Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“He’s talented enough to create a completely new identity for himself. No one outside the four of us needs to know who he’s become. We’ll clean him up and get him a job in the inner workings of the church. Every company I know needs a knowledgeable IT guy. Am I wrong?” Kreed asked.
“Yes, you’re wrong. I can infiltrate them from my home office,” Aaron shot back.
“Not good enough,” Connors said, staring at Kreed as he thought through the potential plan. “It’s what you’ll hear on the inside that’s important. IT guys sit quietly and absorb everything. Every employee knows to go to them to get the gossip. Sinacola, your plan has merit.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Aaron countered defensively.
“Sure, it does,” Kreed argued, but never looked Aaron’s way. “I’ll wire him up, set up shop somewhere close by, and be there to handle anything that goes down. The threat’s real, but I’ve got your back.” Kreed spoke the last line to Aaron and meant it. Nothing would touch the kid.
“So no one outside of this room knows what we’re doing?” Brown asked.
“Skinner knows some,” Kreed offered. “But he’s given us the complete green light and came back from vacay to be our direct senior advisor.”
“It’s critical to the success. Their congregation’s too massive and far-reaching. That’s been proven with Langley,” Connors said as he contemplated the idea.
“Yeah, exactly. It’s already reared its ugly head inside the Justice Department. No telling who else in here shares their beliefs and the same hatred,” Kreed reasoned aloud, validating Connors. “I’ll have to tell Skinner parts, but I trust him with my life.”
“No local law enforcement?” Brown asked, and Kreed shook his head.
“I’ll track Stuart closely. And I’ve read that anything electronic can become surveillance.” Kreed stopped and looked over at Aaron for confirmation. When Aaron did nothing more than give him the death stare, he took that as a thumbs up. “We can all keep an eye on him and gather intelligence,” Kreed told Brown and Connors.
“I want access to every bit of data in real time,” Connors stated.
“Of course. That’s critical to the success,” Kreed affirmed. Connors bit at his nail, his gaze locked on Kreed’s before he turned toward the wall of pictures. Half those men had lost their lives and this was the closest lead they had.
“We have to get it right,” Connors commented, still staring at the pictures.
“Do I have a say in this at all?” Aaron finally asked. For the first time ever, Kreed and Connors had easily agreed on a plan of action, but Aaron kept throwing little wrenches in their system.
“No,” all three said in unison. After several moments of silence, Kreed finally addressed Aaron’s concern. “If we can wrap this up, you won’t ever have to hear from us again.”
“Well, that’s an incentive,” he added dryly.
“Pull up the information you have on Redemption Apostle Tabernacle. Let’s get started. Looks like we’ll have a long night ahead of us, guys,” Connors informed them, rising and going for a dry-erase board. As if on cue, their collective groans filled the room. Normally Kreed would have stopped him, especially since he’d already moved this in the direction he wanted them to go. But out of respect, he held his tongue. He could sit there quietly and let Connors beat them in the ground, trying to decipher the exact implementation of this part of the investigation.
Chapter 5
What seemed like hours passed with Connors rehashing everything concerning this case about a million times, droning on and on and on. Aaron could have sworn the agent was just talking to hear himself. Every once in a while, Brown or Kreed would inject a thought, but Aaron stayed silent through the whole lecture, still pissed off and not even a little bit resigned to his new undercover fate. No matter how hard he pounded the keyboard or how many grunts he gave, no one paid any attention to him.
To top everything off, the rumbling in his stomach had turned to pain a while ago. One pepperoni pizza split between the four of them wasn’t nearly enough food, and damn it, if he hadn’t left his dessert in the car. He glanced down at the clock on his computer screen and tried to ignore the noises rumbling through his stomach again. Agitation got the best of him. What the fuck was wrong with these men? Why was Kreed just sitting there, letting this happen? It was already past eight at night. At this rate, all he could see was Connors keeping them there all night long, rambling on and on about nothing, while they had a lot of ground work to cover before he could ever officially apply for any position inside that church—not that he had agreed to do any such thing. His irritation levels were sky rocketing with every second that ticked by.
Out of desperation, Aaron finally said loudly, interrupting Connors’s flow, “I think you should find someone else. I’m not trained for this sort of thing, and you guys are beatin’ the crap out of me right now.”
All eyes turned toward him.
“No, you’re the one for the undercover work, but the kid’s got a point, Connors. I can’t take much more of your discussing the same fucking thing over and over, man. I tried…” Kreed stood and stretched, reaching for the pizza box in the middle of the table. There was one piece left and Aaron had eyed that thing for the last hour. Kreed lifted the thin crust pepperoni and pineapple slice and took a big bite, before dropping it on a paper plate in front of Aaron. He wished he’d grabbed the piece first, half the damn thing was gone in that one bite Kreed took. But at least Kreed shared.
“So what’re we gonna do with Knox? I know him too well. He’ll bother us all to death until he just forces his way back in.” Kreed stated.
“He can’t,” Connors said, sounding a little disgruntled, but surely to God that wasn’t the first time he’d been told he talked too much. “He’s got to stay put and let us wrap this up.”