Page 90 of Renegade
“Give us a minute,” Grey said.
“I gotta get my laptop.” Tank left, leaving the door wide open.
Grey closed it, sat back down. “What’s goin’ on with you? And don’t say nothin’. I can tell. It’s one of my super powers.”
She cracked a smile. “It’s all good.”
“Caroline,” he warned.
She loved the way he said her name, loved that there was an intimacy that drew her in, kept her locked on what he might say next.
“Talk to me.”
She sat there staring at him, wondering… should she wait until later or bring it up now? She didn’t want her personal issues getting in the way of their jobs.
“It’s none of my business.”
“You’re killin’ me, woman. Work with me here. What’s goin’ on?”
“Some woman was waiting at your house last night and I?—”
The door opened, Tank bounded in, dropped his backpack on the table, and said, “I can’t wait to get started. It’s gonna be great working with you guys.”
“Teddy—” Grey protested.
Caroline pinned on a smile. “Tank—or do you go by Teddy?”
“Tank,” he replied. “The fam calls me Teddy.”
“What’s your area of expertise,” Caroline asked.
“Depends on the day, depends on the job. For this one, I’ve been searching the dark web for chatter, been keeping my ears to the ground for the terror group’s home base. I’ve been talking to chemical supply companies to find out who’s been ordering bomb-related supplies and how much?”
As Tank chatted away, Caroline slid her gaze to Grey. He was waiting. His gaze softened and the energy that passed between them was palpable. She couldn’t deny her feelings and she couldn’t deny that she hated that he’d been with someone else. She had no right to him. They weren’t exclusive, weren’t even dating, but she knew how she felt, even if it was unjustified.
When Tank finished, Grey said to her, “You and me, we’re not done.” Then, he regarded his brother. “Tank’s the best when it comes to rooting out evil on the dark web.”
Tank acknowledged him with a nod.
“Today, we’re lookin’ for where the group could be livin’,” Grey said. “We find that, we find the goods.”
“There’s a chemical supply dealer in Springfield,” Tank said. “Owned by an Igor Stachko. He sold a shit-ton of chemicals to De Clerq. Once De Clerq had them, the trail went cold. My gut says he passed the supplies on to the Haqazziis.”
“Based on what I know about the cell,” Caroline added, “it would be to the number two guy, Sajid, the leader’s cousin. Have we run his face through any recognition software?”
“Yeah.” Grey flashed the mug shots of the Haqazzii leadership on the far wall. “No hits.”
“The second-in-charge is the one with the scar next to his eye,” Caroline said to Tank.
“Gotcha,” Tank replied as he got busy on his laptop.
“I’m thinkin’ they live somewhere decent,” Grey said. “Not low end, not high rent either—they wanna blend in.”
“A group house would draw too much attention to them,” Caroline added.
“Same,” Greystone replied. “They’re payin’ rent in cash.”
“No paper trail,” Tank said, his attention glued to his laptop.
