Page 43 of Defenseless
Colton’s phone dinged and he hit the Answer button. “Yeah…great, send them in,” he said, then hung up.
“Who else is coming?” Sabina asked, glancing around the table. There were six operatives in total, but only three of them were in the room. Chad didn’t think the other three were the subject of the call, though. If it had been them at the gate, the guard wouldn’t have needed to check with Colton.
“Give me a few minutes and you’ll see. Gina O’Rourke sent all the files she collected over the years. We’ll go over those,” Colton said, gesturing to himself, Ethan, Tucker, and Teague. “Ava, Leo, and Collin will work the cyber angle while you and Chad head to Memphis. Between those leads, and anything Ryan and his team get from the guy in the hospital, we have enough to keep us busy for today.”
“And tomorrow? What about tomorrow?” Sabina asked.
“Tomorrow we start to bring Jacobs down,” Chad answered.
Sabina looked at him, her expression inscrutable, and yet he recognized the look. She wanted what he said to be true. Shehopedit would be. But it would be devastating if they failed. He didn’t know what failure would look like, but he knew she was worried about it. “How about we get back to Colton’s original question,” he said. Having her mind spiral down the path it looked to be going wouldn’t be helpful to anyone, let alone Sabina. “Do you have any idea what your mom had that Jacobs wanted?”
She frowned and opened her mouth to answer, but a commotion outside the conference room drew everyone’s attention. On instinct, all the operatives rose and reached for their weapons. Chad moved between the door and Sabina. Four seconds ticked by before he realized the sounds weren’t threatening ones. No, a woman was laughing and there was the rumble of a man’s voice, but it wasn’t loud enough for Chad to make out.
“At ease, gentlemen,” Colton said. “It’s just my little surprise.”
Chad glanced over his shoulder at his colleague then whipped around again when the door flew open. Standing in the opening was a woman, presumably the one he’d heard laughing. She was petitely built, like Sabina, but had short mahogany hair. Her brown/hazel eyes scanned the room then landed on Sabina.
The recognition in her expression needed no explanation. Chad stepped out of the way as Sabina and Kara rushed toward each other, throwing their arms around each other.
“What are you doing here?” Sabina demand. She’d finally pulled back from her sister, although she kept hold of her hands.
The other woman smiled. “This guy told me what was going on up here,” she said, waving to the man standing behind her. He wasn’t an HICC operative, but Chad figured he was one of the local guys that Colton had put on Kara last night. Time had been of the essence, and sending someone from HICC would have taken too long. The man grinned, looking as though he hadn’t minded doing Colton the favor.
“You have to know, I’d never let you face Jacobs alone,” Kara said. “But more important, if we’re going to end this, we’re going to end it together.”
Sabina blinked away tears then threw her arms around her sister again. The two women held each other for several seconds, then Sabina sniffed and stepped back again. “Well,” she said with a watery smile. “Welcome to my world.” She gestured to the people in the room.
As Kara turned, her eyes swept the room. Then they landed on Chad. He had no idea if Sabina had told her anything about him or, if she had, what it was. He returned her study and as he did, he was amazed he hadn’t seen the resemblance more quickly. Other than her hair and eye color, which he’d wager were modified, she and Sabina were the spitting image of each other.
“Kara, I presume?” he said, stepping forward, his hand outstretched.
She nodded, ignored the hand, and wrapped him in a hug. Then whispered to him, too quietly for anyone to hear, “Thank you. She’s worth it.”
He cleared his throat. “I know,” he replied.
She gave him another squeeze then released him and stepped back. Glancing around the room again, her gaze landed on the files sitting on the desk. It lingered there for a moment then drifted to her sister. “Why don’t you introduce me to everyone and tell me what the plan is.”
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Sabina paced the cyber lab,squeezing one of her stress balls as she did. Ava, Leo, and Collin were all diligently working on what they’d been assigned, including digging into Kevin Jacobs’s life, tracking the identities of the two intruders, and identifying the man at the conference. Her sister, having insisted on a change of plans, was now on her way to Memphis, along with Colton’s friend who’d brought her to Mystery Lake and HICC operatives Eli and Ryder.
Chad and Colton had gone to the hospital to sit in on the questioning of the man who’d been taken in the night before. Ethan was going through Gina’s files and Teague was tracking the man they’d intentionally let go the night before. And she had no idea where Tucker and Killian were, although she supposed they were keeping their eyes on the HICC compound.
Which left her. Pacing the cyber lab. Back and forth and back and forth. Colton’s question was driving her mad. Once Kara arrived, Ethan had asked it again. What had Jacobs been looking for? What information or item had he wanted from their mother? Neither of them had come up with anything.
Should she dig into the university network and see what kind of archives they had? Although with eighteen years passed, she doubted any of her mother’s work would still be there. Or if it was, if it had been digitized. The university had the internet when her mom was teaching, but it hadn’t been nearly as pervasive as it was now. Still, it was worth a look.
Taking a seat at her desk, she brought her computer to life and started searching. An hour later, with no progress, she looked up to find Ava staring at her with an odd expression on her face.
A sense of dread spread across her chest. “What?” Sabina half asked, half demanded.
“The police file states that investigators found one of your mother’s rings with the vagrant?”
Sabina nodded.
“Do you know which one?”
Sabina shook her head. “I’m sure my uncle and Gina knew, butInever asked. Why?” Her computer dinged with an IM from Ava, and she opened it.
