Chapter 20 #2
“Promise,” I said, injecting more confidence into my tone than I felt, and mostly meaning it.
Eli slowly climbed the concrete steps up to the loading dock. “Don’t move,” he said, disappearing through the dark sliver revealed by the partially open bay door.
I stayed where I was at the top of the steps, my back pressed to the side of the building, ears straining for every tiny sound: a car engine in the distance, the shuffle of leaves in the trees.
My nerves skittered, despite my bravado. Why had I agreed to wait here? Hadn’t Eli ever seen a horror movie? We shouldn’t have split up.
The metal door beside me creaked, and Eli was there.
“Building’s clear,” he said, grabbing my hand and guiding me under the still half-lowered door.
When I was inside, he turned and flipped a switch. Overhead lights flickered on, casting the room in a dull yellow.
The loading bay was mostly concrete, the high ceiling overhead wreathed in cobwebs, metal shelves at haphazard angles as if they’d been pulled away from the walls.
There were cardboard file boxes all over the place with files inside, some of them tipped over, the papers spilling out onto the carpet floor.
“Someone got here before us?” I asked.
“Maybe.” Eli glanced around. “Walk through here with me and tell me what you see.”
I followed Eli out of the loading bay area, picking my way through the puddles of papers and around overturned boxes.
He opened a heavy metal door, and we emerged into an open office space with ancient, worn carpet in dark green and yellowish walls with bright squares showing where paintings had been removed.
It was a typical setup: reception desk by the front door, offices with doors circling the room, and a kind of cubicle farm in the middle.
Some of the desks looked like they’d been abandoned after a regular workday—sticky notes still stuck on the dividers, a desk calendar open to March of two years ago.
Most of the workspaces were covered in a thin film of dust, but otherwise looked as if no one had ever used them. I couldn’t see footprints or disturbance in the dust on the tables that indicated anyone had been in here recently.
“There’s no electronic equipment,” I said, realizing what looked so odd.
“This office park looks pretty old, but it doesn’t predate computers.
And anyway, this place was being used two years ago.
” I nodded toward the calendar. “It seems weird that they’d clean out every piece of electronic equipment but leave the phones, file cabinets, all these desk chairs. ”
“Yeah,” Eli said. “That’s what I thought too. It’s almost—” He scanned the room again, searching for the right word. “It looks like nothing in here has been touched in two years.” He pointed to the undisturbed dust on every desk we could see. “And then someone ransacked the loading bay.”
“Maybe the data broker was squatting,” I said, trying to run through all the possibilities in my mind.
“This seems like the right place to do it. So many offices here unleased. Not a lot of traffic. If he was working out of the loading bay—no windows to give away the lights being on—that would make sense.”
“It would,” Eli agreed. “I’m going to check some of these cubicles.”
“Okay,” I said, and despite my earlier concerns about being separated, my curiosity won. “I’m going back to the loading bay, see if there’s anything there worth taking a closer look.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed as he considered. “Keep your eyes on that open door. If you hear anybody, get out of there and come get me. Don’t engage on your own.”
“I won’t.” I reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers in mine. “I’ll be careful.”
He cleared his throat and tightened his hand on mine before letting go. “Keep your phone accessible.”
A chill slipped over my skin. “You’re freaking me out a little bit,” I said.
“Good. I don’t like the way this feels.” His gaze swept the abandoned office. “Stay alert.”
“I can do that.” My nerves were so on edge, I doubted anyone could get within a hundred feet without sending me screaming and running for Eli. But the office park outside the half-open loading bay door was quiet.
I pulled a pair of plastic gloves from my coat pocket and knelt down beside the closest overturned file box.
From what I could see, it looked like information on a company looking to IPO—go from private to public.
I couldn’t tell what the point of gathering the intel was.
Maybe they were just interested in investing. Maybe they were working for a client.
I gathered the papers together, put them back in the file, and moved on.
Another similar collection of research, this one focused on a fairly well-known company’s R and D department. Some chemical solvent they were developing. Again, I was sure it was relevant to someone. But I couldn’t see how that someone might be me. Or Emily Shaw.
I’d been through five boxes before I found anything interesting, and this folder made up for days of finding nothing. The label on the front seemed familiar.
CREED GLOBAL
The sight of it sent electricity crackling down my spine.
It took me a second to remember where I’d seen that name before.
The letter in the PO box. That’s what had been on the letterhead.
I flipped open the folder to find a cover sheet titled CREED GLOBAL, followed by a short paragraph and a list of bullet points.
Creed Global is a highly exclusive team of contractors who handle problems involving recovery, research, and protection.
Founded by Silas Creed, Creed Global is composed of a team of six: Ryder Vale, Miranda Cross, Cage Maddox, Elias Bishop, Shade Navarro, and Wren Calder.
Each of the team members were handpicked by Creed for their unique skill sets.
They have a reputation for extreme loyalty to each other and to Creed, and are both expensive and effective.
Rumor has Silas Creed off-radar for 7 weeks.
The team has been seen working with Sinclair Security.
No confirmation on a sale or Creed’s endgame.
Below that was a list of names and dates.
Cyril Bate et al. (July 2019)
Thompson Industries (Sept 2022)
Ambesen Ind/Haeys (Feb 2023)
It went on like that for over twenty entries. Were they clients? Situations the Creed Global team had been involved in? I flipped past the cover sheet and found seven paperclipped packets, each with a name at the top. Ryder, Miranda, Cage, Elias, Shade, Wren, and Silas Creed.
Eli had said he and his team were new to Sinclair, but we’d never discussed the specifics of his past employer.
They have a reputation for extreme loyalty.
Each of the team members were handpicked by Creed.
I’d met all of Eli’s team except Silas. I’d never even heard Silas’s name at all. Which was very weird considering how close they must be. Why hadn’t Eli ever mentioned him? And why would the data broker have a file on Eli’s team?
I pulled out Eli’s packet and scanned it.
Most of it lined up with what he’d told me.
Army. Ranger. Assigned to an operation that worked with outside contractors, putting him in Silas’s orbit.
A year later, Eli left the army and went to work for Silas Creed.
I double-checked the dates. He’d been with Creed Global for over eight years.
Extreme loyalty.
My investigator’s senses were ringing loudly that the omission was no accident. Eli had deliberately chosen not to so much as mention Silas’s name. Why? He’d told me about his family, about adjusting to Sinclair Security, but he’d never mentioned the mentor he must have been close to.
“Did you find anything?” Eli called from the door.
“Maybe,” I said, tearing my eyes from the bombshell in front of me.
I looked up to see Eli crossing the room. There were cobwebs tangled in the tips of his hair, a smear of dust on his nose that added a dash of adorable to his general hotness.
“Anything interesting in the offices?” I asked, noting his empty hands.
“Nothing,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s been in that part of the building in years.” His eyes went to the folder in my hands. “What’s that?”
I handed him the Creed Global folder, curious what he would say.
Eli scanned through the seven packets, including Silas’s, and looked to me, his face carefully blank.
“Where did you find this?” he asked, his voice even in a way that didn’t speak of calm. Everything about Eli was controlled. Staged. Just like this scene.
I’d think about what that might mean later.
“I found it in that box,” I said, pointing to a file box on the table next to me. “It was on the floor, upside down.”
“Anything else like this?” Eli’s eyes scanned the room.
“No,” I said. “Mostly research on different companies. I saw a few files that are general research on a whole company, a few others that narrowed in on R & D or recent acquisitions. Nothing like a stack of résumés and work history. Why would this data broker have a folder on your team? And who’s Silas?
Why isn’t he with you guys? Did he sell the company to Sinclair Security? ” The questions tumbled out.
I half expected Eli to shut me down, but I wasn’t prepared for the stab of hurt in my heart when he did exactly that—his eyes shuttering, his jaw tight, expression otherwise blank.
“Something like that,” he said. “He had some business to take care of. It’s not a big deal.”
Everything he wasn’t saying told me that it was a very big deal.
“Is Silas the mentor you told me about? The one you met when you were getting out of the army?” I asked, feeling a queasy squirm in my stomach.
He’d told me about his parents and sister dying.
I’d shared so much about my life. My family, awkward teenage memories, the horror of the carjacking.
Asking about his mentor shouldn’t be a big deal. But it was, because Eli didn’t answer.
He shrugged with a jerk of one shoulder. “We should take this back with us. Anything else we should take?”