Peter looked at Marco. “Ryan?”
“He’s with Jane,” Marco answered. “They haven’t come down yet, so it’s just us.”
“Good. She should get some rest.” Peter tapped a few buttons on his laptop, frowned at the screen for a second, then turned it around for them to see. “This was taken last night, right before you landed.”
The three of them peered at the screen. It turned greenish, like a video from a night-vision camera, and got a few shades lighter, revealing a wide street and a car whose headlights had lightened up the picture. A big, square black car—a jeep.
Dave held his breath as he watched another vehicle pull up from the other direction, a passenger door opening to allow two men out. They were wearing black, like the Commandos, but no masks. And even though the quality of the image wasn’t the best, he would easily recognize them in a crowd.
The other jeep, however…
“Holy shit,” Marco said, stretching his neck even more. “Is that Victoria?”
Peter must have nodded, but Dave didn’t dare to look away from the screen.
Her back was to the camera, but it was obviously a woman, small, and with a dark ponytail. A man walked at her side, this one wearing a mask, and they spoke briefly to the other two before returning to their car.
Two seconds—that’s how long it took them to turn around and walk a few paces before climbing in the back seat. But it was enough time for Dave to see her face and memorize it.
The doors closed, and the jeeps disappeared.
Peter spun the laptop back around. “We can’t know for sure if that’s Victoria, of course. But we’re assuming it’s her for now. Rooney’s running her picture through all databases right now, including the FBI. We’ll find her. It’s just a matter of time.”
“And the other two?” Dave asked, his throat dry.
“We’re searching for them, too. But Victoria’s our priority, since finding out about her background could give us some idea of the Commandos’ end goal. If it’s personal, whatever it is they’re trying to achieve.”
“Why is only one of them wearing a mask?” Marco asked.
“I suppose he’s the only one who cares about anonymity. The others must be on the wrong side of the law already, so they just don’t bother and don’t care.”
Marco nodded and scratched his jaw.
“This is the first time we got something on them. Something we can use,” Dave said.
One corner of Peter’s mouth lifted in a sad smile. “Not the first. The first was the dog cams. It was just glimpses and stills, but we got enough data to analyze the Commandos’ routes so we could set up good cameras, like this one,” he said, pointing at the laptop. He looked Dave in the eyes. “Victoria got careless just once, and we got her. So it really was a good idea. It worked. It’ll all be over soon.”
“Over how?” Dave asked, unclear where they stood on the whole Commandos situation. They had to be punished somehow for everything they’d done. “Say, we find this woman, then what?”
“We’ll be able to track her back to the lab, hopefully. If she’s using a legit phone, that is. We’ll bring her in, then take the lab and get our people out, and the others… If they don’t want to cooperate, they’ll answer for their crimes like all humans do. We’ve got more than enough evidence, and the police will be happy to have all this served on a platter. It’s not the first time.”
Dave was speechless. He’d waited for this, craved a breakthrough, something that would bring them closer to solving this problem. Some kind of closure, for him, for Elena. But now, hearing this…
He kept his face in check as he said, “I see. That makes sense.” His voice came out low but calm, even though he hated this solution. “Anything else?”
Peter shook his head and looked at the others. “Grab your stuff there in the corner when you go.”
They left the office, taking their bags, plus the girls’ and Ryan’s, and Dave paused when they stepped out into the hall. “You going back to the infirmary?” he asked Chad.
“Yes.” Chad avoided looking him in the eyes, his face expressionless.
“I’ll go with you. Just gimme a sec,” Dave said, lifting his bag.
Chad nodded, and Dave ran back to his room and swung the bag through the door. “You hungry? Wanna grab some coffee on our way?” Dave said as he joined Chad again.
“No.”
“You sure? You gotta eat something eventually, you know.”
“I’m sure.”
Dave opened his mouth to protest, only to snap it back shut. It dawned on him that just a few days ago, Chad had felt exactly like this, nagging at Dave to eat something, to stop drinking, to get out of his room or let him in.
He swallowed hard, realizing just how pointless it was. That if not for Pain and what happened the previous night, plus the weekend at Albert’s, he probably would have still been the same. In fact, the dark cloud that had swallowed him whole after Elena’s death was still there, lurking just around the corner.
Dave pushed it away and followed Chad into the elevator. “Okay then,” he said quietly, pushing the second floor button.
They did get coffee, after all, Dave insisting they stop at the vending machines. He grabbed a few protein bars, too, and followed Chad through the waiting room and into the infirmary. Marco wasn’t there, and Dave silently thanked the heavens for not having to face him again.
