“What’s going on in the city today?” Christian asked Liam directly. “Any major events taking place?”
The man’s fingers began flying across the keyboard of his own personal computer, which was sitting to the left of Samer’s.
“Let’s see…there aren’t any big-name concerts or celebrity appearances happening. The Cubs play the Cardinals later this evening, but the game’s being held in St. Louis, so it’s not that.”More typing ensued, and when Liam hit return, several small windows popped up on the screen at once.
“What’s that?” Cade asked as he squinted at the screen.
“These are all the registered personal events taking place tomorrow,” Liam answered as he typed. “It looks like we’ve got seventeen weddings, twelve milestone birthday party events, two fortieth birthday parties, and one sixty-year anniversary.”
Sixty years. Damn. That was an impressive feat to achieve, these days.
Rocky slid a hidden, sideways glance in Raegan’s direction. They were probably too old to make it sixty more years. But as odd as it may seem, he could already see her being a part of his life even decades from now.
First, however, they needed to find a way to keep Samer from blowing up the fucking city.
“From what I’m seeing here”—Liam continued—“everything else is small potatoes.”
“So there’s nothing?” Raegan’s tone was full of anxiety and concern.
“Not that I can see. There’s not even a…wait a minute.”
Hope flourished inside Rocky’s gut, shooting him forward in two long, broad strides. “You find something?”
“Maybe.”
“What is it?” Raegan leaned in a bit closer for a better look.
“A traffic alert.”
“A what?” Brody frowned. “How the hell is a traffic alert helpful?”
Explaining with more detail, Liam quickly shared where his mind was taking him. “More accurately, there’s construction that’s going to cause a major backup in traffic, which is the reason behind the alert.”
With his right shoulder and hip propped against the wall to Rocky’s left, Jagger kept his arms crossed casually in front ofhim and his ankles crossed as he said, “You know, if you wanted to give us non-mind readers a little more to go on, that would be swell.”
Rocky caught sight of Raegan’s tiny smirk, and though he wished like hell he’d been the one to put it there, he was grateful for Jagger’s smartassed remark.
Anything to make that woman smile.
“Sorry.” Liam pulled up a map of the city. “Okay, so just hear me out. What if our guy is targeting this?” He pointed to the Dan Ryan Expressway.
“You do realize that highway is about twelve miles long, right?” Raegan stated the very important fact.
“I do, but we’re looking for anomalies, here. Something obvious that stands out, and so far, this is all I’m seeing.”
“I don’t know, Cutler.” Christian frowned. “Blowing up a chunk of highway is a stretch. Especially since there are too many unknowns.”
“Hunt’s right.” Brody agreed. “There’s no way to know how many cars will be on any given stretch of highway at any point in time. Guy like Samer…he’d want maximum damage. Hitting something random…” The former SEAL shook his head. “That doesn’t exactly live up to this guy’s well-planned agenda.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Raegan chimed back in. “Samer will want to make a statement. Show the U.S. just how vulnerable we really are, and how much smarter he thinks he is. He’d want a massive audience and, like you said, maximum damage. Something that would have major consequences for the city of Chicago.”
“Like what?” Rocky asked, genuinely hoping she had some sort of direction for them to follow.
But the gorgeous blonde was shaking her head. “I have no idea. I just know Samer wouldn’t pick a spot along some random stretch of highway.”
“How do you know?” Brody asked, his tone that of curiosity rather than snarky heat.
Raegan’s golden eyes turned the other man’s way. “Because nothing Samer does is random.”