Page 83 of Power
“Good to see you, brother,” Jericho said. “How you been?”
“Ruthless, power-hungry, ready to take this monster down.” Then, Luciano smiled. “How ‘bout you, Savage?”
“I don’t have a comeback for that,” Jericho replied, and the guys laughed.
“No one ever does,” Sin added before shifting toward Luciano. “Why didn’t you include arrogant and wealthy?”
“We’re all arrogant and wealthy,” Luciano replied.
Another round of laughter filled the room.
Despite the hardship they were facing, he appreciated that these men stayed true to who they were. Powerful, driven individuals who were loyal to their tight-knit group, to their families, and to their organization.
The men made their way toward the conference room.
The Black Site was ALPHA’s secure location, tucked into a wooded area of Great Falls. In addition to offering conference rooms with state-of-the-art surveillance monitoring, it alsooffered a safe haven for up to thirty Ops and their families, something Dakota knew about firsthand.
The place was void of any warmth or personality. Should the location be breached, there could be nothing that tied the building to its occupants or the organization that owned it.
When Rebel started the rescue team, the woods provided a secluded location to train his team. Whether they were using live rounds or repelling from a helo, it was the perfect spot to run and gun. Nothing but privacy for miles and miles.
They entered the conference room, sat around the table.
“Thanks for meeting on such short notice,” Dakota began. “This is a tough day for us, for our organization, and for the families and friends of the victims. Coop, how’s the team doing?”
“Not good,” Cooper replied. “We told everyone not to come in, but the Ops are there en force. They’ve got Danielle combing the dark web for chatter, for anything?—”
“I found something,” Luciano said.
All eyes on him.
“It was buried in a random group for supporters and sympathizers of Haqazzii’s terror cell,” Luciano explained. “Inferno531 wrote, ‘The Bomb Maker is back’, but I couldn’t confirm the validity of the comment.”
“Nice work,” Dakota replied.
“He had the upper hand when he left,” Sin said, “and he picked right back up where he left off.”
“Cooper, what about your recent hires?” Luciano asked. “Were they well vetted?”
“Yes, but we have no direct control over who they share information with,” Cooper replied. “Most of them have families. A friend or family member could get access to our site.”
“So… not one-hundred-percent secure?” Luciano asked.
“In theory, yes,” Cooper replied. “In reality, no.”
“The rescue team is ready to go,” Rebel said, “but I told them to stand down.”
Dakota got busy on his laptop. A blurry photo appeared on the display behind him of a white guy with shoulder-length brown hair. “This is all we have of The Bomb Maker.”
“Could be anyone,” Jericho said.
“ALPHA was the last group he hit before he went missing,” Dakota said. “It was his ‘fuck you’ to law enforcement.”
“Even if we had a lead, I can’t assign a team,” Cooper said, “It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s gotta piss off your Operatives,” Luciano said.
Cooper nodded. “They’re furious with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them work the case anyway. We’re concerned there’s a mole in the group. How else would The Bomb Maker have known we were coming?”
