Chapter Fourteen #2
Blitz wasn’t a noteworthy breed like a Great Dane or a Saint Bernard. And Deschamps wasn’t superhuman. He’d need an army to find Ford here, even with the presence of a dog to narrow the search.
News stories were the bigger threat. He or Natalie might be recognized from a photo, but again, odds were low unless someone already knew to look in Nice, especially with the changes to her appearance. Besides, walking a dog made him look like a local. Nobody should suspect he was in hiding.
Car traffic clogged the main road, and commuters and tourists filled the tram, but once he entered the park, he found a grassy spot without anyone around and dialed his sister on her secure line.
“What’s wrong?” Amber whispered.
“Nothing.”
“It’s after eleven here, asshole.” Her voice came through low and muffled. “Something better be wrong.” Grumpy wasn’t her natural state, but she was not a night owl, and he’d forgotten how late it was in San Francisco.
“Sorry if I woke you.” Ford tugged Blitz away from the spot she’d been sniffing for the last two minutes and resumed a leisurely stroll.
“Everyone is alive and uninjured.” At least everyone Amber knew or cared about.
He hesitated, the words coming harder than they should have.
Not because he thought Amber would turn him down, but because he didn’t have a lot of experience asking for help, even from his own family. “But I need a favor.”
On the other end of the line, Amber went dead silent for a full count of ten. “Hang on.” Scratchy noises came though the receiver, and a minute later, she spoke at normal volume. “Seb has a big presentation tomorrow. They need their sleep, so I’m in my office now. What’s up?”
He blew out a quick breath and double checked that no one was close enough to hear him. “I need everything you can give me on Harrison Wallace. Who he’s been in contact with, where he’s been…everything for the last six weeks or more.”
“Fordy, that’s a—”
“Total violation of a client’s trust. I know.” Ignoring her use of the nickname he hated, he said, “It’s life or death, Amber.”
“Whose?”
Shit. This was the truly tricky part. “Natalie Nygaard-Brown.”
Amber made a noise of disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Wasn’t she wrapped up in that whole thing with Renfro Warner and Byron Chin last month? I thought she was…I thought she died in the attack.”
“You saw that?” Ford mentally willed Blitz not to take a dump on the grass.
“Dude, everyone saw that. It’s part of my job to stay on top of the news, and you don’t forget a name like hers easily. Especially since she nearly got you killed once.”
“Not her fault.”
“I know that.” The sound of her typing on a keyboard filtered over the line. “Not yours either.”
His turn to snort. It had absolutely been his fault. Marinelli never should’ve been able to get so close.
“We’re human, Fordy. We can’t anticipate or prevent everything, even if that’s in the job description.”
“I know.” He barely managed not to berate her for calling him Fordy. Partly because he knew it would only make her do it more, and also because he needed her help right now. “Doesn’t change how it feels.”
“I know.” Amber sighed softly. “So, are you behind Natalie’s John Darwin act?”
“Her what now?”
“John Darwin. The British guy who faked his death, like, twenty years ago and eventually got caught living on the life insurance money in Panama.”
“You were eight years old. Why do you even know this?” Though, honestly, Ford shouldn’t be surprised. His sister had a voracious appetite for random facts.
“I don’t know.” She was probably shrugging in that way she did so often. “I read it somewhere. You were probably a senior in high school when they finally caught him. Seemed like you might’ve heard of it.”
He probably had, but it didn’t ring a bell now.
“Anyway… Yes, I made the decision to make it look like Natalie died in surgery. There were men actively looking for her at the hospital, and now someone has figured out that she’s alive.
We’re trying to determine who he works for, and Wallace is on the short list.”
“So you think he might be behind the attack in Lucerne.”
“He’s a possible candidate.” Ford jolted forward as Blitz tried to chase a squirrel. “No. Blitz, heel.”
“Hey, Blitzy!” Amber called into the phone, as if the dog could hear.
Ford rolled his eyes. Blitz whined at the escaping rodent, but ultimately sat at his side, practically on his foot.
“Why would he go after Natalie?” Amber asked.
Blitz started turning in a circle while sniffing the ground.
Dammit. Ford dug a plastic baggie from his pocket while trying to decide how much he could safely share with his sister.
But if he couldn’t trust her, he couldn’t trust anyone on the planet.
“He’s on a list of about a dozen despicable people Natalie helped expose. ”
“Is that so?” He could almost hear Amber sitting up straight.
“It’s quite a list. You’d be impressed. But he’s the only one I recognized as a client.”
She was silent for a moment. “You know Dad’s rule about treating all clients as worthy, but I did vote against us working for Wallace. It’s not like he couldn’t have found someone else willing to take his dirty money.”
“Exactly.”
It was an unfortunate truth that a decent percentage of the people who could afford full-time security—and needed it—had earned their money by less-than-savory means.
According to their parents, it wasn’t their job to judge, only to provide a service.
Ford and Amber both wanted to change that once their parents stepped down.
They’d discussed it frequently over the years, and had decided they’d prefer to be choosier about their clientele, even if it meant B&A got a smaller slice of the security business pie.
“You’re lucky he gives you so much freedom there,” Amber said.
“It’s out of guilt.” For some reason Dad felt like he’d failed both of his sons.
“You did learn from the master,” Amber muttered.
Ignoring her dig, Ford bagged Blitz’s dirty business and headed toward a trash can at the edge of the park. “So, will you help me?”