Thomas never faltered. He’d made his decision even before leaving the confines of the gated community. There was no need to mention the incident with the girl or the man who’d saved her. He wasn’t sure what Griffin’s response would be, and uncertainty with his current employer was potentially dangerous. Better to keep his mouth shut about the near miss.

“No problems or surprises, boss. With Columbus Day on Monday, I think at least a third to half of the residents might be out of town. Who knows where these people go, but I know they can afford it. I dropped off the packages, waved at the residents, saw some kids on bikes, others walking their dogs, but nothing out of the ordinary.”

Griffin nodded approvingly. It had been a stroke of genius on Barrett’s part to have Thomas go in for the past two days as an Amazon driver. Griffin had been able to secure the route and the van from an old classmate of his at Penn State who’d become an executive with the e-commerce giant.

“Very well,” Griffin said, and turned to the rest of the assembled team inside the school’s cafeteria. With the long weekend and the separation of the school from the small town of Falling Rock, Virginia, Griffin was certain that they’d have the facility to themselves for the next twelve hours, which would be more than sufficient. By this time tomorrow morning, I’ll have the package, and we’ll be long gone.

“Michael, do all the terminal guidance systems have full batteries, and are they ready to go? The last thing I want when we get inside is to have our gear malfunction. You’re one hundred percent certain they’ll pick up the RFID tag, even once we turn on the jammers?” Griffin used his tech’s full name, a habit he had with everyone.

This was the one part of the operation he couldn’t control—communications—and it maddened him. Like all special operators throughout the world, he knew that sometimes mission success was determined by the quality of the gear used. If that gear failed, then chances were the operation would go sideways. For a man in total control, the thought was fundamentally offensive to his core being.

“I am,” Michael replied. “Once our man at the phone company shuts off the landline switch outside the neighborhood, the jammer here and the ones with the vehicles will take out all cellular and satellite communications up to two gigahertz. No one is making a call out of that neighborhood once we flip the switch.”

“And you’re sure our internal radios will be unaffected?” a young man in a Falling Rock Police Department uniform asked.