Prison Break (Blake Wilder FBI Mystery Thriller Book 24) by Elle Gray

Author:Elle Gray [Gray, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elle Gray
Published: 2024-07-26T00:00:00+00:00

US Marshals Field Office, Conference Room 134; Chicago, IL

“Okay, I’m looped into the PODs around The Dot,” Nina announces as she works her keyboard. “Putting them up on screen now.”

The monitor at the front of the room lights up and shows us the grainy footage from one of the city’s many Police Observation Devices—PODS. Like New York, Chicago had deployed a vast network of surveillance cameras around the city to help deter crime. And like New York, some areas have more POD coverage than others. In both cities, I’ve noticed the thicker coverage tends to coincide with the net worth of the residents. You can’t walk a block in the Gold Coast without being on camera, but in a place like East Garfield Park, the coverage is a little more… sparse.

“Okay, this is the van leaving the alley behind The Dot,” Nina says.

The footage rolls, and we do indeed see a frontal shot of the black van exiting the alley after dumping the bodies off in the dumpster. The feed is grainy though. Two figures can be seen through the windshield, but the image isn’t clean enough to make out who it is. The passenger is Giles, obviously. But I can’t see the driver’s face.

“Can you clean up this footage at all?” I ask.

Nina shakes her head. “I tried. This is as good as it’s going to get.”

“Damn,” I mutter.

“Your cameras suck, Kaminski,” Astra says.

“You think I don’t know that?” he replies. “PD has been all over the city to get better equipment, but I’m sure you know how that goes.”

Nina turns to him. “I can’t help but notice the disparity in the camera quality between places like this and the North Side. Downtrodden places like East Garfield get this garbage while Lincoln Park has hi-def cameras.”

“I’m sure you all know how that goes too,” the detective says. “The better the zip code, the better the city services rendered.”

“That sucks. It’s not right,” Rick says.

“Exactly. You could argue that the poorer neighborhoods where crime is more rampant has a greater need for better quality equipment,” Astra says.

“It’s not right. But it’s far above any of our pay grades to fix it, and I know you all have been around long enough to know that,” Kaminski says.

While they debate policy behind me, I study the image on the screen. Specifically, since I’m sure it’s Giles in the passenger seat, I study the outline of the driver I can make out through the grainy image. The shape is generic—it’s just the shape of a man, after all. And yet, it still seems familiar to me.

“Does that look like Heath Giles to you?” I ask.

The conversation stops, and everybody turns to examine the image on the screen. Glancing around the room, I can see the skepticism on their faces. I can’t blame them. It’s a silhouette. But somehow, I know I’m right.

“Heath Giles?” Astra asks. “That’s what you’re getting out of that?”

“Yeah, I’m not really seeing it,” Kaminski says.

“I didn’t meet him, so I have no basis for comparison,” Paige says.

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