“Just a couple of weeks ago,” Mallory said. “Our director has been here about five years—and from what everyone else is telling me, that’s about how long you have to work here before you become extremely paranoid.”
“It didn’t take you that long. You were paranoid after about a week.”
“Give or take a week,” Mallory quipped. “I honestly think I became wary of everyone by lunch my first day on the job.”
“And look where it’s gotten you,” Alex said with a wink.
“Yes, sneaking in agents from fellow organizations because none of us trust the ones we work for.”
“Isn’t that how Washington has always worked?”
“That’s been my experience.”
Tom prevented the conversation from going any further as he sauntered back over to the women.
“Ms. North, I’m going to let you through for now, but I had some problems pulling up your file. Have you worked with Homeland Security for long?”
“At least a couple of weeks,” Alex said. “My boss told me it would take a few days for the system to update, which is why I contacted her. We’re old friends. I just wanted to get familiar with what she does here and how we can coordinate our efforts while I’m at Homeland Security.”
“Of course,” Tom said. “I just couldn’t verify your position with the department.”
“Would you mind checking again?” Alex asked. “I know I’m in there.”
“Certainly,” Tom said with a wink before returning to his terminal.
Once he was out of earshot, Alex activated her coms. “Hey, fellas. I need some help. And based on the problem, I think Black is more suited for the task at hand.”
“What do you need?” Black asked.
“I'm getting hung up here at NSA in the lobby by Deputy Dudley Do-Right. For some reason, my picture and other information hasn’t populated yet to the system, and I need this guard to verify me before he'll let me through.”
“On it,” Black said.
“I left everything open on my computer,” she said.
“I see it,” Black said. “This should only take a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute,” Alex said. “I need it thirty seconds ago.”
“Roger that.”
Alex heard the whir of Black’s fingers tapping out keystrokes. Thirty seconds later, he declared victory.
“Done,” he said. “I republished the update, and it went through when I checked it.”
Alex sighed with relief before glancing over toward Tom, who wore a confused look on his face followed by one of surprise. He abruptly got up and walked over to them.
“Well, I apologize for the holdup, ladies,” Tom said. “That was really strange. Your profile and clearance level wasn't there and then—boom!—it appeared out of nowhere. You're both good to go.”
“Thank you,” Alex said.
“You’re quite welcome,” Black said.
“You’re welcome,” Tom called.
“That was for the security guard,” Alex said in a whisper to Black. “You just stay on the line in case I need you again.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” he replied.
Once they reached Mallory’s office, she ushered Alex inside.
“This is new,” Alex said as she glanced around. “When did you get these new digs?”
“I got a few perks with my latest promotion,” she said. “The pay raise was nice, but not compared to having my own space. Working on the floor next to other analysts was really depressing sometimes. It’s nice to be able to spread out and not worry about people bothering me.”
“And that doesn’t happen now that you’re a supervisor?”
“Not as much as you might think. Most of my subordinates are all trying to impress me and won’t bring me anything until they’ve verified it six ways from Sunday.”
“Sounds like you've got a nice setup.”
Mallory nodded. “I do indeed. Now, let’s get to work on your request.”
She gestured for Alex to sit down on the chair in the corner, which she pulled up next to Mallory’s terminal.
“Where do we need to start?” Mallory asked.
“I need to look at some security feeds from the Fort Worth Stockyards last night.”
“And you think I have that kind of access?” Mallory asked.
“Well, I thought—”
Mallory flashed a wry smile and a wink. “Of course, I do. All auction houses on U.S. soil are monitored due to the ease through which illegally obtained goods can be sold and transported. And stockyards aren't an exception. You'd be surprised at how many drug runners we've caught selling off steers who were carrying bags of heroin and cocaine. Apparently, four stomachs make it easy to mask and store drugs.”
“Who knew,” Alex said.
“I bet you didn’t think you were going to learn that little gem when you woke up this morning, did you?”
Alex shook her head. “That’s quite disturbing.”
“Welcome to my world,” Mallory said as she hammered away on the keyboard. “Now, what exactly are we looking for?”
“We want to identify the man who spoke with Hawk last night. He’s an Obsidian agent, and I have the exact timeframe of the call.”
“Lay it on me.”
Alex slipped Mallory a piece of paper that contained the exact second the call was picked up, the length of the conversation, and a USB drive with a recording of the man’s voice.
“Quite thorough,” Mallory said.
“We need to find this guy as soon as possible.”
Mallory entered some of the search parameters into her program and let it run. There were six men who answered their phones at the exact same moment as the Obsidian operative. One by one, Mallory and Alex eliminated them based on the length of the call until there were only two remaining.
“We’re running out of options,” Mallory said.
Alex shifted in her seat. “Just keep going.”
They tracked the next man’s phone call, and it matched perfectly.
“Well, we’ve got at least one,” Mallory said as she captured the man’s face and dropped it into a recognition search program. Then she started working on the lone remaining man. She went through the footage and found that the two men hung up at the exact same moment as well.
“Now we have two,” Mallory said.
The first man’s image came up in the database as a rancher from just outside of Fort Worth.
