Eli looked at Wylie. “Is he talking about nanotechnology? He got the old man to eat it?”
Wylie laughed. “He uses that shit all the time. Does it to us when we’re out in the field to track us. He loves it.”
“That’s frightening.” Eli huffed. “Your brother is a bit insane, mate.”
“Whatever gets the job done, and let’s be honest – when you’re dealing with psychopaths and sociopaths, what better guy to have on your team but a deranged genius?”
“Is that a nice way of saying your brother is a psychopath himself?”
“Twenty percent of the population is a psychopath. That’s one in five – there are five of us brothers, so you do the math.”
“You know I can hear you, right? Your comms is on,” Liam interrupted.
“It’s definitely one of you.” Eli laughed. “Hold up, that’s Kimble ahead.”
Wylie pulled to the side of the road so they could watch from afar. “He’s going into the little market and deli. You’re clear, Ro. There shouldn’t be anyone in that house.”
“Copy. We’re in.”
The men at Watermark watched what they could through the video surveillance feed Ronan’s and Ryker’s body cameras were providing. They patiently waited as the men cleared each room in the small house.
“House is empty. Nothing unusual. How far do you want us to dig?” Ryker asked.
“Light. He can’t know you were there, and he’s trained to notice the smallest shit, so proceed with extreme caution, cousin,” Dace instructed.
“Copy that. We got some weird shit in this makeshift office.” Ronan said. “How long did he say he’s been in town?”
Ronan held his cam steady in his hand and scanned a wall that was covered with pictures, buildings, and notes which were strategically placed, all connected together with arrows Kimble had written on the wall. There were pictures of nearly everyone from Brother’s Keeper, Ivy, Cash, Eli, as well as pictures of the places they’d frequent, including the imaging office they’d been to when they were attacked.
“He’s tracking everything we’re doing,” Dace said. “He knows Ivy is here.”
“So what is this? Is he playing us?” Carter asked. “Is he genuinely in danger and looking for assistance, but not sure who the right side of this is?”
“Who fucking knows?” Dace said.
“Eli, you’re driving,” Wylie said, hopping out of the car. “I’m following on foot when he pops out of there.”
“Got it.”
“I have enough to pull him in,” C.T. said. “He has shit about the murders up on that wall. All our victims combined with Ivy’s attack. I can at least call him in for questioning and see what he does.”
“I don’t think that’s the right move,” Dace said.
“Okay, what is the right move?”
“I don’t know.” Dace watched the screens as Ronan continued to feed them information as he came across it in the space.
Ryker joined Ronan in the office. “I don’t see anything unusual without getting into stuff. I have no idea how he got out undetected. I even looked for trapdoor shit under rugs. Nothing.”
“Ronan. Ryker. Get out of there. He’s on the move again. Got him on the market’s camera headed out. He spent a little extra time at that deli counter, so let’s get a team to check it out. This place has shitty cameras. Wy, heads-up, here he comes.”
“We’re ready for him,” Wylie said.
When David Kimble walked out of the store, Wylie let him get several paces ahead before he began to follow from the opposite side of the road, using the shadows and the dark sky as his camouflage while Eli remained with the vehicle. They made it a couple of blocks when Wylie came through the comms. “Eli. Do a drive-by. See what he does.”
“On my way,” Eli said, pulling out into light traffic. “I’m right behind you, O’Reilly.”
“I knew it. You’ve been made, Eli. He looked right at you. Head back to Watermark. This is all a show,” Wylie said. “I’m tailing him all the way back to see if we can figure out what the hell he’s up to.”
“I’ll hang. I’m not leaving you out here. I don’t trust him,” Eli said. “If he knew I was there, he knows you’re right behind him. I’ll ditch the rig and double back on foot.”
“He’s in the park,” Wylie said. “Looks like he’s headed to the small brick building. I think it’s one of those small utility closets the city uses, can’t be more than a ten-by-ten space.”
“Don’t follow him in without backup,” Dace ordered. “I fucking mean it, Wy.”
“He’s in. He used a fucking key?” Wylie informed the team. “Where you at, Eli?”
“On your six,” Eli replied, weapon drawn. “Hit it. I’m right behind you.”
Dace had a moment of hesitation. The body cams showed Eli, weapon drawn, coming up behind Wylie, and it caused him to pause and reconsider all the things Kimble had said about Eli. Wylie was vulnerable, trapped between David Kimble and Eli who Dace wanted to trust, but didn’t know if he could at that moment. Dace never questioned his judgment — until now. This case was getting the best of him and his confidence.
“Eli,” Dace said.
“Fucking Christ. I got his back, mate. I’m not shooting him in the back.”
Dace chuckled. “That’s what I needed to hear.”
“There’s nothing in here. Just a set of stairs,” Wylie said. “Liam, can you pull up our location and see what the fuck this is?”
“Stairs? I don’t recall any two-story utility buildings in that park,” Dace said.
“That’s because the stairs go down, brother,” Wylie replied. “You have us located, Liam?”
“Looking on city grids now.”
“Okay, I’m going down and not sure if we’re going to get a signal,” Wylie said.
“This feels like a very bad idea, mate.”
“You scared, kiwi?” Wylie teased, weapon drawn with a flashlight guiding its aim as he slowly proceeded down the dark steps.
“Kiwi? You think I’m from Australia?”
“No, New Zealand,” Wylie said. “All this mate stuff and you said you weren’t Australian or British.”
“Because I’m none of those things,” Eli chided. “Do you really think this is the time to play twenty questions and play a round of guess who?”
“This is shady as fuck down here, and I thought I’d lighten the mood,” Wylie said, static coming through his earpiece.
“There’s light ahead,” Eli said. “Is that cliché or what?”
“Light at the end of the tunnel? I’ll take it as a sign.”
The static rang louder as they made the last few steps of their descent and landed in a large open space with several tunnels running off in different directions.
“What the hell is this place?” Eli asked in total awe.
The static subsided as they moved deeper into the open area.
“Portland is known for its underground tunnel system – the Shanghai Tunnels,” Wylie said. “Long history lesson. Basically, they connect China Town and Downtown and were used way back.”