Unsure what they would find, she and two of her men proceeded inside with extreme caution. They did a thorough check of the main floor first and found that the front door was unlocked.
She was willing to admit there was a slight possibility Becker had fled without setting his alarm, but there was no way he would leave a door unlocked. Someone else had been here. Why and how long ago were the questions.
She tapped Nolan on the shoulder and motioned to the stairs. He headed over with King right behind him and Gloria bringing up the rear. Halfway up he paused, pointed at the floor above and then at his ear. Next he held his thumb and forefinger about a quarter inch apart, indicating he’d heard something but it had not been very loud.
“Go, go,” she mouthed.
Once they reached the next floor, she silently asked which room the noise had come from, but he shook his head, unsure. The first door led into a master bedroom, while the second and third opened onto rooms crammed with shelves and boxes full of items she didn’t take the time to ID. All three rooms were unoccupied.
“We’re clear,” Nolan said, no longer muting his voice.
“So what the hell did you hear, then?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It was a short…whoosh, I guess. Like two things rubbing against each other. I guess it must have come from a neighbor’s place.”
“You’re sure?”
“No, but there’s nothing here.”
She walked over to the window and looked out. They were on the side of the house facing the road. Nothing out there but cold air and a dead lawn.
“All right,” she said, turning back to her men. “Let’s tear this place apart.”
“Another block and a half down,” Orlando said, checking the map on her phone. “It’ll be on the right.”
“Got it,” Nate said.
She looked into the back where Quinn was sitting with Abraham and Daeng and held out her hand. “I need to set you up.”
Quinn gave her his cell.
Quickly, she went through his apps until she found the one she wanted, and then input the information that would allow him to track the beacon he’d left on the sedan.
Half a minute later, Nate pulled the SUV into an open spot at the curb next to a Starbucks coffee shop.
“Let’s go,” Orlando said to Abraham.
Quinn climbed out of the car so Abraham could exit, and then switched to the front passenger seat where Orlando had been. “We’ll come back for you in a while,” he said.
“Try to make it back before they close,” she told him. She swung her bag over her shoulder and looked at Abraham. “Come on. Let’s see if we can find a table.”
Quinn directed Nate to a street three blocks away from Eli’s place, where they found a parking spot at the curb and settled in to wait. It was another twenty-two minutes before the tracking dot on the map began to move, bringing the total time the others had spent inside the townhome to around forty minutes.
As Nate started the SUV, Quinn watched the dot move down to Old Georgetown Road and then head southeast. The sedan’s route would take it within a half block of their position in less than thirty seconds.
He watched the intersection, and as soon as he caught sight of the intruder’s vehicle, he said, “Let’s move, but slow. Give them a few blocks’ lead.”
Nate shifted into DRIVE and pulled into the road.
All the tables were occupied when Orlando and Abraham entered the coffee shop.
“I’ve got this,” Abraham said. “You get us something to drink. You know what I like.”
While Orlando was in line, Abraham walked slowly toward the area where the majority of the tables were located, taking on a small but noticeable limp, and donning a friendly smile that turned into a cringe every time he put weight on his “bad” leg. When he got to the tables, he slowed as if confused and looked around. Several of the tables’ occupants glanced at him then quickly looked away.
He shuffled forward a few feet, and stopped in front of a table where a young guy of about twenty sat in front of a pile of chemistry and math books.
“Excuse me,” Abraham said in a tired old voice. The kid looked up. “You wouldn’t happen to be leaving soon, would you?”
“Uh, oh, um, no,” the guy said. “Sorry. I’m…I’m studying. Big test coming up.”
“Of course. I understand.” Abraham took a step back. “I hope you do well.”
“T-thank you.”
He gave the kid a smile, and then turned and looked around again. As he knew would happen, he caught several of the other customers looking at him again. While most immediately glanced away again, another guy about twenty years old didn’t break his gaze soon enough and had no choice but to acknowledge Abraham’s hopeful smile. The guy had a book bag at his feet that hinted at his own need to study, but there were no books on the table, only his hand holding the phone he’d been smirking at and typing on since Abraham had walked up.
“Are you leaving?” Abraham asked.
“Um…” The guy looked like he was trying to come up with any response that would allow him to stay, but finally his shoulders sagged. “Sure. Just…two seconds, huh?”
“Oh, wonderful. Take your time. And thank you.”
As the kid returned his attention to his phone, Abraham moved to within a foot of the table and stared down. When the kid realized he was being scrutinized, he stuffed the phone in his pocket and stood up.
“All yours,” he said.
“Thank you again,” Abraham told him.
Orlando walked over a few minutes later with a couple cups of coffee. “Nice table.”
“Just good timing,” he said.
“Is that what you call it?”
She arranged her computer so that the screen faced the wall and only she and Abraham could see it. She then did the same with Eli’s machine.
When his old friend’s computer came to life, it asked for a password. Orlando reached over to pull the laptop in front of her but Abraham said, “I can get this.”
She looked at him. “Are you sure? There’ve been a lot of advances in the decade you’ve been gone.”
“First of all,” he said, centering the computer in front of him, “it hasn’t been a decade, and second, do you think I’ve just been sitting around doing nothing?”
“Oh, so they teach advanced hacking at the old folks’ home nowadays, do they?”
“My fellow active seniors and I are insulted by your terminology. Now quit wasting time talking to me.”
With a smirk, she turned her attention to her own screen.
Abraham couldn’t help but smile himself. It felt good to be working with Orlando again. He’d had three different apprentices over the years, but she had been, by far, his favorite and best.
Whip smart. Funny. Perceptive.
And above all else, caring.
He had missed that. So much.
Focusing on the computer screen reminded him why she was sitting next to him, and it wiped the smile from his face.
Eli.
Dammit.
He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to set his feelings aside so he could work.
“Need a little help already?” Orlando asked.
He opened his eyes again. “Absolutely not.”
Perhaps Orlando could have broken through the security screen faster, but Abraham was satisfied with getting past it in only a couple of minutes. “Done,” he said, turning the screen so she could see.
“Nice. May I?”
“Have at it.”
She leaned over and accessed the operating system. After a few moments of clicking and typing, she returned to her own laptop.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ve got it slaved and am cloning the drive to my cloud. Should be done in a few minutes, then we start with some global searches.”