Page 60 of In the Shadows
Ronan sat in his driveway, engine idling, and felt the scope of it settle into place. This wasn't a real estate scam. It was a takeover.
"We need to move faster," he said.
"Agreed. I'm accelerating the evidence package. We'll be ready to release within the week."
"And Lila?"
"She stays in position. Acts normal. We can't afford to tip them off before we're ready to strike."
Ronan ended the call and sat in the silence. Lila, acting normal. Smiling at Warren Caldwell. Pretending she didn't know he'd killed her father.
He thought about her hand on his chest this morning. The way she'd known he was awake just from the change in his heartbeat.
Twelve days suddenly felt like a very long time.
Mitch DeMario was waiting at the VFW hall with a clipboard and a problem.
"Three vendor applications," he said, spreading papers across a folding table. "All filed in the past week. All with business addresses that trace back to holding companies instead of actual storefronts."
Ronan scanned the documents. Generic names. Post office boxes. The kind of paperwork that looked legitimate until you started pulling threads.
"Could be tax shelters," he said. "Lots of small businesses?—"
"That's what I told myself." Mitch tapped one of the applications. "Until I ran the holding company names. All three trace back to the same parent corporation. Coastal Property Services."
Ronan kept his face neutral, but his pulse kicked up. "You're thorough."
"It's my job to be thorough." Mitch gathered the papers and squared them against the table. "I brought this to Chief Fielding this morning. He told me I was being paranoid. Said Coastal Property Services is a legitimate business with deep ties to the community."
"And you don't believe him."
"I believe he believes it." Mitch took a deep breath. "I also believe there's something wrong in this town, and nobody wants to see it. Including, maybe, the people who should be looking hardest."
He was too close. Another step and he'd be inside the perimeter of an active covert operation, stumbling around in the dark where he could get himself—or Lila—killed.
"What are you going to do?" Ronan asked.
"Deny the applications. Cite incomplete documentation." Mitch shrugged. "It's within my authority as security coordinator. If someone wants to appeal, they can take it up with the town council after the centennial."
"That'll draw attention."
"Good." Mitch met his eyes. "Maybe attention is exactly what this situation needs."
Ronan held his gaze for a long moment. Mitch DeMario was smart, capable, and operating on pure instinct. Under different circumstances, he'd be exactly the kind of ally Shadow Ops could use.
Under these circumstances, he was a liability.
"Be careful," Ronan said. "Attention cuts both ways."
"Always am." Mitch tucked the clipboard under his arm. "I'll see you at the security briefing tomorrow."
He walked away, and Ronan watched him go, calculating the odds that Mitch's denied applications would trigger exactly the wrong kind of response from Caldwell's network.
The odds weren't good.
Ronan spotted the gray sedan three blocks from the VFW hall.
Same car. Same tinted windows. Same deliberate distance. Whoever was driving had been trained, but not well enough. A professional tail rotated vehicles. This driver had been using the same sedan for a week.
