Page 23 of Caught
“Ooh, now you’re speaking my language,” Marielle said, rubbing her hands together.
He gave her an uncertain smile before continuing. “The LTSD is the Logistics and Technical Support Directorate, and under that I work for the AAD, the Analysis and Analytics Division.”
Marielle’s eyes sparkled behind her cat-eye framed glasses. “You do modeling and visualization?”
“Exactly.”
“Predictive data patterning?”
His eyes widened. “Yes.”
Olivia’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Marielle turned to her and shooed them away. “Go, take your call. All of you, get some air. We can talk at a higher level without you asking a bunch of rudimentary questions.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice,” Chelsea said, already on her feet.
Leilah wanted to be offended, but she knew Marielle’s statement was true, even if it was insulting. She took a parting shot before she trailed Chelsea and Olivia out of the kitchen. “Have your fun, but just remember, Reuben’s gay. No little nerd babies for you.”
“Geek babies,” Marielle called after her. “They would be little geek babies, anyway.”
Leilah was laughing when she joined Olivia and Chelsea on Reuben’s small deck. After one look at Olivia’s expression, her laughter died. Olivia was gripping her cell phone to her ear. Her mouth was a thin line.
Leilah turned to Chelsea. “Trent?”
“Yeah, but aside from ‘hi, babe,’ she hasn’t said a word. She’s just got that thousand-yard stare and she’s listening like he’s giving her the nuclear codes.”
“Well, even if the guys had a setback with their meeting, things are looking up. Elle will be able to understand whatever Reuben was working on.” Leilah hoped she sounded positive and upbeat.
Chelsea cocked her head. “Are you new here? It’s one disaster after another at Potomac.”
She was still formulating a response when Olivia said, “Understood. Be careful.”
Olivia ended the call and pocketed her phone with a heavy sigh. “Reuben’s going to have to talk fast. We need to get back to Annapolis ASAP. The guy from DCIS is dead. He was murdered on his way back to work after meeting with them.”
“Things still looking up?” Chelsea asked Leilah. Her weary tone was almost sympathetic.
10
Omar palmed the steering wheel and turned into the parking lot in front of Charlie’s Seafood Tavern as Trent ended his call with Chelsea. During the entire trip, Trent and Jake had both worked the phones, reaching out to contacts, calling in favors, making arrangements. Ryan felt like he was an extra in the Godfather after Sonny exclaimed the family was going to the mattresses.
“Charlie said to park in the back,” Trent told Omar. “He sent the staff home and put a closed sign on the door. Jake and Ryan, you guys need to move your cars out of sight, too. I left my keys, so a chase team already came out to pick up the company SUV.”
Omar drove past the entrance and behind the building, where he parked. Jake and Ryan jogged to their respective vehicles and pulled them around to hide them from view. Omar and Trent were waiting for them beside the metal kitchen door. Trent tried the handle. It was locked. He rapped on the door and was pulling his phone out when the door opened.
Charlie popped his out and scanned the lot. “You sure you weren’t followed?” he asked as he hustled them inside.
Omar shrugged. “I did a cleaning run, so if someone was following us, I should have lost them.”
“Should have?”
He eyed the bar owner. “Dude, I drove a big, black SUV on a single road that’s basically a straight shot from the District to here. I did everything I could, but it wasn’t my finest work.”
Charlie twisted his mouth. “You should have stolen a car.”
“Shoulda, coulda, woulda,” Trent told him. “We didn’t have that kind of time.”
“Also, we’re not operating under any authority here,” Jake reminded him. “We’re on the hook for any laws we break.”
“With that in mind,” Ryan interjected, “if we’re too … uh, hot … we can go somewhere else. We don’t want to expose you to unnecessary risk.”
