He had a thought on that. It would be far easier to dupe Vanessa’s phone if he had a partner. He could distract the target while MaeBe worked her mojo. “Why don’t you shadow my meeting with her today? If you get a chance to dupe her phone, take it. If you get caught, we’ll make something up in the field. I’ll make sure you get away.”
Her eyes lit up. “Are you serious? I would love to do that for you.”
He wasn’t sure why Kyle was acting like an asshole, but this was his op, and he got to pick his team. MaeBe was smart, and he thought they were underusing her. They didn’t have enough female operatives as it was. A young, smart woman should be trained, not forced to sit behind a computer. “Excellent. I need you to dress down, though. You want to be fairly inconspicuous.”
A huge smile lit up her face. “I’ve got workout clothes here. I know the coffee shop you’re going to, and it’s right beside a yoga studio. No one will even give me a second glance. I’m so excited.”
“Hey, don’t push it,” he advised, happy to give her a shot. “Wait for the right chance. If it doesn’t happen, don’t move in. Okay? Patience is the name of this game.”
It was a good reminder for him, too.
“I totally understand. I won’t let you down.” She turned toward the door, and her hand lifted in greeting. “Hey, Deke.”
Deke Murphy moved to let MaeBe out. “Good morning, MaeBe.” He stepped inside Michael’s office, watching her go. “She’s in a good mood. What’s got her so peppy? Not that she’s not usually happy.”
“She’s excited about backing me up this morning. I asked her to help me dupe the target’s phone. She wants to go into the field, but Hawthorne’s blocking her for some reason.” Michael was still thinking about that one.
Deke was a handsome man in his mid-thirties, but Michael had known him when he’d been a kid straight out of the military, working on the same CIA team Michael had. Deke had been a friend for years, and he was the man Michael had called when he needed someone watching Vanessa the night before. “I suspect he’s blocking her because he thinks he’s protecting her. He doesn’t want her out in the field because he’s careful when it comes to her. Expect some pushback from him. He gets touchy when it comes to MaeBe.”
“But they aren’t dating?”
Deke shrugged. “Not in any sense that we would understand, but the ways of the younger generation are strange. I know he’s started going to her game nights. MaeBe throws them every Thursday.”
He’d heard a bunch of the younger employees gathered at MaeBe’s every Thursday for board games. “I don’t think he’s going to win her over by blocking her from the field.”
Deke walked over to the chair MaeBe had recently vacated. “Just know you’ll probably hear from him if he finds out you put her in the field. But we have bigger problems. Or rather your target does.”
That got him sitting up a bit straighter. “What happened?”
Deke folded his six-foot-three-inch body onto the chair and ran a hand through the dark scruff of his beard. “First off, she’s in a gated community. There’s no way for me to stay on her block for more than a few hours. The neighbors are nosy, and apparently there’s a rule about leaving your car on the street overnight. That was a fun conversation.”
“I didn’t think about that. How long were you able to keep eyes on her?” He should have thought about the gated aspect of the community.
“Long enough to know that she met with someone, and she doesn’t want anyone to know he’s there. And I’m not entirely sure it was a he, but it’s a good bet. He knows how to move. He’s tall and slender and likes to jump fences.”
“Why would he jump the fence?” Vanessa hadn’t mentioned any close friends. She’d stated plainly she didn’t have a lover and hadn’t for a while. She’d seemed very alone in the world. Of course, she was known to lie.
“I wasn’t the only set of eyes on her,” Deke admitted. “I managed to get in the gate by slipping in behind a resident, but I watched them turn away two members of the press who tried to get in.”
“They know where she is.” They hadn’t gone into her press situation the day before. She hadn’t brought it up, or really anything about her past, so he’d stayed away from it. She knew he worked for a security firm, but she hadn’t mentioned she had actual security problems.
Deke nodded. “Yes, and her neighbors aren’t happy about it. I think her visitor last night was from the community and didn’t want anyone to know he was seeing her.”