“The building has a first responder code.”
Dak followed Caldwell up to the building, where Caldwell punched in an eight-digit code. A soft click indicated the door’s lock releasing and Dak easily pulled the glass door open.
They passed a row of mailboxes and stopped outside the elevator. The elevator whirred as the car descended and they stepped inside.
Ten floors and a penthouse level. Caldwell pushed the button for the penthouse and input the security code again.
His suspicion skyrocketed faster than the elevator.
A penthouse near downtown Seattle would cost a small fortune. How was a man who was a freelance accountant able to afford such luxuries as a penthouse and a Porsche?
Caldwell was right to be suspicious. If he had to guess, Mitch Taylor was as dirty as they came and Kevyn would be a logical choice for an accomplice.
As the elevator rose, he checked his phone. A text from both Sid & Kevyn, updating him on their status. The texts both indicated that they were together, watching the building Divers had gone into not long ago.
After Divers had left the blood bank, he’d instructed them to update him every thirty minutes. If something went wrong, he didn’t want to wait a full hour to learn about it.
The elevator slid to a stop and he tucked his phone into his pocket.
They stepped off the elevator and he followed Caldwell to the door at the end.
Only three other doors up here.
Must be nice and quiet. With one heck of a view.
Caldwell rang the bell.
A moment passed before the lock scraped.
The door opened, revealing the silver-haired man he’d seen on Kevyn’s doorstep last week.
He assessed them without smiling. “Yes?”
“Mitch Taylor?” Caldwell paused for half a second. “Or should I call you Joseph Wilson?”
If the use of multiple names phased the man, he didn’t show it. A light shrug lifted his shoulders. “Call me whatever you want.”
“Agent Caldwell, FBI. This is Agent Lakes. We need to ask you some questions.”
Taylor looked at Dak for a moment. “I know you. I saw you outside my… Kevyn’s house.”
Dak nodded. “You did. May we come in?”
Taylor backed inside and gestured for them to follow. “Make yourselves comfortable.”
The living room, furnished in a modern mix of black leather furniture and glass and chrome end tables, was backdropped by a dramatic wall of windows overlooking the Puget Sound.
A million dollar view for a million dollar penthouse.
Probably more than a million.
Dak waited for Taylor to sit in a leather recliner before lowering himself onto the sofa.
Taylor leaned back in his chair and rested his forearms on the armrests. “I suppose you want to ask me about Jason Boggess.”
Seventeen
“There she is.” Sid’s whisper carried in the confined space.
Peeking around the edge of the crates, Kevyn immediately spotted Divers. The door closed too quickly for her to see who was on the other side.
Divers glanced around before heading back toward the parking lot.
“I’m on it.” Sid looked over at her. “You staying here?”
“Yeah. I’m hoping whoever she met will come out soon.”
Sid gave a curt nod. “Be careful.”
“You, too.”
Sid sauntered out from behind the crates as though hanging out in the shadows of a shipping hub was a normal thing.
As he disappeared from sight, she settled in to wait.
Hopefully not for long.
This was not her ideal place to spend a Wednesday night.
Besides, she was getting hungry. Lunch had been a long time ago.
A handful of people milled about, none of whom seemed to notice her. Good thing, too, or she’d have to pull her badge. And hope that the news of an FBI agent on the docks didn’t reach whomever Divers had visited inside that building.
Maybe she should talk to some of these guys. See if any of them knew who rented that building.
She didn’t move. If all else failed, she could try that. For now, she wanted to watch and wait.
One of the semis rumbled to life and jerked forward.
The few people who had been on the dock had disappeared, one by one, leaving her alone.
As the engine faded in the distance, the door to the warehouse opened.
Three men stepped out. Two were obviously hired muscle. Built like tanks, with eyes constantly on the move, they were security if she’d ever seen it.
But the third man…
There was something about him. Something… familiar?
That was crazy. Wasn’t it?
She studied him.
Short cropped brown hair, a square jaw, fitted shirt that showed off his trim, precisely muscled build.
She’d seen him somewhere before. Recently.
She quickly ran through the last few days, even as the two security guys headed toward the parking lot and the familiar man went the other way.
The coffeeshop!
That was the guy who’d thought she was someone else.
Although now she sincerely doubted that story. He’d been at the coffeeshop specifically to find her. She was sure of it.
The big question was – why?
That did it. She was seriously done with that coffeeshop. At least for a while.
She broke free from the boxes and followed at a healthy distance, moving from behind a trailer to ducking behind crates, to hiding at the corner of a building.
No lone wolf.
Dak would definitely consider this lone-wolfing it.
Yet she couldn’t not follow Coffeeshop Man. This could be the break they’d been waiting for.
Everything in her said that this man was the one Divers had met. He might be the mastermind behind the whole organ trafficking scheme. He might even lead her straight to their missing persons.
She pulled out her phone, snapped a picture, and texted it to Dak with a quick explanation.
There. Now she’d let him know.
Yes,
