“That was the shortest yellow light I’ve ever seen,” said Jolene.

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t uh-huh me,” she said.

“Yep.”

“That’s even worse.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, getting a sharp elbow to the ribs under his raised arm.

“Dammit. That hurt,” said Rudd.

“Then knock it off,” she said. “Unless you’d like to do the driving.”

“I wish.”

The truth was that Jolene drove like this all the time—and she knew it better than he did. Her driving fell somewhere on the scale between extremely impatient and overly aggressive, trending toward the latter. Because of this, she rarely drove during operations. They’d both agreed on that. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to put her in the driver’s seat today.

Jolene could use electronic devices just fine, but she couldn’t troubleshoot them to save her life. Their communications-and-control gear wasn’t overly complicated, but they couldn’t afford a critical technology slipup on this mission. The job itself would prove difficult enough, and their performance over the next several days would likely determine their future living conditions.

“Looks like he’s pulling into a strip mall up ahead, on the left side just after Hartwick Road,” said Rudd. “The map is showing a Starbucks. This is the southeast edge of the University of Maryland’s campus. Gray’s alma mater.”

“The perfect place to discreetly meet someone. Lots of open space and publicly accessible buildings on campus,” said Jolene.

“Or a nearby running trail. I bet there are several close to campus.”

He relayed the situation to the two other teams over the push-to-talk satellite radio handset, sending Clark, their lone wolf operative, to the College Park–University of Maryland Metro station a half mile to the east, and Walsh to cover the bus stop a few hundred feet north of the Starbucks on Baltimore Avenue. He had Leo with him, just in case Gray decided to take a bus ride. Harvey and his wife would circle back and watch the bus station several blocks south.

If Gray got back into his car and headed to campus for a run, there wasn’t much they could do. Sandy was back at Gray’s apartment complex, installing discreet cameras on each level of the parking garage so they could get a sense of where he was headed each time he left. They’d only had time to install two trackers on his vehicle overnight. If the university proved to be one of Gray’s regular running spots, they’d bring Sandy in to keep an eye on him. Given the close proximity to his apartment, he could start her tomorrow if Gray returned. No need to spend more time establishing a longer pattern.