Lance pulled at her hand until she sat beside him. She hated it when the fight drained out of her friend because it meant he was dead serious with what he was about to say.
“I heard your report on the way back and how that man saved you. That wasn’t a calculated risk. It’s sheer luck you aren’t dead. Admit it, you had no idea how many there were or if others were waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. Hell, you didn’t even know the layout. If you’d gone any deeper, you could’ve been trapped for good.”
There was no way she’d admit he was right. Instead, she locked eyes with the blond giant. “Lance, we need to stop Phantom before it drowns the city, and that means taking action. Maybe even dangerous ones. I agree it was risky, but we’ve been monitoring them for quite some time and our only lead on the distribution has been the underground. I swear I’m not voluntarily putting my life or our organization in danger, but don’t ask me not to take advantage of an opportunity when it appears. You know how all this affects me.” Her words sounded strong, but her chest squeezed painfully. It wasn’t time to wallow in the past, and there was so much to do.
Lance patted her knee. “But we still need to think this through. What if one of the men had escaped? We were lucky this time, killing them all and getting rid of the bodies, so no one will suspect their network has been discovered. We’re assuming your mystery man isn’t with them, but I hate not having all the facts.”
So did she. “Any news on that front? I know the entrance I went through doesn’t have any cameras, but what about where my unknown hero fled?”
They stood and headed toward the command center, where Lance brought a chair closer in order to sit at one of the high-tech workstations. “I worked on what I could find, but it’s taken me a bit more time than I hoped. Devin would’ve already found the guy, his address, and what he’d had for lunch by the time I turned on the computer.”
Devin Curtis was Carpe Noctem’s hacker in residence when he wasn’t taking care of his multi-billion gaming development company and Sloane arched an eyebrow. “I’m surprised he’s not here tonight. I thought he didn’t sleep.”
“He had some sort of charity event last night. Just knowing he was forced to put on a tuxedo is enough to make me forget how much I hate doing computer research.”
Lance tapped a few keys, popping up a series of windows. “But while you were finishing up and coming back, I popped a painkiller and got to work. Here’s what I found.”
The camera feed showed an empty street she recognized as one of the avenues to access the underground but hadn’t chosen that one as that entrance was wide open and there was only one street to use as an escape if need be.
“There’s only one camera on that street, at an old repair shop, two miles north of the point of entry. Not a car to be seen from the time you said your guy left. And then...”
Lance trailed off just as an older model black jeep came into view. “It’s the only one that appeared. The next vehicle doesn’t appear for another forty-five minutes. So, my best guess is that’s him.”
Without waiting for her to answer, Lance brought up a new screen, this one zooming in on the license plate. Sloane held her breath, but the moment where the image was at its clearest, a light flashed on the plate, blurring the letters. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I know. Bad coincidence, isn’t it?”
At the tone of his voice, Sloane turned to look at his face. “Is there is something you’re not telling me?”
“I thought as a former cop you’d already know about it, but I guess it’s more of a thing in Eastern Europe. They’ve developed a thin film that you apply to the plate, front and back, and it makes it impossible for the camera to get a clear image of it. From what I know, it’s only a problem with automatic digital cameras, which are used everywhere now. The lens tries to focus, but the film causes it to constantly move back and forth so it can’t get a clear picture.”
Impressed, Sloane looked more closely at the blurry part of the image. “Never saw it when I was in the force. I can’t imagine why it hadn’t crossed the Atlantic yet, though. Happy for the boys in blue, but pissed for us. How can we find him?”
Lance leaned back on his chair, swaying a little. “Did you get a good look at his face before you let him go?”
Sloane thought hard about it. One thing she hadn’t wanted to do was get too close. At 5 feet 8, she wasn’t short, but it would give a clue about her gender, especially since he’d appeared quite large. By keeping in the shadows, and wearing the suit that toned down her curves, it was two ways to keep them guessing. From what she could see, he was over six feet, had broad shoulders, and the way he moved, a definite athlete of some sort. Under the low light and helmet on his head, she could see some strands of hair. His jaw was scared and covered with a dark beard. His eyes gleamed, although it was impossible to know their color, and that annoyed her. Since she’d left the tunnels, the stranger had lingered in her mind, which annoyed her even more. What caught her attention, though, was how he hadn’t been afraid of her.
“Not really. Not enough to get a decent composite drawing. One thing did strike me though. You know how most people we face just freeze when we appear, seeing our suit and mask? Well, instead of cowering before me, he moved into a fighting position. He either has police or military training, or I had the most ruthless villain known to humanity in front of me.”
With a groan, Lance rolled his shoulders, getting restless. “We’re chasing our tails, and most probably for nothing. Let’s get back to our main mission.”
“I’m with you on that. However, we’ve checked all the possible tunnels from all the maps we could find and checked all known entries and we’re back at the same point. Maybe we could get more team members on it. More eyes, more resources, may solve the puzzle.”
Lance pushed himself up and crossed his arms. “Not an option. The more we’re in the field together, the more visible we are. We need to remain out of sight, stay a ghost if we want to continue our mission.”
With a sigh, Sloane planted her smaller frame straight in front of him, not at all intimidated. “We’ve installed countless cameras in the tunnels. I watched hours of video footage until my eyes almost bled. All that for what happened tonight. There must be another entrance, one that threw me off, and where the trio was heading. They got inside at one point and out at another undetected. There are probably hundreds of access points. We may have overlooked some of them.”
“That’s my theory, too. Vanish for maybe a couple of yards, pop up somewhere else. They may have forced an exit inside a building which is even better for them. There’s still one problem. We’re at a disadvantage down there, and what we know or have found so far isn’t enough. Knowledge is power.”
“If Devin hasn’t dug up the info, it means it doesn’t exist.”
Lance’s mouth quirked. “Not everything can be uncovered on the web. Sometimes, you have to dig into people’s minds.”
Her boss and friend ignited a flare of hope. After sitting down again, he closed all the windows but one. An article from the Chicago Tribune glowed on the screen.