Christmas Witness Protection. Maggie K. Black

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СКАЧАТЬ go after very large-scale targets,” Seth added. “Hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. They’re ruthless and mercenary. In it for money and destruction. They’ve been known to both wear disguises and kidnap people to use online as proxies, before killing them. It’s said that no one has ever seen either of their faces and lived.”

      The typing stopped.

      “Okay, I think I’ve got you,” Seth said. “Skipped the street cameras and went for piggybacking on a satellite. Just zooming in. Now I can see you. What do you need?”

      “Everyone. Local police, RCMP, ambulance and our missing whistle-blower,” Noah said. “Any hostiles in the area?”

      “Nope, you’re all clear,” Seth said. “I’m trying to track where the Imposters took Holly now.”

      Hopefully, they were still on foot and hadn’t gotten far. In the meantime, Noah would go old-school.

      “I’ve got footprints,” he said, “and I’m going to follow them. If you see anyone or anything coming my way, let me know.”

      “Will do.” Seth kept typing.

      Noah started toward the footprints, weapon at the ready, following the faint and fading indentations in the snow. How had they managed to take her alive? When he’d been parked down the road from her safe house, he’d watched as she walked out to Elias’s car and insisted on doing a visual sweep of it herself, like a pro. Then she’d glanced his way and for one fleeting moment, her eyes had locked on his face, and it was like someone had sucked all the air from his lungs. Corporal Holly Asher was beautiful in a way he’d never expected from her file, with cropped black hair that perfectly framed her face and a strong, straight, almost regal bearing. Her military file alone had been enough to catch his eye. She was brilliant, talented, decorated and brave. But there was something else to her, too, a quality that had made it hard to look away.

       Just keep fighting, Holly. Wherever you are, just keep fighting until I can get to you.

      “Give me something!” Noah reached the end of the alley and looked around. The snow fell heavier now, wiping out any hint of footprints there might have been. He heard more keyboard taps. Each second ticked by, longer than he could stand.

      “Got her,” Seth said. “Warehouse. One street over to your right and three doors down.”

      “On it.” Noah started running. “I need you to call this in for me. Call everyone. Toronto cops. RCMP. The whole shebang.”

      “Already done.” Seth sounded worried. “But those aren’t secure lines. Anyone good enough to pull this off can hack into them.”

      “I know.” Noah reached the next corner and dived into an alley. Dirty red and gray brick hemmed him in on either side. “But we have to do this by the book the best we can.”

      A row of doors appeared to his right.

      “I just can’t guarantee who you’re going to get showing up,” Seth said, “and whether they’re going to be real or Imposters. Also, I think there could be a leak within the RCMP. Either that or someone in the military who happened to know everything about Holly’s protection detail and Elias’s movements. I just can’t see any other way the Imposters would’ve gotten enough information to set this up and kidnap her this way. There has to be a mole. Or some other way the RCMP has been infiltrated.”

      “I figured,” Noah said. “That’s why I’m also going to need an extraction team.”

      Fellow undercover RCMP detectives, who he knew were in the city, people he trusted with his life, who’d been through their own tricky and dangerous assignments and survived. Officers who, like him, were currently off active duty or on leave, so couldn’t have been tainted by whatever mole or leak there might be inside the RCMP. “Get me Mack Gray, Jessica Eddington and Liam Bearsmith.”

      “Assemble the renegade detectives,” Seth said. “I like it. Should I worry that none are currently on active duty?”

      “No,” Noah said. It was none of his business, any more than the personal reasons he was technically on vacation were theirs. Liam was on six months medical leave after being beaten into a short-term coma when his cover was blown. He looked as strong as an ox on the outside, but Noah suspected that whatever had happened had left lingering scars. As for Mack and Jess, all he knew was that both were facing some kind of review for something that had happened on a past assignment. “Just be thankful we have three of the best cops in the entire world available to help us out of this mess.”

      “What do I tell them?” Seth asked.

      “To get somewhere close and stand by.”

      “And what do I say if they ask about my connection to all this?” Seth asked. “You know I don’t work for you.”

      Like Seth hadn’t volunteered for this the moment he’d brought it to Noah’s attention.

      “Tell them you’re that famous hacker guy I once rescued from the trunk of a car and dragged safely through a hail of bullets.”

      Seth chuckled. “Do they know you’re not on active duty?”

      Noah didn’t answer. He’d landed an important promotion within witness protection, only to discover there was a glitch in gaining the necessary higher level security clearance due to a major financial mess his foster brother Caleb had gotten him into. It had left him in a bit of a limbo and, for now, he was using up vacation time and not being assigned any new cases until he decided what to do about it. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t cleared to work.

      On the plus side, being off the clock had given him the freedom to take a personal interest in Elias’s transfer of Holly, when Seth had tipped him off that there might be a problem. And while Elias clearly hadn’t wanted Noah butting his nose in his assignment—let alone showing up in person when Elias hadn’t taken him seriously—he was really thankful he had.

      Noah reached the third door. His gloved hand grabbed the industrial handle and pulled. It didn’t budge. “Am I at the right door?”

      “Yup,” Seth said.

      “Got it.” Noah reared back and kicked hard. The door flew open. A long dark hallway lay before him.

      “Just to be clear,” Seth said. “Once you go in there, I won’t have eyes. I might not even have ears, depending on how deep the building goes and if it has a signal jammer. You’ll be on your own.”

      “Got it,” Noah repeated. He’d never minded working alone, and he didn’t want the sound of him talking on the phone, or even listening to someone on the other end, potentially alerting anyone he might want to sneak up on. “Put me on hold, assemble the troops, stay ready and I’ll get back to you soon.”

      “Sounds good. Stay safe.”

      “I’ll try.” Noah ended the call, put his phone on silent and slid it into his pocket. Then he raised his weapon high. Help me, Lord. I don’t know what I’m walking into.

      Noah stepped into the warehouse. Darkness enveloped him. He crept down the hallway, following the lines of the walls as they curved and twisted deeper into the building. His rubber-soled boots moved silently on the concrete floor.

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