Page 72 of The Hacker
Windows began to pop up around the periphery of Tully’s image. Each one showed a different view of the gym from various distances and angles. Tully’s was the closest, though.
For half an hour, nothing happened other than an occasional car passing.
“The TV scriptwriters never show you this part,” Tully murmured into his mic. “A whole lot of waiting.”
“And patience isn’t your strong suit,” Leland murmured back.
“When there’s a goal in sight, I can be as patient as an alligator eyeing a nice, fat muskrat on the riverbank.”
Dawn choked back a laugh. Tully’s imagery was certainly vivid.
Leland hissed in a breath and swiped at the computer screen, enlarging one of the small windows. A procession of six black SUVs cruised down one of Cofferwood’s quiet streets. Dawn thought it might be Elm Avenue. “Showtime,” Leland murmured. “You’ve got six SUVs coming in your direction.”
“Yeah, my guy on the roof just told me. He says it looks like they’re one convoy. But no trucks. If they’re moving inventory, they’d need bigger vehicles.”
Leland pulled up multiple screens to track the vehicles, occasionally tapping the track pad with one long finger. “I’ve got screenshots of all the plate numbers,” he said to Tully.
“Send ’em to Novak. Tell him to put a rush on it. This is some major honcho coming to inspect the goods.”
Dawn watched as Tully started to move again. Leland swore and snapped, “Tully, you’re close enough.”
But Leland was typing and swiping as he spoke, undoubtedly getting the license plate numbers to Novak, whoever that was.
“Just want to make sure I get a clear view of whoever gets out of those cars. You want to get good screenshots, right?”
“Not at the cost of your life, you asshole. Stay where you are!”
The view on the screen continued to shift and Leland swore again.
“Keep it down, partner,” Tully muttered. “I need to be able to hear what’s going on.”
“You’ve got a directional mic in that vest. Just face them and I’ll pick up the sound,” Leland gritted out. He hit the key that she recognized as turning off their mic before saying in a normal tone of voice, “I don’t want to have any unexpected sounds from our end getting Tully killed.”
Tully himself went silent as the SUVs hulked past him, seemingly almost close enough to touch. Dawn hoped the video camera had a zoom lens. Otherwise she agreed with Leland about Tully being way too close.
The cars halted and the doors seemed to fly open at once, disgorging an assortment of men dressed in black. They fanned out, heads swiveling constantly. She held her breath as one seemed to look straight at Tully for a long moment before he turned his head and moved on.
“That looked close,” she said.
“The camera has a long lens, but he’s close enough to be spotted,” Leland said, his face tight with anxiety.
Some of the men took up what were clearly guard positions around the cars and door.
“Those guys are professionals,” Leland said. “And I can see the guns under their jackets.”
One of the men walked up to the third SUV and opened the back door, saying something in rapid-fire Spanish so that a phalanx of men formed up around him. Dawn gasped when a woman emerged from the car, wearing high-heeled pumps and a long black raincoat cinched around her waist. Her silver hair was pulled back in a low bun and her earrings flashed in the light. Really big diamond studs, Dawn guessed. She barely glimpsed her before the woman moved into the protection of the phalanx and disappeared through the gym’s back door.
“Holy shit!” Tully’s voice was so low it barely came through the mic, but she could still hear the excitement vibrating in it. “That’s Griselda Rodriguez, one of the most violent drug kingpins in the world. The DEA has been trying to catch her for years. I’m pulling back so I can call in the cavalry.”
The camera began to back away from the scary-looking guards very slowly. Dawn glanced at Leland to find his eyes locked on the screen, his jaw tense, his mouth set in a grim line. “Easy, Tully, easy,” he whispered as the camera swiveled away and picked up speed. “Don’t catch their attention.”
Tully’s car came into view. Dawn blew out a breath of relief as the image showed the interior of it as Tully got in, started the engine, and drove down the street at a careful speed. As soon as he reached the next block, he turned the corner and roared forward so the streetlights strobed past at high speed.
“Leland, get me the best shot of the woman you can,” Tully said, swerving into a municipal parking lot and braking to a stop. “Send it to my cell because I’m going to forward it to my contact at the DEA immediately.”
Leland’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “Done!”
Tully was already on his cell, clearly waking up whoever he had called. He used some colorful language to get the person’s attention but then he relayed the information. There was some waiting and he repeated his story. He slotted his cell phone into the stand on the dashboard and turned on the engine again. “I’m going back to keep an eye on things until the DEA gets here.”
