Chapter 10: Tabby

Friday. Task Force Headquarters, Washington, DC.

TABBY STEPPED OUT OF the elevator and took in her surroundings. The fifth and top floor of the building was completely devoid of walls. It was just one open space. The windows were covered with blinds. Overhead wires and cables snaked this way and that.

This whole space was secure. Was it just this floor? Or did the entire building operate under a dome of protection?

Holy shit.

She was willing to bet that this wasn't just a task force, this was also a black site. An off the books joint operation if she had to guess. That would explain why no one had approached her directly.

Tabby didn't know if she should hope the problem centered around her drone prototype or not. Tabby had the sudden impression that she wasn't prepared for this meeting. Not in the least.

What reason did they have to ask her here? What role did she or her father's company play in what was going on?

"We'll be over here." Jamie led her toward the end of the space.

A glass wall partitioned off a long conference room. A black woman with short, wispy hair stood watching them. She was dressed in a skirt and jacket, everything about her demeanor was serious. Tabby and the woman sized each other up as she neared the conference room.

Jamie held the door for her. She ignored him in favor of the woman who was obviously in charge.

"Ms. Grissler." The woman stepped forward. "Thank you so much for seeing us on short notice. I am SSA Zora Clark, acting assistant director of this task force."

"Which agency are you with?" Tabby took the woman's hand.

Zora paused for a moment. Was she considering withholding that detail?

"I'm with the NSA," she finally said.

"I see."

Zora gestured to a tall man with broad shoulders and a reddish complexion. "This is Logan Muller. He is in charge of the Aegis Team you are familiar with. Harper, Evan and Jamie work under him. Please have a seat? We're waiting on two more people who should be here any minute."

Tabby glanced at the table of men. Only Logan had the nerve to meet her gaze.

The team had taken the four seats on the left side of the table facing the window. She noted that there were no chairs on the right side, which meant Tabby could either sit next to Harper in the middle of the table or on the end.

She wanted to stay as far away from him as possible, but doing so would signal weakness and these people had already gotten their blows in. She straightened her spine a bit then walked around, setting her things in front of the chair beside Jamie.

At that moment the door opened and an older woman stepped in followed by an Asian man. Neither glanced at the table or acknowledged the presence of the others. Zora didn't acknowledge them and neither did they make any attempt to introduce themselves.

It was weird.

Zora lifted a remote and pressed a few buttons. The room lights dimmed and the glass wall at her back frosted over, creating a solid white wall.

"Things are moving very fast. The director can't join us right now, but he gave me the go ahead for us to get started." Zora folded her hands in front of her. Even without the lights her tense demeanor set the tone for the room. "I want to thank you all for your patience and I'd like to stress the classified, sensitive nature of what we're going to be talking about today."

"And that is?" Tabby was ready for some damn answers.

"This case involves one Gazi Polat, a Turkish arms dealer." Zora glanced at the screen.

An image of an olive skinned man with a thick beard and short hair looked back at them. A smirk curled his lips and the camera had caught him adjusting the suit jacket he wore over a T-shirt.

That was a douche if Tabby had ever seen one.

"Gazi's history is in dealing in small weapons. He's your guy if you want guns and ammunition, nothing too fancy. Five years ago the CIA made him an informant and set him up working in the Mediterranean. Gazi was not a threat to anyone moving considerable cargo, so he was left alone and able to move between regions, feeding his handlers information." Zora glanced at the pair at the end of the table who merely nodded, as if confirming her words.

Were those two CIA?

Zora began a slow walk across the glass wall, the light and shadow making her face hard to see. "Over the last year Gazi has gone dark a number of times, popping up with one reason or another why he hadn't made his assigned drops or meets. As of now, it's been four months since Gazi has made contact with his handlers. He has ignored repeated requests to come in, which leads us to believe that he's working with someone new. Last week we got a tip that Gazi is looking to sell a shipment of something from HiTech Inc."

"What's he selling?" Tabby sat back in her seat. She knew what her concerns were, but what did this task force want? What was their angle?

"We don't know. The nature of the merchandise has been hard to ascertain."

"You don't actually care what he has, you just want him. Do I have that right?" Tabby leaned an elbow on her chair.

"HiTech is the top supplier of guidance systems to the American military and its allies. We don't care what he's selling because we know it will be dangerous in the wrong hands." Zora's face hardly moved. There was no expression on her perfect face.

"You have to have some kind of evidence that this merchandise actually exists."

"We have this." Zora tapped a button and a blurry cell phone picture popped up alongside Gazi's image. The wooden crate was stamped with the word HiTech. "These pictures were snapped by another informant.

Tabby examined it, paying attention to the background, trying to judge how big the crates were. Could those be her missing drone prototypes?

"Ms. Grissler, right now we aren't concerned with placing blame on anyone regarding the theft of these crates. No one is accusing HiTech of anything. We're asking for your help. We want to recover this shipment and capture Gazi. Those are our two focuses right now. Once they have been recovered, we can worry about how this happened."

Tabby's gaze leapt back to Zora's.

Was she really insinuating that HiTech was somehow at fault in all of this?

Jamie spoke up, filling the silence. "Do we think its explosives? What kind are we talking about? What's the delivery system?"

"That's what we're hoping Ms. Grissler can help us with." Zora pressed another button and four smaller images came up. "We have these images of the containers, but there are no numbers, no identifiers on the cases to indicate what Gazi is selling."

Jamie stood and circled the table to peer at the images. "How convinced are we that Gazi is selling what he says he is? What are the chances this is a bluff?"

Zora turned her attention on Jamie. "Our sources indicate the threat is real."

"This is bullshit." Tabby pushed to her feet, unable to remain sitting for another second. "First, you try to bug my phone. Which, for the record, would have told you nothing. Now you want to ask for my help while blaming my company for this? And you don't even know what this is."

Zora nodded, a barely perceptible motion. "Our agent has apologized for our methods. I'll say it again, I'm sorry it happened this way-"

"You're sorry you got caught." Tabby could take her intel to the DoD, the ones who didn't work in the shadows, and deal with this the right way. She didn't have to be here.

"Ms. Grissler, a word?" Zora tilted her head toward the door.

"Fine." Tabby stalked around the table.

Zora held the door open and Tabby breezed through it then took a dozen more steps until she stood in the open space of the top floor of the building. She planted her hands on her hips and turned to stare at the other woman regarding her with cool composure. Zora glanced away first.

Tabby wanted to shake the woman, to yell at her. She'd have helped them if they came to her with the truth.

Zora closed the distance between them and slid the remote into her pocket. "May I speak off the record for a moment?"

"Please. I want a damn answer."

She glanced up and met Tabby's gaze. For the first time she saw emotion behind those golden brown eyes. Regret. Maybe shame.

"I didn't like what we did any more than Jamie. I was told to give him the job. The director made that call. We were both following orders. That's not a good reason, but it's the only one I have."

For a long moment they stared at each other. It wasn't the words. Someone had made the decision and Tabby didn't believe someone like Jamie would be in on that. No, it was Zora's eyes. There was no mask, no pretense, just a stark honesty looking back at her. If Zora was acting, she was the best damn actress in the history of the world.

Tabby could feel her resentment slipping away. She tried to hold on to it, but she just couldn't. Not when Zora looked at her like that.

How many times had Tabby spoken to other women who were locked into working for men who did what they wanted?

Zora could be playing Tabby. There was a real possibility this was another carefully planned moment. They'd known how to hit her weakness with Jamie. Why wouldn't Zora have her pegged, too?

If Tabby forgave Zora, she'd have to do the same for Jamie. Tabby didn't think he was a bad guy. Given the circumstances, he'd shown his true colors. But she couldn't trust him. Or Zora.

"What is this joint operation for?" Tabby asked into the silence stretching between them. "You and the CIA didn't put a task force together because of one stolen shipment."

"I can't tell you that." Zora's lips twisted up. She didn't like saying that no more than Tabby liked hearing it.

Fuck.

Tabby stared at Zora for a moment.

"I'll rein in the hostility, but you have to be honest with me from here on out, agreed?" Tabby held out her hand.

"Thank you, Ms. Grissler."

"Call me Tabby." She turned toward the door.

"Tabby?" Zora leaned into her path. "About Jamie?"

Tabby stopped, her insides knotting up tighter.

"He didn't want to do it. Our records show he swiped into the building at two in the morning and sat in his Team Leader's office until seven. He's really sorry about this. We both are."

Tabby grimaced and looked away.

She'd been there.

Working for Dad only made those conflicts more personal and the problems ran deeper. How many times had she been backed into a corner by her own father?

"Working for old guys sucks, doesn't it?"

Zora nodded.

Tabby held out her hand. "Let's be better than them, okay?"

A smile spread across Zora's face. "Deal."

Damn it, Tabby had a sinking sensation she was going to like Zora Clark.