Page 81 of Crowe
“No, all I did was give her a number. She was the one who had to be brave enough to make the call.”
Crowe
Hawk and Gator were in Wolfe’s office in less than ten minutes, which meant they’d been close. Kat came in behind them with her laptop already open, so Wolfe had probably texted her before we even got on the phone with Imogen. Like always, he’d already been thinking several steps ahead while Noah and I were still standing at the desk absorbing the call. That was Wolfe for you.
“Sit,” Wolfe said, so we did. Hawk and Gator on the couch, Noah in the chair closest to the door, me beside him, and Kat pulled up to the side table with her laptop. Wolfe remained standing, which he did when he was running something.
“Kat,” he said, “what do we know about the house?”
She turned the laptop so the room could see it. “Corvane’s Houston property. The house sits on about an acre, gated entry at the front, secondary service entrance on the east side.” She clicked to the next image, which was a satellite view. “Six thousand square feet, two stories, detached garage at the back. Pool.” Another click. “The security system is commercial grade, installed three years ago. Cameras at the gate, front entry, back entry, and the garage. I can’t confirm interior cameras without getting inside the network, but I don’t think the whole house has cameras. Or if it does, I don’t think they’re monitored.”
Wolfe looked over at her thoughtfully. “Why is that?”
“Because Imogen’s been in his office collecting the documents,” she said. “If she was being watched closely inside the house, she couldn’t have been collecting documents for two weeks without him knowing.”
“Guards?” Hawk asked.
“She said there were just a couple,” Wolfe said.
“That I can confirm now.” Kat pulled up another window. “Corvane has a personal security team that’s at the house when he’s there, but when he travels, they go with him. So it makes sense that he only leaves a couple behind.”
“So the guard is likely just covering gate and perimeter. Like Imogen said,” I said.
“That tracks with what I’ve been able to learn,” Kat said.
Wolfe nodded. “So, one, maybe two external guards, likely at the gate. Cameras we aren’t sure about, but I agree with Kat.” He looked at Kat. “Can you get into the security system?”
“Give me two hours.”
He nodded and then looked at Hawk. “Talk to me about approach.”
There was a knock at the door.
Caden came in carrying a tray holding a pot, cups, and what appeared to be a plate of shortbread that was becoming a fixture at these meetings. He set it on the side table without ceremony and began pouring.
We all waited.
Hawk picked up a cup, looked at it, looked at Wolfe, and said nothing. Gator reached for the shortbread. Kat kept her eyes on her screen.
Caden finished pouring, set the tray down, and left with the quiet satisfaction of a man who’d decided this was what happened at our meetings now, and everyone had accepted it.
Wolfe drank his tea.
“Approach,” he said again, looking at Hawk.
Hawk set his cup down. “Two vehicles. Armored. We go in through the service entrance. That’s less visible from the street, easier to control the gate camera if Kat can get into the system. Small team. Me, Gator, and Crowe.” He glanced at me.
“I want to go,” Noah said.
The room went quiet. The way it does when someone says something everyone knows is a bad idea, but no one wants to be the one to say so. Well, if no one else would say it, I would because nothing mattered to me as much as Noah’s safety.
“No.”
He looked at me. “She doesn’t know any of you. She called me because she trusts me. If I’m not there—”
“You’d be a liability in a live extraction,” Hawk said. Not unkindly, just true.
“I’m not saying I go in with you,” Noah said. “I’m saying I need to be there. If something goes wrong, if she panics, if she won’t come, I’m the one she’s going to listen to.”
