Chapter 9: Relay
The twenty-four hours did not pass quietly.
At 3 a.m., the forensic analyst cross-referenced Stellan Vore's name against the financial records on the drive and found eleven points of contact with Garrett's shell accounts over a four-year period.
By 5 a.m., Marsh had a federal judge on the phone.
By 7 a.m., she had two warrants — one for Garrett's financial records, one for a network of transit-corridor accounts registered to a shell company called Meridian Logistics.
Nora sat at the long table and drank bad coffee and waited.
At 9 a.m., her phone rang.
Unknown number.
The same scrubbed format.
She answered.
"You found the note." It was a voice she didn't recognize.
Male.
Young.
Careful.
"Who is this?" she said.
"Relay," the voice said.
She went very still.
"You're the second insider," she said.
"I was," he said.
"Past tense.
I've been feeding Callum information for six months.
He doesn't know my real name.
I made sure of that, for his protection and mine." A pause.
"Garrett knows the warrants are coming.
Someone in the judge's office tipped him twenty minutes ago.
He's going to run."
Nora was already standing.
"Marsh," she said, loud enough to carry across the room.
Marsh looked up.
"Garrett's been tipped.
He's moving."
Marsh was on her own phone before the sentence finished.
"Where is he?" Nora said into her phone.
"He was at his office building as of fifteen minutes ago," Relay said.
"He has a car waiting in the basement parking.
Private driver.
He'll try to cross into the next jurisdiction before the warrant can be executed."
"Why are you telling me this?"
A pause.
Longer than the others.
"Because I've been inside this for three years," he said.
"And I'm tired.
And Callum Reid is a good man who doesn't deserve to be left in there alone." Another pause.
"The driver's license plate is on the drive.
Look under the folder marked Logistics — Supplemental.
I put it there six weeks ago."
The line went quiet.
Nora looked at Marsh, who was already directing her team with the focused economy of someone who had run operations under pressure before.
Two agents moved toward the door.
A third was on a radio.
"Garrett's building," Marsh said to Nora.
"We have a unit two minutes out.
If he's in that basement—"
"He is," Nora said.
"And we have his driver's plate."
Marsh's eyes sharpened.
"How?"
"Relay," Nora said.
May you like
Marsh held her gaze for one second.
Then she turned back to her team and gave the order.
