“I need to monitor someone’s activity through their cell and online. I need equipment. I’ll get the wiretaps set in his office myself. I just need the cell phone monitored and some web-tapping,” Mitch said quickly.
“Who’s gonna monitor once it’s set,” Jordie asked. He looked excited at the prospect. Finally, something that took Jordie’s eyes off Anne’s breasts.
“We could use your help,” Mitch offered.
“That’s all you need?” Jordie asked, acting like that was the easiest thing in the world. Aaron would have probably said about the same thing.
“That’s it, man. I see Anne brought me to the right person.” That caused Jordie to sit up straighter in his chair.
“How do you want this to work?” Jordie asked.
“You can go through me. Mitch’s going to give me all the details as he knows them. As soon as I have them, I’ll forward them to you and so we begin,” she explained.
“Okay, I’ll get started as soon as you give me the green light. I’ll also stay in touch with you, Anne. Does your husband know?” There was disdain in his voice. Jordie must have had the hots for Anne for a while now.
“Absolutely not,” Anne replied, flashing the computer guy a big smile.
“So we’ll talk in code,” Jordie instructed.
“That would be great, Jordie,” Anne rose, all legs and boobs in Jordie’s face. “Thank you so much!” She kissed him on the cheek. Good thing she was on his side.
Chapter 34
Once the warrant had come through, Mitch laid out his plan to Connors and Brown in a very private, closed-door meeting. Mitch came prepared to fight to the death to make sure Connors didn’t leave that office and tell one single person their strategy to tackle the case.
Connors caught him completely off guard when he declared his complete acceptance of the wiretapping, and even thanked him for taking the steps to have a federal judge review the case.
Connors stepped up and began calling in favors to the short list of his trusted support staff. As a senior agent, no one questioned him when he asked for onsite, around the clock surveillance on both the coffee shop and monitoring the taps they planned to place.
“They’re moving. They should be in front of the coffee shop within the hour,” Connors said as he hung up the phone.
Mitch actually reached across the table and high-fived the guy. “I thought you’d fight me.”
“We were told to use whatever means necessary to bring this case to a close. You covered our asses, and since we don’t know who to trust anymore, it’s not like we can ask for permission,” Connors reasoned, and Mitch wondered right then if aliens had taken over his temporary partner’s body.
“Better to beg for forgiveness, than to ask for permission anyway,” Kreed added. Mitch leaned over and gave him a fist bump. That had totally been their motto over the years they had worked together.
“So you’re going to break into the office tonight?” Brown asked.
“We’ll go. He’ll be the distraction.” Mitch hooked his thumb toward Kreed.
“I can cause some chaos,” Kreed affirmed confidently. “I’ll set the tap under the bar while Knox works the office. Connors, you and Brown will be with surveillance to verify everything works.”
“I’ll have a surveillance van about a block over. They can pick up both signals as needed.”
“Jordie’s also hacking into DeGeorge’s computer and setting up the web-tapping at his home and the office,” Mitch added.
“Anne must be involved. He falls all over himself to impress her.” Brown laughed.
“No shit. He was putty in her hands,” Mitch added, laughing when he thought about how effectively she’d worked him.
“So how long do we give this to work?” Brown asked.
“Our warrant gives us three weeks, but with our presence back in there, it shouldn’t be more than a couple of days—no more than a week. DeGeorge’ll get spooked, we’ll know it. Besides, eight hits in nine months dictates it’s time for another strike. They have to be getting cocky as hell by now,” Mitch said.
“We’ll need to take shifts. Someone should be with surveillance at all times,” Kreed detailed.
“That’s not the way it works here,” Connors began.
“We’re deputy US marshals apprehending a fugitive. It’s definitely how it works with us,” Mitch said.
“But we don’t have a fugitive yet. Let them do their job. They’ll keep us updated,” Connors suggested.
“You take the first shift,” Mitch said to Kreed, ignoring Connors altogether.
“I’ll take the next shift,” Brown offered.
“Then that leaves me overnight, because Connors has a family—he gets the morning shift. Great, thanks!” Mitch feigned a smile at drawing the graveyard shift.
“Whatever, man! That’ll give you plenty of time to sex up your boyfriend and still get a couple of hours sleep.” Kreed aimed his smirk right at him. Mitch shot him the finger and picked up the closest thing to him, his stapler, and threw it at Kreed who caught it before it could make contact with his head.
“Shut the fuck up, man.” Mitch couldn’t help the grin that broke out across his face.
Kreed gave him a kissing sound and mocked him with a pretend phone in his hand. “I’ll call you as soon as I can… I miss you already… Ohh! Yes, that’s it…” Kreed ducked out of the room, but his laughter could be heard down the hall.
“For the record, I don’t sound like that,” Mitch said good-naturedly to Connors and Brown. He didn’t care what anyone thought. Cody was a keeper he planned to have around awhile. They all needed to get used to him.
Chapter 35
Mitch and Kreed entered the coffee shop a little before closing. The time of day where the staff was at the end of their shift, ready to lock the doors, clean the place, and get the hell out of Dodge. He learned early on this was always the perfect time to get information or have free access to just about anything in the building. No one ever seemed to care.
Kreed took on the job as distractor. If possible, he would plant a bug under the main counter. Mitch would take care of the rest of the place, including DeGeorge’s personal office. Brown, along with the surveillance crew, sat parked in an unmarked van down the street.