He shrugged before he nodded to the bombing footage. “It’s possible you captured someone’s face yesterday that was involved in that.”
Yesterday’s photo shoot immediately played through her mind. The only one who stood out was the eye tattoo guy, but she knew most of the time it was never the obvious person. More often than not, the perpetrators were usually the ones who liked to blend in.
“Hopefully, the facial recognition software will ID Mr. Clean.” TJ nodded to the monitor that was running a photo of the guy through the program. Luckily, her phone had been deemed safe after TJ examined it and added some special safeguards. He did the same with her laptop. Even though she didn’t really know the hacker, she felt safer using her electronics now. Safe enough to contact her son, who was currently between assignments.
Earlier in the evening, she’d spent a half hour FaceTiming with Brian. When he asked where she was because her bedroom here definitely lacked the warmth of her house, and was too dark to pass as her office, she simply told him on assignment. With whom and why were never brought up. Her son knew she wouldn’t, and couldn’t, disclose those details. And she certainly wouldn’t tell him about the fire that morning.
“TJ, I was wondering,” she said. “If my phone wasn’t tampered with, how did someone text Archer making it appear to come from it?”
Anger removed the amusement from his face. “There is software out there available on the dark web the bad guys can use to do exactly that.”
“So, they used it on my boss too, to make him think Archer hadn’t wanted him in that meeting.”
TJ shrugged. “Possibly. I’d have to examine his phone to be sure.”
No need. Sandy was sure, even though she knew Archer still had suspicions. That was okay. She understood why he would. But she knew better and chose to spend her time looking for the real mole.
“Find any unauthorized entry?” she asked, nodding to the DHS feed Silas had secured for them earlier. She hated to think another coworker had deliberately set her up, but she wasn’t naive. There were plenty of reasons to cause even the most dedicated person to turn.
“Nada.” He drummed the console with one hand. “But, I will.”
“Want some help?”
He grinned and pushed off the console to propel his chair to the right to make room for hers. “Absolutely. Come join the party.”
She rolled her chair closer, and together, they spent the next hour scouring footage. No one other than Dave had gone in today, and everyone they watched using the keypad to access the room yesterday had reason to be in there.
Several agents, two secretaries setting up for a meeting, then that meeting involving a group of five people, two higher ups, the receptionist bringing in files, the maintenance man, who according to the log, had fixed the thermostat, and Dave again, in with his boss. Thanks to the no camera policy in the meeting room, a safeguard to prevent being hacked, there was no way to see who did what in the room.
The precaution had backfired.
She’d gotten the distinct impression someone other than Archer had been watching her. The timing of the lights going out when her attention had focused on busting the wall was too coincidental. She didn’t believe in them. Now, the lack of feed had made it easy for the bomber to act undetected.
It only amped up her determination to uncover the culprit.
She kept at it for several hours, staying up long after the others had returned and retired for the night. There was something she was missing. She could feel it but dammit, her brain was just too worn out to properly function.
Claiming the same thing, TJ yawned and got up to stretch out on a cot set up along the wall. “Go grab a few hours of shut eye, Sandy. I’ve learned it’s the best way to let your brain recharge.” He yawned again. “I’ll meet you back here in the morning.”
Although she wanted to continue, Sandy understood the merit of his suggestion. Her brain did need the break. And her body, too. It’d been a taxing day, both mentally and physically. So she headed to her room, stripped out of the clothes Bella had brought—which fit perfectly—and into the nightshirt that had been among the purchases. And surprisingly, within minutes of slipping between the sheets, Sandy fell asleep.
Despite going to bed late, she was in the kitchen early the next morning, filling a mug with coffee when Bella sauntered down the stairs and ambled toward her. “I thought I smelled coffee.”
She smiled. “I’m not the one responsible, but it called to me, too.” The pot had already been brewed before she’d arrived.
“Archer, no doubt. He’s probably in the sanctuary with TJ,” Bella said, reaching for a mug from a cupboard, her long, brown hair wet, her posture relaxed, her expression...satisfied. “I left Matteo upstairs to finish showering, so I know it wasn’t him.”
She remembered sharing morning showers with her late husband. It wasn’t just the sex she missed from being in a relationship, it was the companionship, the fun, the unspoken support. Nate had been one of those one-in-a-million men. Special. And she hadn’t met anyone even remotely close...until Archer.
Without any effort, the seasoned SEAL had gotten past the debris and booby traps and clutter she’d accumulated around her heart over the past two decades. They had a connection. He got her. Made her feel good with just his presence. Made her want to soothe away the shadows she sometimes saw in his eyes. Ease the pain he harbored deep inside. Make him feel whole. It was all-powerful, unexpected, and quick. Damn quick.
It scared the hell out of her and excited her at the same time.
“...a good man,” Bella said.
Sandy blinked and set her cup on the counter. “What?” Her mind had been elsewhere, so she had no idea what she’d missed from the conversation.
“Archer. He’s a good man.” Bella’s grin broadened as the heat in Sandy’s face increased. “He adores you. And it’s as plain as the blush on your face that you have feelings for him.”
He adored her?
Perhaps. It wasn’t like they’d just met. They’d known each other socially and infrequently for several years now.
But...adored?
Warmth spread through her at the thought, lingering in her chest. What should she do about it? Was it even worth contemplating?
“Yes, it is,” Bella said as if reading her mind. “Not long ago, I stood in your shoes, at a similar crossroads, and I’m glad I chose the hard road. The one that required the leap of faith.”
“But the job...”
“Is just a job. It has nothing to do with how you feel about each other...other than to make you realize how you feel about each other.” The brunette set her cup down and folded her arms across her chest. “You should’ve seen Archer yesterday, when he had no idea what had happened to you in that burning room. He was determined to get to you at all costs. It didn’t matter what he had to go through—or who—he was going to find you. Trust me, when it’s personal, you’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done. When your heart is involved, it makes you unstoppable...and that’s the Archer I saw yesterday. Does he adore you? Very much.”
Well...wow.
Sandy slumped against the counter and set a hand over her heart to keep the thudding thing from bursting through her chest. “But we don’t really know each other.”
“Time will take care of that.” The pretty agent smiled and sipped her coffee.
Since she had no response to that, Sandy reached for her forgotten mug and finished her coffee. It was way too early in the morning for her to contemplate a subject so involving and intriguing as Archer, without more caffeine.
“How does a mother of a SEAL become an analyst for DHS?” Bella asked. “Is it something you always strived to do?”
She smiled. “No. It all started when I worked for the DA’s office. I was originally hired as a secretary, but on this one case, I’d noticed a pattern—a connection to three seemingly unrelated crimes. I pointed it out, they investigated, and discovered I was right. After that, I was p
art of their investigation team.” It’d been an amazing ten years. “I really enjoyed it.”
“Why’d you leave?”
“Because of the Sisterhood.”
Bella’s brows rose. “You mean in the CIA? The analysts who found Bin Laden?”
“Yes. From the Alec Station Unit.” Sandy smiled. Most people didn’t know about the team authorized by President Clinton to track down Bin Laden back in 1995. “You know about them?”
“Hell, yeah.” Bella nodded. “Those women were amazing. Some of them still analyze chatter and supply the intel to my old unit. I heard the man who created the team said half of the applicants had been women, and after working with them, he’d wished they’d all been women.”
She nodded again. Those women were her heroes and the reason she did what she did today. “Between May of ’98 and ’99 they found Bin Laden ten different times, working up two missions to capture him and eight different missions to take him down.”
Bella whistled. “Jesus, what happened?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Archer growled, causing Sandy to jump. She turned to find him leaning against the wall by the hall that led to the sanctuary. “Why the hell was that man still alive in 2001?”
Her heart rocked in her chest and pulse pounded loudly in her ears. She knew what he’d lost and could’ve kicked herself for not holding this conversation with Bella in private. It was too late, now, though. She cleared her throat. “White House administration. It was deemed too risky. They didn’t want to cause an international incident.”
Archer blew out a breath and shook his head.
The Sisterhood had found him again. Several times, in fact. It’d been green-lit by Clinton again, but winter had set in and the mission had been put on hold until the spring. But by then, it was a new president with a new administration who canceled the mission.
Later that year...the towers fell.
“They persevered, though.” She raised her chin. “For seventeen years, they tracked him down, worked up missions, dealt with rejection, several presidential administrations, until they were asked to find him again, and when they did, they wrote up a mission that was green-lit, finally carried out, and successful.”
Archer walked over to refill his mug. “I can see you admire them. So...why aren’t you working for the CIA?”
She shrugged. “Good question. They’d tried to recruit me at the same time DHS did, but...I don’t know...I went with my gut.”
Working out of Langley would’ve put her much closer to her son, but something told her to accept Homeland’s offer.
Archer set the carafe back in the coffee maker and met her gaze. “Perhaps it boils down to this mission.”
Bella nodded behind him, cupping her mug with both hands. “Fate.”
A shiver raced down Sandy’s spine.
Could the woman be right?
***
Archer wasn’t sure about fate, but he knew not to question it. His mind was still trying to process the bomb Sandy had dropped about the CIA having had the opportunity to take down Bin Laden before 2001.
Damn bureaucratic bullshit.
He clenched his jaw and rode out the wave of nausea. One good thing about retirement was not having to deal with it. All the jobs he did for the Knight Agency fell into the not having to deal with it category. Jameson was a former SOG operative with the CIA, so he accepted work for his agency that flew under the government’s radar.
This job for Silas, however, was government sanctioned, which meant it was monitored. But so far, he wasn’t working with his hands tied, and didn’t regret it.
His gaze slid up the sweet, yawning blonde, mainlining her coffee like it was about to disappear. She wore a pair of jeans that hugged her curves to perfection, a bubblegum pink scoop neck shirt that teased him with a peek of cleavage and messed with his pulse. Her hair was piled on her head in that haphazard bun again, with pieces hanging free to brush her face and neck, making him itch to touch her soft skin.
So, he finished his coffee and made another pot. He was going to need it.
Two hours later, he rose from his chair in the sanctuary and stretched the kinks out of his back. So far, their recon had amassed nothing. He and Sandy were viewing the DHS feed from yesterday. The audio mingled in the air with the live feed from the bank Matteo and Bella were viewing, and TJ worked in the middle, hacking into DHS per Archer’s request that morning.
He knew he could run it by Silas and that it might be granted, but it was always better to ask forgiveness than permission. And since Sandy’s life had been threatened, he wasn’t about to chance getting caught in that bureaucratic red tape shit.
“So, Sandy, I was wondering,” TJ said, tipping his head sideways as he looked at her. “Can you do Sherlock Holmes-type evaluations on people at a glance?”
Her lips twitched. “I suppose. Why?”
“Let’s see what you got.” TJ folded his arms across his chest and smiled at her. “What did I do today?”
“Dude.” Bella smirked. “She’s been in here with you all morning.”
TJ frowned. “Not the whole time.”
Sandy sat back in her chair and chewed her lower lip while regarding the red-headed motor mouth thoughtfully.
Heat skittered through Archer, overcome with the sudden urge to soothe her lip with his tongue. Inhaling deeply, he removed his gaze from her lips and focused on TJ instead. They had work to do, but he knew the merits of allowing his team a little break. Besides, he was curious to see what Sandy could do.
“You slept in your clothes,” she said. “Nuked a burrito for breakfast, washed it down with peach iced tea, then washed that down with an energy drink. Ran your left hand through your hair because you have a paper cut on a finger on your right hand. And you finished hacking into DHS ten minutes ago but have yet to tell Archer.”
The kid sat up, while his jaw dropped. “How the hell...?”
“You mean she’s right?” Matteo asked, smile quirking his lips.
“Yeah, and she wasn’t around for the burrito and drinks.” He blinked at Sandy. “How’d you know about my cut? And all of it?”
She laughed. “I don’t know. It’s just stuff that I see clearly. Like the burrito wrapper and empty drink bottles in the trash by your leg. That’s no biggie.”
“And the cut?” He held up his right index finger. “How’d you know? You can’t really see it and I’m not wearing a band-aid.”
“True, but you are wearing glue from it.” She shrugged. “Stuff anyone can see.”
Son-of-a-bitch.
Archer frowned at the kid’s finger. TJ did have a faint glue line.
“But how’d you know I didn’t run it through my hair?
“Because your right side isn’t as messy as your left,” she said simply.
Archer knew everything she was saying was mostly gleaned from common sense, but most people would never pick up on it. He’d caught some, but the glue line? He never would’ve picked up on that.
“And the DHS hacking?” TJ asked. “How’d you know I’d finished?”
She smiled outright, and Archer felt it in his chest like a burst of warmth. “Because you started drumming on the console ten minutes ago. When you’re working, all ten of your fingers are busy clicking keys at crazy speeds.”
TJ stretched out then folded his hands behind his head, smug smile on his face. “True. I’ve burned through many keyboards with my strokes.”
Archer snickered. The hacker was twenty-six but appeared nineteen. Regardless, he was damn good at his job. He’d have to be, for Jameson to employ the MIT graduate and get the guy’s Federal prison record expunged.
“That was amazing, Sandy.” Bella stood up and waved at her body. “Do me next.”
Sandy opened her mouth, then stilled a second before she pointed to a monitor near Matteo. “TJ, quick...isolate that feed and record it.”
The kid frowned but did as directed, his fingers flying over two different keyboards a
t the same time. “Done.”
“What is it?” he asked, eyeing the bank employee sitting behind a desk, talking to another employee in the same room.
“Hang on.” Sandy pulled her laptop out of her bag by her feet, and once it booted up, she signed on and scrolled through files within folders. “I’ve heard him before. Find out who he is,” she said, clicking on something that opened an audio file. She slid the headphone jack into a port on her laptop, shoved the headphones on her head and listened to the file. A second later, she glanced up at him, her face lighting up as she nodded. “It is him.” Her gaze shifted to TJ. “I’m going to send it to you so you can verify. Give me your email.” She shoved the laptop to TJ who typed in his address, she attached the file and hit send.
“Got it,” TJ said, his fingers tapping the keys on two keyboards again, and on one of the monitors in front of him, the voice samples overlap. “She’s right. It’s the same guy.”
Archer worked to keep his hope in check. “Sandy, where did you get your audio?”
“It’s from last week’s chatter,” she said. “It’s part of the reason we’re all here.”
TJ flicked a switch and the audio filled the room. The tone did sound similar, but the man was speaking Punjabi, not English.
Damn...she had a hell of an ear.
Finally, they had their first lead. Their first viable suspect.
“What’s he saying?” TJ asked, as he glanced at everyone’s frowning faces. “I can see I’m the only one who doesn’t know.”
Sandy sighed. “Basically, capitalist pigs will be sorry. They will pay.”
Archer grit his teeth over the “Death to Americans” part she’d left out.
Not on his watch.
“How the hell did you remember that from all those files you listen to?” TJ asked, nodding toward her laptop.
Sandy shrugged. “When someone threatens my country, it sort of sticks in my head.”
“Great catch.” Bella cracked her knuckles, then set a hand on TJ’s shoulder. “Now, how about we get this guy’s address so I can pay him a visit.”
Shit. Archer stiffened. He had to keep an eye on that one. He didn’t like the smile on her face.
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