Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 - Box Set 2 of 2: Exit StrategyPaybackCovert Justice

by Shirlee McCoy

  “Daddy!” Maggie ran straight for her father and jumped into his arms. He spun her around several times before squeezing her tight and setting her on her feet. “I knocked Heidi over!”

  “You did what?”

  “I knocked her over!” She hooted with laughter. “She doesn’t have a dog, but we can still be friends.”

  “I’m glad you’re going to be friends, but you shouldn’t call an adult by their first name, Maggie-moo. Can you say Ms. Zimmerman?”

  “Ms. Zimzezan—”

  “Zim-mer-man.” Blake sounded out each syllable.

  “Zimzemaz.”

  Heidi bit her lips together and Blake seemed amused. Could she intervene without interfering? When Blake glanced her way, she mouthed, “Heidi is fine.”

  Blake shook his head in defeat. “Maybe we could go with Miss Heidi.”

  Maggie’s smile lit the room. “Much easier.” She turned to Heidi. “You’ve got a big name.”

  Blake looked like he wanted to crawl through a hole in the floor.

  Heidi found Maggie’s exuberance refreshing. She directed her words to Maggie. “It is a big name. Some of my close friends call me ‘Z’ for short.”

  “I like ‘Z’!”

  Blake shook his head. “I think ‘Miss Heidi’ will do fine. Why don’t you go brush your teeth.”

  “Yes, sir.” Maggie raced away. “Daddy?” she yelled from down the hall.

  “Yes, pumpkin.”

  “I think you’re wrong about her hair. I don’t think her hair got curly because she put her finger in a socket. I think she was born with it.”

  Oh…he would pay for that.

  “Sorry,” Blake said.

  Heidi gave up trying not to laugh. “She’s really something,” she said.

  “You have no idea.” He pointed down the hall. “She was supposed to be in bed thirty minutes ago. When she heard you were coming over, she came up with every excuse imaginable to stall.”

  “What did you tell her about me? Besides that I’d stuck my finger in a socket.”

  He had the grace to flush. “I told her Aunt Caroline and I had made a new friend. That you were going to be working at the plant and you’d be staying in the cabin as soon as Caroline gets it fixed up.”

  Sounded like a story a five-year-old could accept. “We’ll need to improve on that if we’re going to convince your employees,” she said.

  They spent the next two hours working on their cover story. When Heidi left, the plan was as fully formed as an off-the-cuff mission could be expected to be. She’d have to be herself as much as possible. There wasn’t time to develop a detailed legend.

  She’d use her own engineering credentials and her own name. She was coming into HPI as a quality consultant. Blake didn’t think it would be too difficult for the staff to believe he’d hired someone, given the issues they’d had over the past few weeks.

  The timing was the trickiest part. She needed to start this week, but if she showed up saying she’d agreed to take the job without even touring the plant and submitting a proposal first, it might jeopardize her credibility.

  They landed on a solution neither of them liked. They wouldn’t bring it up, but if anyone asked, they’d say she and Blake had been talking about her coming for a while, and she’d had a cancellation in her schedule that allowed her to work them in before the holidays. It was weak, but if she was only around for a little while, maybe it would hold.

  SIX

  Heidi slept a dreamless seven hours. When she woke on Monday morning, her first order of business was to be sure everyone had survived the night. Jeffrey Harrison continued to recover and should come home in the next few days. They’d managed to avoid burdening the senior Harrisons with the Kovac drama thus far, but that would all change soon. Blake and Caroline had agreed that once their dad was home, both parents must be told. Heidi found the family dynamics fascinating.

  The family was certainly wealthy. Privileged, compared to most. Yet no one could accuse either of the Harrison children of being weak, spoiled or suffering from a heavy case of entitlement.

  Blake had told her that while Jeffrey still had the ultimate say in what happened at HPI, he was methodically training both Blake and Caroline in all aspects of the business.

  So while Blake was in charge of engineering and Caroline handled sales and finance, either of them could step in and manage the facilities or human resources if they needed to. They knew their business inside and out, worked well together and, in their early thirties, were more than capable of running the entire operation on their own.

  But Heidi was used to being around people who were good at their jobs. The FBI recruited the best of the best, and she would—and had—put her life in the hands of her team without hesitation. What she had trouble comprehending was the warmth of the family relationship. Caroline and Blake worked hard and were committed to their jobs, the factory and their employees, but their dedication to HPI couldn’t match their devotion to their loved ones. The siblings were so close, so invested in each other’s happiness and well-being and so protective of each other that it was almost hard to believe they were for real.

  And their respect for both parents touched her in ways she couldn’t understand. It had become clear during the evening that both of them longed to have their parents’ advice and insights into the situation with the Kovacs.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if she and Rach would have been like this. Calling up the Thompsons for advice on major life decisions, confident their advice would be full of wisdom and love.

  Heidi stuffed all thoughts of the Thompsons deep, along with all the emotion that came with them.

  She’d come to North Carolina for justice. To see the Kovacs answer for their crimes—against the Thompsons and the untold others who’d had the misfortune of crossing their path. She hadn’t expected to be faced with the challenge of protecting another innocent family from them.

  She could not fail.

  She spent the day poring over the case files she’d brought with her from DC, as well as researching the production of plastic containers online. She’d even checked out entries on Wikipedia and videos on YouTube.

  She spoke to Blake twice. Once to assure him that the agents guarding Maggie at school had reported no difficulties and had even managed to get eyes on her by hacking into a webcam. That part wouldn’t make it into any reports. She didn’t know who’d pulled off the hack. She doubted they had permission.

  Right now, she didn’t care.

  Her second phone call confirmed that everything was in place for her to arrive the next day.

  As she pulled into the parking lot of HPI on Tuesday morning, she ran through the script in her head, reminding herself of the role she was playing. And why.

  She parked and checked all the gadgets and devices that came with running an undercover operation.

  Nine o’clock. Showtime.

  Blake had suggested she start her first day after the regular 8:00 a.m. meeting so he could explain her presence to his engineering team, and also take the focus off her arrival. She stepped out of her car, paused to pull her sleeves down until they covered her elbows and confirmed her pants hadn’t snagged in the ankle holster. That would be a great way to start the day.

  “You look good, kiddo,” she heard through the earpiece connecting her to her team. Ah. Uncle Frank. Of course he would be checking in on her transmissions this morning. He’d been itching to get eyes on Markos Kovac. And today, she planned to get up close and personal.

  She had cameras hidden in her shirt buttons and earrings. Her watch and necklace had microphones that Max could turn on and off as needed. “Cameras are operational, Z.” Max was monitoring everything from a cable company van parked down the road. “Give me a cough so I can check your mic.”

  Heidi cleared her throat instead.

  “Got to be in charge, don’t ya.”

  She would have made a snide remark, but someone might be watching and she didn’t want
to be seen talking to herself this early in the game.

  “Fine. Do it your way. We’ve got your back.”

  Heidi scanned the parking lot and buildings. Father, open my eyes. Show me what he’s up to. Help me see what isn’t there. Hear the words no one has spoken. Know the plan before it’s implemented. Help me, Abba.

  She stepped into the office area and was greeted with a strained but polite “Good morning. Are you Ms. Zimmerman?”

  “I am, yes. Please, call me Heidi.”

  “I’m Bridget. I’m the office manager. Come on in and I’ll—”

  Bridget’s phone buzzed. “Yes, Blake?…Of course.” Heidi got the impression that Bridget would do anything Blake asked.

  The sweetness in Bridget’s tone and the dreamy look in her eyes disappeared as she addressed Heidi. “Ms. Zimmerman, Mr. Harrison is tied up on the production floor at the moment. He says he’ll be with you as soon as he can. Feel free to have a seat.”

  “Thank you, Bridget.” She tried to infuse the words with sincerity and kindness.

  Heidi took one of the offered chairs and mentally reviewed what she knew about Bridget. Twenty-four. Degree in business administration from UNC Asheville. Did an internship at HPI during her senior year and came to work right after graduation to replace the retiring office manager.

  The file hadn’t made mention of her having a crush on her boss, but that was exactly why human intelligence was necessary.

  Did Bridget have any idea how transparent her feelings were? Heidi hated to put the poor girl through unnecessary stress, but how could she explain she posed no threat to anyone’s future happiness? The last thing she needed was a relationship to complicate her already complex existence.

  Ten minutes later, Bridget’s phone buzzed again.

  “Yes, Blake?…Of course.”

  “You can go in now, Ms. Zimmerman.” Bridget indicated the door with Blake’s name stenciled on it.

  Heidi tapped on the door.

  “Come in,” Blake said. “Close the door, if you don’t mind, Ms. Zimmerman.”

  They’d discussed this last night. In the office, there could be no familiarity. Not yet. According to their cover story, they knew each other only by phone calls and reputation. Still, she hadn’t expected not to like the professional version of Blake.

  She closed the door and took in her surroundings. The back wall of the office was solid glass with a phenomenal view of fall foliage. The walls to either side were dotted with diplomas and photographs of waterfalls.

  “How did you get in here without me seeing you?”

  Blake grinned and pointed to a door on Heidi’s right. “Dad’s office is through that door.” He pointed to a door on her left. “Your office is through that door. From your office I can get into Caroline’s office, and from her office, I can get into a back hall that leads to a staircase that goes straight to the plant floor.”

  He pointed toward the door that led into the reception area. “I don’t normally walk through everyone else’s office on my way to mine, but I didn’t want to have to pretend I’d never met you in front of Bridget.”

  “Probably a good idea.”

  Blake laughed.

  “Is everything okay?” Heidi asked. “Bridget said you were tied up on the production floor.”

  Blake blew out a breath. “Yes. No. We have a new piece of equipment. A blower. It’s a critical component in the production of those ball-shaped water bottles I told you about. But that thing has been giving me fits for the past couple of weeks.”

  Blake handed her a folder from his desk before returning to his seat. “Anyway, I’ve taken the liberty of planning your first day. I hope that’s okay.” He tapped a button on his phone. “Bridget?”

  “Yes, Blake?”

  “Could you call Eric to the office?”

  “Of course.”

  He picked up a stapled stack of papers from his desk. “Eric is our lead engineer. He knows the process inside and out. As we discussed, the best way for you to understand our quality issues is to understand our process. Eric will show you our Receiving area where you’ll see how we process our raw materials. Then he’ll walk you through the production facility and then out to Shipping. That should take you through the morning.”

  He flipped to the next page. “After lunch, Caroline will give you an overview of our sales structure. And at 3:00 p.m. I’ll take you down for our shift-change meeting. That’s the only time all of our shift supervisors are here at the same time and you can meet everyone.”

  That’s when she’d come face-to-face with Markos Kovac. Organized-crime brat by day. Second-shift production supervisor by night.

  Blake’s phone buzzed. “Blake, Eric is here.”

  “Send him in.”

  Eric opened the door to the office. Fifties, bald, pudgy, intense eyes. The eyes gave him away as someone with specialized training. She’d been told she had those eyes herself. She knew all about Eric from his file. Married, two kids, first grandchild on the way. Former military, special forces. Blake had chosen well when he’d teamed them up. Who knew what Eric had noticed?

  Let the games begin.

  *

  At 2:45 p.m. Heidi adjusted the height of the chair behind her desk. Not that she’d spent any time behind it today. This morning she’d watched as tiny plastic chips, some solid white, others translucent with a slight bluish tinge, flowed from a tanker truck into large hoppers positioned at the beginning of each production line.

  Eric had shown her the bays where they received raw materials and the storage facilities for each product. The inventory system impressed her. Bar codes and GPS tracking devices allowed Eric to pinpoint the location of any item in the warehouse.

  It was all remarkable, but nothing she’d seen explained why an organized-crime family would take enough of an interest that they would place their youngest grandson in the production facility. She rubbed her temples. If it were easy, they’d have nailed them fifteen years ago.

  “You okay, Z?” Max had been silent most of the day. He knew how hard it could be to carry on conversations with someone chattering in your ear.

  She clicked her tongue twice, their prearranged signal for yes.

  “Liar.”

  The tap on her door forced her to swallow her retort. She waved Blake in.

  “You ready?”

  So many layers in those two words.

  Caroline had left for the hospital right after their meeting, which meant Blake was the only person, if she didn’t count the fifty listening and watching, who had any idea what was happening here. Or how critical the next few minutes would be.

  “Absolutely.”

  They walked to the production floor and into the small office area at the back of the building. Blake held the door. “Ladies first.”

  A gentleman? Or did he assume she’d want to be the first in? Either way, she gave him the briefest nod as she walked into the room.

  “Easy.” Max again.

  One deep breath, one cheery smile, one “I’m a quality consultant and I’m only here to make your lives better” persona, coming right up. She moved through the room, shaking hands, making introductions until she got to him. “Heidi Zimmerman.”

  “Mark Hammond. Nice to meet you. Welcome.” She’d seen his picture, been watching him for over a month, but she’d never heard his voice before. She’d had no idea he sounded so much like his older brother. The voice of a long-lost friend coming from the mouth of an enemy sent a swell of anger coursing through her system. She hadn’t anticipated such a visceral reaction and she had to pause a few moments to quell it.

  “Thank you.”

  In the press of people, it was easy to bump into Markos a couple of times as she maneuvered around a chair. The second bump was perfect.

  One tiny transmitter on one not-so-tiny criminal. Then it was on to the next person around the table.

  “That was anticlimactic,” Max said.

  When all the introductions were made and ev
eryone found a seat, Heidi wound up across from Blake and three seats away from Markos.

  The transmitter would work as long as it stayed on Markos’s jacket. It could still be functioning in July unless he ran it through the wash or got caught in the rain.

  A few months. Heidi tried to keep her focus on the conversation around the room, but she couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d be here. Days? Maybe a few weeks. Months? Not likely.

  Not likely at all.

  *

  By Friday, they’d fallen into a routine. One he couldn’t have envisioned when he’d walked out of the plant one week ago.

  Had it really only been a week?

  He already struggled to remember what life had been like before Heidi had burst into his world.

  Heidi attended the morning meeting with him. Then she spent the day out on the plant floor. Shadowing, she called it. She’d shadowed three operators, two engineers and one shift supervisor. The line operators all had a crush on her.

  Then she’d attend the afternoon meeting with him before returning to her office for an hour. Doing what, he didn’t know. Then she’d tap on his door, say good-night and head to the cabin.

  Caroline had taken a dingy, dated space and made the most of the time she’d had to bring the cabin into the twenty-first century. A fresh coat of paint—he did not want to know how much she’d paid the painters to get it done that fast—and some new furnishings from IKEA and her favorite consignment store, and it was ready for Heidi.

  She’d moved in on Wednesday afternoon and if her car’s location was an indicator, she spent her evenings in the cabin, but he had his suspicions about how often she stayed inside.

  Not that he’d noticed her leaving on foot. Had she dug a tunnel? Or maybe she had access to some new stealth technology and could walk around without being seen?

  It didn’t matter. Except it did. He couldn’t get a read on her. He’d thought they might be moving toward some sort of friendship, but since she’d started working on Tuesday, she’d been all business. No hint she was anyone other than the consultant she was pretending to be. No chitchat.

  Except with Maggie. It had taken Maggie all of one afternoon to decide “Miss Heidi is awesome.” Before Heidi’s arrival, Maggie had frequently begged to go home with the carpool buddy who brought her to the plant each afternoon. But now she hopped out of the car with a smile and a quick “See you tomorrow” before racing inside. She barely acknowledged anyone until she’d seen Heidi. Probably because Heidi always welcomed her in for a chat and a taste of some European chocolate candy bar. Not that she’d offered any of the chocolate to anyone else.