Page 61 of Fierce Hope
Jack’s mouth quirked. “Not from Deke. Man’s tight-lipped as ever. But the betting pool on whether he’d actually call in backup for a client job reached four figures.”
“There’s no betting pool,” Deke said flatly.
“Not anymore,” Austin agreed. “Zara cleaned us out when you actually requested the full team.”
“How’s the mama-to-be?” Deke asked Austin.
Austin literally glowed. “Ready to have that baby. She’s already three days past her due date.”
Deke nodded. “Those last weeks are tough.”
“Only gets tougher,” Jack added.
A commanding voice cut through their banter. “If you gentlemen are finished gossiping in the hallway, some of us have operations to run.”
Jade turned to see an older man with steel-gray hair and the ramrod posture that screamed military. Even without introduction, she recognized Admiral Knight from the photos in the main conference area.
“Sir,” all three men responded simultaneously, straightening subtly.
Knight’s stern expression softened minutely as his gaze fell on Jade. “Ms. Villanueva. I’m John Knight. We’re glad you agreed to our help. I trust Mr. Williams and his team are treating you well?”
“They’ve been excellent,” she said, feeling like a student called on unexpectedly.
Knight nodded once. “Good. Deke doesn’t often request additional resources. When he does, I pay attention.” His eyes shifted to the other men. “You two. My office. Ten minutes.” Without waiting for a response, he continued down the hallway.
Jack smacked his friend in the stomach. “See? I told you he’s mad about us transporting that goat in the new helo.”
“She was about to give birth,” Austin protested. “Totally worth it.”
His friend sighed. “Agreed. Just don’t forget, you offered to take the damages out of your paycheck.” Jack nodded at Jade and hurried off down the hall.
“Don’t mind him,” Austin told her with a wry smile. “He’s got an inflated sense of humor and a deflated sense of decorum.”
“I heard that,” Jack called over his shoulder.
Deke guided her forward, but not before she caught Jack’s raised eyebrow—a look that clearly said they found Deke’s protectiveness interesting.
Strange how quickly she’d come to accept this world of operational briefings and tactical gear as her new normal. The thought was both troubling and oddly comforting.
Ten minutes later, Deke’s entire team was assembled around a conference table. Digital displays covered the walls, showing maps, data feeds, and surveillance images. Jade sat between Deke and Griff, feeling distinctly civilian in her simple blouse and slacks amid their tactical attire.
“Let’s start with the storage unit,” Deke said, nodding to Zara.
The tech specialist tapped her tablet, bringing up records on the main screen. “Complete disaster from an information security standpoint,” she reported, disgust evident in her voice. “The company’s system was migrated to new services three times in five years, with significant data corruption each time.”
She pulled up a scanned document. “I found this buried in their backup archives—a scan of the original lease agreement from five years ago, signed by Kent Wycoff as Director of the Hope Landing Church Board.”
Jade studied the signature, recognizing it from church documents she’d reviewed. “That matches his signature on the financial authorizations I’ve seen,” she confirmed.
“What about access logs?” Axel asked.
Zara shook her head. “Current records are unavailable due to ‘system maintenance.’” Her air quotes made her opinion clear. “And security footage only goes back thirty days due to—surprise—storage limitations.”
“These companies always choose the lowest bidder for their data infrastructure,” Kenji added. “Bites them in the rear every time.”
“So intel from the storage unit is a dead end,” Jade concluded.
“For now,” Deke qualified. “But we have other angles. Kenji?”
