7:49 a.m., Washington D.C.
Aaron Hardy caught a break when he arrived at LaGuardia Airport. He hitched a ride on a Gulfstream V flight scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., cutting his travel time to a little more than twenty minutes. After the plane landed, he disembarked and met Charity halfway between the jet and her SUV. The first thing he noticed under her long winter coat was her red skirt and high heels.
Hardy raised his voice, so he could be heard above the noise of the aircraft. “I thought you were going to change into some street clothes?”
Charity wrapped her hand around his elbow and escorted him toward the SUV. She leaned into him. “There was no time. I’ll tell you about it when we get to the car.” The temperature in Washington, D.C. was thirty-nine degrees. A stiff wind was making it feel fifteen degrees colder.
Once they were in the quiet and warm confines of the four-door Chevy Tahoe, Charity slid out her laptop from its protective case and lifted the screen. Biting on her gloved middle finger, she yanked her hand from the fabric, so she could bring up the video she wanted to show Hardy. While the program was booting up, she undid the scarf around her neck and partially unzipped her winter coat.
Hardy shifted in his seat to get a better view of Charity’s laptop. “Have you contacted Layla’s host family? Do they know we’re coming?”
“Yes, they’re expecting us around nine o’clock.” She tapped the touchpad on the laptop a couple of times before rotating the laptop to her right. “Okay, this is a video from a surveillance camera outside a restaurant in downtown D.C.” Charity held up her hand. “Let me back up a minute. After our earlier conversation, I decided to upload Layla’s image to my software algorithm…the one that scans for facial recognitions from any and all sources of video and images from all across the country.”
Hardy was familiar with the algorithm. She had used it on numerous past missions to get valuable information on potential targets. He nodded his head and gestured for her to continue.
“So, after I uploaded it, I was going to go home and change clothes. Before I could leave, however, I got a hit.”
“On Yamadi?” asked Hardy.
“I think so, but it’s only a seventy-five percent match, and…well, it’s better if I just show you.” She pushed a key on the keyboard and a video played. She held up two fingers. “This is from two days ago.” She tapped another key and the video paused. Charity pointed at the screen. “You see this man here.”
Hardy leaned forward and squinted. “All I see is the back of someone’s head.”
“If you look at the rear window of that car parked directly in front of him, you’ll see a reflection.”
Hardy had to get closer to the screen to make out a faint image in the glass. “Yeah, I guess so. You’re telling me that’s Yamadi. I can’t tell if that’s a man or a woman.”
“You can’t, but the algorithm is seventy-five percent certain it’s Yamadi.”
Hardy stared at the image before leaning back in his seat. “So, we have Yamadi in D.C. one day before Abby is kidnapped in Denver.” He held up his hands and waited for Charity to tell him the significance of the discovery.
Charity re-wound the video and stopped it before pointing out a woman on the right half of the screen. “That is Layla.” Letting the video play at normal speed, she added, “walking into the restaurant.” Fast-forwarding the video and stopping it, she glanced at Hardy. “Watch this next clip.”
Hardy never took his eyes off the screen. A few seconds passed and he saw Layla again exiting the restaurant and walking in the direction she had come from before she entered the restaurant. Thirty seconds later, the man who had been caught in the reflection of the rear window of the parked car emerged from the restaurant and went in the same direction as Layla.
Charity stopped the video. “What are the chances the girl who was kidnapped with Abby and the man who we suspect kidnapped her would be at the same restaurant the day before the kidnapping? Is that just a coincidence?” Charity watched for Hardy’s expression.
Not believing in coincidences had kept Hardy alive and helped him capture or kill the enemy on many missions. He fixed his eyes on Charity, not really seeing her. His mind was running through the possibilities. Thinking aloud, he said, “We don’t really know if he was following her. All we know is that they were there at the same time.” A few moments passed. “Do we know when Yamadi arrived at the restaurant?”
Charity shook her head. “We don’t have him on video; however, the restaurant has a back door with no camera coverage. He could have slipped in and we’d never know it.”
“What about the restaurant? Do they have any CCTV footage?”
“I contacted the restaurant and they do have closed circuit television, but the system is on a twenty-four hour loop. All of the footage of when these two were there has been recorded over.”
Damn. We need a break. Hardy checked the time. “All right, we need to get moving if we’re going to keep our appointment.”
“I thought you should have this information before we meet the host family.” She glanced down and touched her coat. “That’s why I didn’t have time to change clothes. We have a little time before the meeting. We can stop at my place. It won’t take me long to throw on some jeans and a shirt.”
Hardy shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. You won’t be running and gunning anyways.” Pointing to the man in the driver’s seat, Hardy raised his eyebrows at Charity.
“Agent Thompkins,” she whispered.
“Agent Thompkins, we’re ready—let’s go.”
The man adjusted the rear view mirror, so he could see his male passenger. “Yes, sir,” he said, stepping on the brake pedal and shifting the transmission into ‘drive.’ The vehicle rolled forward.
Hardy felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He saw the caller and spoke to Charity. “It’s Cruz. Maybe she has some good news for us.” He slid his finger across the phone’s screen and put the device to his ear. “What have you got for me, Cruz?”