“So I will be exposed while on the stairs, and if he turns around, he has me.” He stared at the images. “What is in that room?”
“No clue, there aren’t images of the space. What’s your plan when you have him in hand, Owen?”
“Honestly, other than subdue and interrogate, I have not thought that far ahead.” Silence, something he wasn’t accustomed to from Alace, shook him. “I was going to wing it, boss lady.”
“Well, I guess we’ll have to wing it. I’m scrambling August to your location. He’s already in the area.” That was it, he realized, the sum total of her reaction. She wouldn’t ride him about his decisions, good or bad, but would go with the flow to provide a positive outcome for the mission. “Should he enter or wait outside?”
“Back door is unlocked, no surveillance anywhere in the house. Our main electrical signal is the basement, and this lock is the only nod to security I have seen anywhere.” Thinking fast, he came up with a solution for the lack of eyes into the basement. “I have a telescoping rod and tape, let me secure my phone to the rod and I can extend it into the space, see what we can see. If you are not tapped into it yet, do so now.”
“Roger.” Alace’s way of agreeing with his on-the-fly planning. Owen smiled as he separated strands of tape to bind the phone to the rod without obscuring the camera. The screen of his phone flashed, and he grinned down at the camera.
“Hey, boss lady. I am glad to see you.” He could imagine Alace shaking her head at his tension-cutting antics. Just because she didn’t do them herself didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate them. “ETA on August?”
“Outside right now.”
Owen’s head lifted, and he cringed as the realization sank in that he’d derailed their op on Ashworth. “Sorry, boss.”
“De nada.” Alace’s indrawn breath rushed through his ear, and he could practically visualize the way she’d settle her shoulders, squaring up and ready for anything. “Let’s get this show on the road. Is your telescope articulated, or a straight shot?”
“It is bendy bendy, gets through cracks that way.” Without touching the door, he placed himself beside the two-inch gap between the flange and wall and inserted the phone. Clicking the rod, he bent the first joint to a ninety-degree angle, then advanced it until he met resistance, adjusting things so the first joint changed back to straight, and the second adopted the angle. He advanced the rod that way until the joint directly above his handle was bent. “What do you see?”
“Rotate a hundred and eighty.” He manipulated the rod to change the direction the phone sat. “Clear visual of the workstation. Empty.” Owen’s brain did a rapid replay of the intelligence he’d gathered before entering the home. Garage held the car, there were no cab runs or ride-share calls to the house, nothing to indicate the solitary guy who lived here would be anywhere except here. “Rotate ninety to your left.” The rod disagreed with the movement, and Owen had to withdraw it by one shaft length to get the angle Alace needed. “The room boxing off part of the basement has a solid door. There’s light coming from underneath it. You’re clear to enter.”
“Where’s August?”
“Where do you want him?” That was Alace’s nod to Owen’s headspace. He hadn’t met August, only heard about him from Alace, and she knew he’d be buggy if she shoved an unknown into the mission with him. At least without his input.
He made a flash decision, jaw clenching as he gave up the rest of his autonomy to her. “You decide. You want him in here, I can be cool with that. Does he have comms?”
“He does. I can patch him in now.” She hesitated, such a change from her normal take-charge attitude it had Owen paying close attention. “I wanna make sure you’re safe and walk away from this with what keeps you healthy. I need you to be okay, Owen.”
“I am okay, Alace. You have my back, always. I know that.”
“Okay.” Right back into the swing of things, her tone adopted the brusque manner of speaking that epitomized Alace in the middle of a mission. “August, can you hear us?”
“Five by five.” The military response eased even more of Owen’s nerves. “How do you read me?”
“Loud and clear.” Owen chimed in on the channel. “I am inside in the hallway, crouched beside a door.” He began retrieving the rod, still without touching the door. “Our entrance is secured, and the subject is secluded without eyes. We are a go.” Owen’s nerves prickled immediately, and he turned his head to find a hulking mass in the process of crouching down next to him. He kept his hands working steadily and nodded, then gave a greeting, out of habit activating the nonverbal mic. “Welcome, partner.”
“The fuck?” August’s rumbled response was quieter than a whisper but clearly audible to Owen, enunciation slurring the words into a southern slang of surprise, dafug.
Alace actually laughed, the sound bright and cheery, at odds with what they were doing and where they were. “Owen’s got a throat mic, heard but not heard. He’s got a normal mic on his tech harness, so you’ll hear anything he hears. You ready, boys?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Owen pushed her button just a tiny bit, glad she wasn’t holding a grudge about him going off on his own with this one. “Summarize August’s brief for me.” Not knowing what August had been told would have Owen working in the dark as to what kind of reactions to expect from the guy. He’d rather know upfront if they were on the same page. “Did you read him in already?”
“When I redirected him, yes. He knows this target is part of a circle we’re looking to crack and track, and that some of the content of his video library is personal to us.”
Us. That was the clearest validation of their friendship she’d given him to date. Aligning herself on his side where it came to his kids was important. He’d think it was more than she knew, but Alace was smart enough to understand the instincts he worked with to protect his kids. She’d do the same for Lila, and so would he.
“Roger.” Back to work mode, he swung to look into August’s eyes. Dark hair, full trimmed beard, and warm brown eyes behind his heads-up display visor. “Stairs are unknown construction and age. Servers and workstation come after we secure the subject, who appears to be inside a room constructed downstairs. Unknown activities.” August nodded, but Owen wanted a verbal confirmation. “Target is the subject. We cannot allow him to trigger any kind of server wipe before we gain control of his servers. We clear?”
“Roger that. Understood.”
Owen shifted out of the space needed to swing the door open and held in place as August did the same, positioning himself at Owen’s back. He took a moment to realize his instincts weren’t screaming, reveled in the fact he’d found another person he apparently intuitively trusted, and then gripped the edge of the door, swinging it wide.
Going down the stairs quickly but quietly, he and August kept to the wall-side of the treads, ensuring there’d be little pull on the nails or screws securing the steps into place. Feet on the sealed concrete of the basement floor, he moved to the wall blocking off a section of the basement. The persistent hum from the servers and HVAC keeping the room at a constant low temperature blocked the noise from inside the room at first. Only when August cursed lowly did Owen focus on the music and sounds coming underneath the door.