“And he probably sweeps his vehicle for bugs,” said Gentry. “I agree with Leo. CONTROL can’t seriously think we’ll be able to keep good enough track of him. I bet they’re prepositioning us for a hit. They probably have an entirely different team—a specialist group—looking for Berg or other contacts of interest. If Berg or someone else shows up, they’ll call us off our pointless surveillance and ready us for action. Why else would they change Berg’s status?”

Rudd considered Rick’s theory for a moment. It didn’t actually sound that far-fetched, given the reality of their next-to-impossible assignment. Jolene had said as much before everyone had showed up, and he’d agreed. CONTROL was asking the B-team, more like the C-team, to do a job meant for the A-team. Looking at it from Rick’s perspective made a lot of sense.

“We’d already be familiar with his daily routine. His favorite restaurants, coffee shops, shopping stops. His habits,” said Rudd. “Taking him out would be a simple job for this over-the-hill crew.”

“Why not just tell us all of that up front?” asked Sandy. “If it’s even true.”

“Probably because they see some value in our surveillance and want us focusing on one job at a time,” said Rudd. “It won’t be a perfect surveillance job—”

“Not even close,” said Gentry.

“They know that. They have to know that,” said Rudd. “By putting us on the job, no matter how futile it turns out to be, they gain more surveillance coverage than they had before—without eating into their limited pool of specialists. This job would be near impossible for even the best in the business, especially given Gray’s background. I think they’re parking us on Gray in case they decide to eliminate him. If we happen to stumble on a clue to the whereabouts of his mother’s suspected hideaway or catch him meeting up with Karl Berg, all the better.”

“We’re just pulling stuff out of our asses right now,” said Clark.

“This is brainstorming,” said Rudd.

“This is pointless,” said Clark. “We execute CONTROL’s orders to the best of our ability. Just like we’ve always done. If they decide to kill him, we kill him. Until then, we watch him. That’s it. I don’t understand why we’re yakking about this. We do what CONTROL tells us to do. Period. Any questions?”

“Okay then,” said Walsh, rolling his eyes. “I guess that’s it.”

“Always a pleasure,” added Sandy, nodding at Clark.