Lila leaned down and studied the video feed, noticing the time stamp at the bottom showed a few days ago.
"What's going on there? That’s from the day you were fired, right Juan?"
David flicked his hand across the keyboard and began to zoom in on the building.
"Look here, there's a van outside the factory and it’s loading up a crate."
Juan looked closely at the screen and saw the familiar faces of the factory workers. He gasped and pointed out;
"Those two there, that’s the factory manager and that’s the foreman. But what are they loading up, only those big box vans ever come in and out of there”
They watched as the man named and the foreman stood in the van and directed the men as they carried a large metal box towards the back. The box was rectangular and was a dull silver, like an old welded metal box. The men placed the box into the van before a final person appeared.
Lila perked up, noticing the new addition;
"Who the hell is that guy? He's definitely no factory worker, just look at that expensive suit.”
Juan responded;
"Has to be some government spook or something, just look at that earpiece”
The man was dressed in a black suit, he wore a long black coat and a beanie with a small earpiece and black sunglasses. The group watched as the man handed the foreman, John, a thick brown envelope and said a few words before the van pulled away and left the factory.
David frowned and leaned closer;
"Look, there's some movement at the back door. There’s a car as well!"
A black sedan pulled out from the side of the building, following the van. David turned his head and spoke;
"Juan, have you ever seen these vehicles at the factory before?"
"No, it's not theirs. That licence plate isn't even from california."
Lila quickly noted the licence number and passed it onto David who began typing.
"Let me reach out to one of my friends in the DMV and see who the car is registered to. He should still be working around now"
He tapped away on the keyboard as the other two watched him. Eventually the screen refreshed, and he was presented with a registration record.
"Bingo, it’s a company car related to Aegis Consultants, LLC."
Lila looked confused and turned her head;
"What do you think a consultant company is doing at the factory?"
Juan turned to the pair and nodded;
"I've heard the name, they're some sort of military contractor. What I don’t get is why would a company like that be interested in the factory, it's just a manufacturing plant"
"What's going on there? That’s the day you were fired, right Juan?"
David flicked his hand across the touchpad and began to zoom in on the building.
"Look here, there's a van outside the factory and it’s loading up a crate."
Juan looked closely at the screen and saw the familiar faces of the factory workers. He gasped and pointed out;
"There, it’s the factory manager and that’s the foreman!"
They watched as the man named and the foreman stood in the van and directed the men as they carried a large metal box towards the back. The box was rectangular and was a dull silver, like an old welded metal box. The men placed the box into the van before a final person appeared.
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"Who the hell is that guy? he's not a factory worker, just look at that expensive suit”
Lila asked.
"Has to be some government spook, check out that earpiece”
Juan responded.
The man was dressed in a black suit, he wore a long black coat and a fedora hat and had a small earpiece and glasses on. The group watched as the man handed the foreman, John, an envelope and said a few words before the van pulled away and left the factory.
David frowned and leaned closer;
"Look, there's some movement at the back door. It's a car!"
A dark-coloured sedan pulled out from the side of the building, following the van. David turned his head and spoke;
"Juan, does the factory have more than one vehicle?"
"No, it's not theirs. It has an out of state licence plate."
Lila quickly noted the licence number and passed it onto David who began typing.
"Let me try and hack the DMV database and see who the sedan is registered to."
He tapped away on the keyboard as the other two watched him. Eventually the screen refreshed, and he was presented with a registration record.
"Bingo, it's owned by a company called Aegis Consultants, LLC."
Lila looked confused and turned her head;
"What's a consultant's company doing at the factory?"
Juan turned to the pair and nodded;
"I've heard the name, they're some sort of military contractor. Why would a company like that be interested in the factory, it's just a manufacturing plant"
David continued flicking through the camera feeds, eventually settling on a view of the city from above.
"Well, it looks like they've got some serious connections. They've got their fingers in a lot of pies"
Lila stared at the screen as David zoomed in and showed them a satellite image of the city. The buildings looked small and insignificant. He seemed to be following the movements of the vehicles.
"There's the factory. And here, another satellite image from yesterday morning. Check this out”
On the screen, showed a near empty parking garage with two drivers switching into different vehicles. The men then took some tools out of the van, and switched the plates with their identical cousins. David zoomed in closer and showed the pair, they were the same vehicles, but now had different plates.
"They switched into a different van and car! They're trying to cover their tracks!"
Juan exclaimed.
"They've also been very careful, look here"
David zoomed into a parking garage, a van was left parked inside.
"That's the one from the factory, and it's got a New York plate. Look, here's a different angle of the vehicles they’ve switched into. The licence plate has been altered to match the one on the original."
David turned to the pair and shook his head, he was angry;
"These people are not amateurs. They know what they're doing."
Lila looked concerned and sighed, she didn't think that they could do much on their own. Juan spoke up, looking concerned and frustrated.
"Alright, what are we going to do now? The factory and these contractors are involved, and we have the evidence that they're up to something. But what are we going to do, with fed types involved as well?"
David paused for a moment before answering, a smirk growing on his face;
“Were you not paying attention? They’ve switched out the van…”
"Yeah, and what's that got to do with anything?"
"It means they left the original van just sitting in that parking garage"
"What do you mean?"
David leaned in, a gleam in his eye.
"Simple, they didn’t take anything out of the van when they got out. They just switched vehicles."
Lila looked at her father incredulously, but Juan's face contorted into understanding. He simply nodded;
"You mean, just walk in there and take the evidence? That box?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying."
Juan grinned and shrugged;
"Well, that's not a bad idea. These pendejos think they’re so smart, and just leave this thing lying in a van."
David looked up with a self satisfied grin;
“Well to be fair they weren’t accounting for anyone looking too deeply into this, it’s a factory in the middle of nowhere after all. Good thing I am here”
Lila frowned and put her hand on her hip;
"Excuse me, is anyone going to ask what I think about this?"
Juan shrugged;
"It's not a bad plan if you think about it"
Lila shook her head and walked toward the door, putting on her shoes and coat;
"Yeah, well, whatever. Let's just do this, we're running out of time. Where is the parking garage and how are we gonna get there?"
Juan nodded his head;
"Ok, here's what we're going to do. First, me and Lila are going to take the car and pick up some supplies, then We’ll meet you back here to get this whole thing started."
David nodded and added;
"Sounds good, I'll stay here and work on getting into the local security cameras and getting an idea of the layout. We’ll need to do that if we want to cover our tracks afterwards anyway."
Lila shrugged her shoulders;
"Whatever, let's just do this."