darcy answered. “You were special frequency just then. It’s not a problem. It’s been checked out. Just a wad of chewing gum big enough to choke a horse. Male teen. He’s been cleared and released.”

  “Now, I’m smelling lime,” Justin said. “It’s really strong.”

  “Me, too,” Kate said.

  Amanda and Mark reported the same thing, and again Mark reported the scent as faint while the others tagged it overpowering.

  “Darn it,” Maggie cut loose, hemmed in by shoppers slogging down the Level Two thoroughfare. “I can’t get through.”

  “Stand by, Maggie,” Will said. “I’ve got a visual on you. We’ll take the shortcut.”

  “What shortcut?”

  Seconds later Will stood beside her. “This way.”

  Maggie followed him in a run into the elevator.

  They rode down and the door opened. He led her out, then shoved through the door marked No Exit she had seen several times earlier. Maggie recognized the little alcove between Security and Medical in the administration wing. On the plans, it was a shallow closet.

  In reality the closet was an elevator. A small closet door was positioned beside it.

  A chasm of fear cracked open in her. “Darcy, are you seeing this?”

  “Yes, I am. It wasn’t on the plan, Maggie. It was just a utility closet on the plan.”

  “That’s the way I remembered it, too.” Had this been the way Judy Meyer had been removed from the women’s restroom? Not one word had surfaced on her; she was still missing without a trace.

  “Barone had the elevator installed about a month ago,” Will said. “Only mall management and security staff have access to it.”

  Maggie walked back to it, looking for evidence Judy Meyer had been in it. She glanced down at the floor inside the elevator. Something shiny caught her eye. Bending, she lifted the metal piece and examined it carefully.

  “What is it?” Darcy asked.

  “It looks like a valve off the snow machine.” Maggie gnawed at her lip with her teeth, concentrating. “Now why would that be in here?” Harry and Phil Jensen, the snow company’s owners, had no need for the elevator. They entered Santa Bella through Level One, Door One and walked straight to Cen
ter Court.

  Will shrugged. “Maybe Mr. Barone insisted they be discreet and out of the way of shoppers, too.”

  “Discreet about what? They never left Level One. What would they do on any other level?”

  “No idea. But Barone is the only one who can grant permission for anyone to use this elevator.”

  “Is he?” Maggie recalled Linda and the Red Cross medical workers. “Darcy, is Linda in custody yet?”

  “We’re looking for her, Maggie. She went out on a break just before you issued the order.”

  “Outside the mall?”

  “She said inside, but she’s not at Emerald Bay or in the food court. We’re still searching the restaurants for her.”

  Will frowned. “She could have let Phil and Harry on the elevator. Linda acts as an escort around here all the time.” She had escorted Lester Pinnella and his forensics team to the short-stack.

  Will paused a long moment, and Maggie saw the wheels in his mind turning in his eyes. “What’s wrong, Will?”

  “I think we’ve got bad trouble. But not with Barone. With Linda.”

  Maggie thought so, too. “It’s complicated because she’s in on the two-way communications with the security staff.”

  “Actually, she’s not.” Will waited for the door to open. “I pulled her equipment hours ago.”

  Maggie stepped off the elevator. “Why?”

  He looked slightly uncomfortable. “Remember when she fixed up the Red Cross workers for us?”

  “Yes.”

  “That didn’t quite sit right. I figured if she worked for Barone and crossed him at the drop of a dime, she’d cross anyone else, too. If she’d needed convincing, I’d have felt better about it. But she suggested it right away, and that just didn’t sit right, so I unplugged her.”