Unexpected 4: Digital Purge

Chapter 11: The 'Badge' of Red Death

Hicks was determined to do something. No way was he going to be trapped in a fortress and sit on his ass all day, looking at the walls. He knew he had to cooperate, by staying put, but... his captain needed help!

Once the team had their assignments, it was all about being subtle. They had to make it look like things were running smoothly, so as not to spike any suspicions. He knew they wanted to keep him and his team on the loop, that's what the FBI usually does. However, he wasn't  one to be left behind. Plus, they needed to be proactive. He wanted and needed his guys to always be alert.

He took another glance at the small surveillance cameras. One on each side, to the front of the room. A blue light shined from just under the lens. He turned to the screens and approached Hondo.

"If Chris and Street go out at the same time, both guards would want to follow them. We need to keep at least one occupied." he whispered to his team leader, who in response nodded.

Hondo turned to face his teammates Tan and Luca, who were just moving towards the folders on the table. With a slight movement of his head, he gestured to Tan to approach him. Since the idea was for everything to look normal, Hondo thought Tan needed a reason to approach. So, he gestured to a folder laying on the side of the table. Tan grabbed it and went to him with it.

Both looked down at it as Tan flipped through the pages nonchalantly. "Hondo?"

"Keep moving your lips, Tan" he instructed whispering, "We got cameras on our backs and Hicks doesn't wanna spook the feds." Hondo whispered

"Roger that, sir" he answered whispering

Hondo then stuck his hand out to get Luca's attention. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the front of the room, as he met Jim's gaze. The young officer  gestured with his head to the outside of the room, and Hondo knew what that meant. Both nodded.

"Luca!" he whispered, as he lowered his gaze down, again. The older officer approached, gazing down at the folder, "Don't you wanna know what time it is? Ask the guard! Now!"

Luca didn't even confirm. He went straight to the opposite door from which the young couple exited. Luca knocked on the door, and noticed a pin in the officer's vest, a fish. With that in mind he  was able to chit chat about fishing, lakes in California, life of fishermen, etc. He was able to step out and distract the guard long enough for Chris and Jim to be out of sight.

Whatever those two planned, it worked brilliantly he thought as he noticed the other guard stay put outside of the door. As Luca turned to look from the corner of his eye, he saw both young officers head to the darkness of the hall. He came in and joined Tan, nodding at Hondo.

Meanwhile, Hondo and Hicks turned slightly to make sure everything had ran smoothly. The plan was working. Now, all they had to do was work with Evan to uncover anything that could help them decipher Jessica's emergency message. 

"Alright, so..." Hicks started, as Evan had been staring at the screen for a long time

"Commander, this is really difficult to do without any access to information." he paused, frustrated, "I'm sure I would've been able to track it, trace it, or do something. But...without my tablet and the web, I feel naked right now!"

Both officers shot a look of disgust as Evan just shrugged. "Sorry, not used to working with anything but tech stuff."  

"Commander, he's right. We need intel and access to information if we want to get anything else from this." Hondo reported

"We can't...all we have is the message and the picture." Hicks responded, placing both hands on his hips

"Then, let's split up. Deacon and Commander, why don't you focus on the message, while Whitlock and myself work with the picture? Maybe it has to do with the old code of SWAT or something."