Page 88 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Approved,” Cooper said. “Let me know if you need another set of faces to properly surveil him.”

“For now, we’re good, but I can see that being necessary if this drags on too long,” Wilson said.

“Roger that. Be careful with this guy. We already know how dangerous the Smiths were,” Cooper said.

“What I don’t get is Stella Adams playing the single mom nurse and living within her means if she was still active with the network,” Flores said.

“I was thinking about that,” Wilson said. “What if she was using her nurse position to lift IDs from patients?”

“Fuck, that’s pretty low,” Flores said.

“That would be a good place to lift them, especially if the patient was in critical condition and would be hospitalized for a long time. They may not know their ID or credit cards were gone for weeks,” Cooper said. “But from all we’ve looked into, Ashley Carona was not living above her means.”

“Maybe she was promised a payday in the future after she provided X number of IDs or credit cards,” Wilson theorized. “Or maybe her being brought back in wasn’t her idea. From what Lilly and Reina both said, Stella Adams isn’t running anything right now and she very well could be afraid of Henning.”

“I’ll pass this theory along to St. Vincent and see if they have the resources to look into possible missing IDs and credit cards at the hospital she worked at or if he needs our Digital Team to do it,” Cooper said. “Stay in touch.” Then he disconnected the call.

Over the next twenty-four hours, the Shepherd Security Team’s focus shifted completely to Hugo Morales. Garcia and Jackson searched his home while the other team members surveilled him visit more establishments in a different section of town receiving envelope after envelope. Hugo Morales was living way above his means, evidenced by the house he lived in and the many high-end electronics, expensive jewelry, and artwork that was inside.

Their break came on the second evening they were in Atlantic City. Morales visited a two-story condo building that looked more like a slightly renovated old motel a block off of the boardwalk. Wilson and Flores drove by after he’d parked and caught a glimpse of the man opening the door to Morales. It was Henning.

The team surrounded the building and called it in to St. Vincent, as he wanted to make any arrest by the numbers so it would stand up in court. But as they waited, three figures exited the condo. There was at least one more person inside they saw.

“Razor, Taco, and Louisa follow our targets. Stay on them. The rest of us will remain on the target building. St. Vincent’s ETA is five minutes,” Cooper broadcast through comms.

Wilson and Flores exited their vehicle. A cold breeze off the ocean hit them as soon as they stepped from the protectionof the building and into the open road, following the three suspects. The end of the road dead-ended at the Boardwalk. That was the direction the three they followed headed.

“If they separate, I’ve got that Henning fucker,” Razor transmitted.

“Adams is mine,” Wilson said.

“That leaves Morales for me,” Flores said.

Once the three they followed stepped foot onto the boardwalk, Morales went left, the other two, right. The area was quiet. It was mostly only the people rushing from vehicles to storefronts and back to their cars that were on the boardwalk due to the cold. This would make it harder to tail them unseen.

“Okay, they’ve separated from Morales,” Wilson broadcast. “Coop, do we have permission from St. Vincent to take them down? They are fugitives.”

“As a last resort, if you’re going to lose them,” Cooper replied. “Do it by the legal numbers.”

They followed for another few blocks. When they turned and took one of the paths that led to the beach, both Garcia and Wilson became suspicious. “Something isn’t right about this,” Wilson said to Garcia, broadcasting it to the team as well. “Our two are heading to the beach. And look how Henning is holding onto Adams’ arm.”

Garcia was right there with him. “We’re moving in,” he said as he took off in a run. They overtook the beach access path the pair had disappeared down quickly. It was lined with a fence and bushes outside of it. That covered their approach from anyone on the beach who’d gone left or right.

They both sprinted and quickly left the path as it emptied onto the beach. It was a cloudy night, which made quicklyseeing Henning and Adams difficult. Wilson finally identified movement near the lifeguard station up ahead of them and to the right. He smacked Garcia’s shoulder and pointed. Both men ran full-out, despite the sand. They pulled their weapons. As they neared, they saw Henning had both his hands around Adams’ neck.

“Let her go, Henning!” Wilson yelled.

“Get your hands in the air, both of you!” Garcia added.

Henning’s head snapped in their direction. Stella Adams’s hands were near his waist. She grabbed the pistol he had shoved in his belt and stuck it into his gut and pulled the trigger several times. Henning slid to the ground.

“Drop it, Stella!” both men yelled over each other.

Wilson, who was several feet in front of Garcia, was nearly to her when she turned the gun in their direction. “Federal agents, Stella! Drop it!” He didn’t stop running.

“Don’t make this worse on yourself!” Garcia added. “Don’t make us shoot you!”

Wilson didn’t stop running. When he reached her, he plowed into her, pushing her arms upward as they hit the sand, his body on top of hers. The gun flew out of her hands when she landed, and the wind got knocked out of her. By the time she caught her breath, she was lying facedown in the sand with her hands zip tied behind her back.

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