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“Perfect.” Noah stood. “I’ll tell the rest of the team.”
Minutes later, Seth and Knight parked their SUVs in the lot beside the Texas Range steak house. Soon, the infiltration team sat in a large corner booth at the back of the restaurant.
Seth watched the restaurant’s occupants. Although no one seemed to pay attention to them, he felt as though spiders crawled up his spine.
Teagan leaned close and pressed a kiss to his neck. “Second level, middle table against the railing,” she murmured.
After a slight nod to acknowledge the information she shared, Seth asked Noah a question. While his friend answered, Seth turned his head enough to look at the man watching them from the restaurant’s second level. He looked familiar but Seth couldn’t place him. Was he a member of the second squad tasked with taking out the other target?
If Peters and Richardson were smart, they’d keep the two teams separate. Better yet, they’d house the teams in different cities near Washington, D.C. Placing them in the same vicinity was asking for attention from the feds.
He turned toward Teagan. “Do you recognize him?”
She shook her head. “I snapped a picture and sent it to Zane. He’ll run the photo through our databases. Maybe we’ll get a hit.”
“I should send the photo to Burnett. I’ve seen this guy before.”
“If Burnett runs a search on the face, he could tip off a spy in your station. Besides, our databases are extensive and Zane’s program works faster than your system.”
Their food arrived minutes later, and conversation shifted to neutral topics while the team enjoyed their meals. When they finished, Seth and the others met at their vehicles.
Seth said to Knight, “Watch for a tail. If you pick one up, lose him. He probably already knows where we’re staying but I don’t want to make it easy for him if he doesn’t. We’ll be two minutes behind you.”
“Copy that.”
Seth took his time walking to his SUV and buckling his seatbelt. At the two-minute mark, he cranked the engine and drove from the parking lot.
“Watch for a tail.” He drove squares for a few minutes and saw nothing that caught his attention. “Anything?”
“Nope.” Noah, who’d twisted in his seat, continued to look out the back window. “I think we’re clear. No messages from the rest of the team, either.”
“If the watcher knows where we’re staying, why bother to follow us?” Violet said.
That thought didn’t settle well. His team needed to rest in a secure location, and now their hotel wasn’t that place.
He glanced in the rearview mirror at his partner. “Relocation?”
“Smartest move we could make. I don’t like Peters and Richardson knowing where we’re staying, anyway.”
“If we change hotels, how will they contact us?” Violet asked.
“I gave Peters my cell number before we left the compound. He’ll contact me when he’s ready to give us instructions.”
“This smacks of a setup,” Teagan said.
“Agreed. The Dynamic Duo can’t tell the feds where we are if they don’t know the location.”
“By the time we finish this mission, I hope we don’t have to worry about that.”
“Perhaps.” Seth wasn’t banking on it. He still couldn’t figure out Peters’ game plan. Who were the targets, and what did Peters and Richardson have to gain?
Once he was positive they weren’t followed, Seth drove to the hotel. He parked in a space close to a side door. “We need another place to bunk down for the night. Suggestions?”
“I’ll contact Zane. He’s our best and fastest resource.” Teagan pulled out her phone and called the Fortress tech guru. “It’s Teagan. You’re on speaker with Seth, Violet, and Noah. We need another place to stay, Z. We’ve been compromised.”
“What happened?”
She explained about the man in the restaurant who hadn’t bothered to follow them back to the hotel. “We need a place to stay without worrying about Peters sending the feds or a hit team after us.”
