Chapter One
Close to five days on the Giorgio situation, another day in Australia, a full day lost to running in the Underworld, because Lamont really needed to clear his head and stretch his legs, it was the better part of a full week before Lamont translocated back to Egypt and started calling Ewen’s number.
He’d sent texts before that – every night he’d been staying in Tuscany.
The first few were letting Ewen know he’d had to go away, but he’d be back soon.
Then, when the texts weren’t showing as being read, Lamont tried calling from Tuscany.
The call went straight to voicemail, and as Lamont was busy with his packmate, he couldn’t leave a number for a callback.
The only place Lamont could find the slightest trace of that scent was outside the restaurant.
Clearly, Ewen got into a car. Willingly?
Lamont had no idea, but his gut instinct was telling him that would be a “no.” Two days pounding the streets, and two nights spent calling hotels asking for “Ewen Cross,” and Lamont was left with the impression that the man had never even been in Egypt, even though he knew darn well he had been.
All he had was a faint scent on a pavement, the card Ewen had given him, and a nagging sense he needed to find Ewen as soon as possible – a need that had nothing to do with a potential lead. Lamont and his hound wanted to find the man, and Lamont wasn’t going to question why.
That was why, ten full days after Lamont and Ewen had their thirty second meeting, Lamont walked into the front doors of The New York Times.
Louise looked up from her computer screen, and her whole face lit up. “Lamont. Oh my goodness, I didn’t know you were back in New York.”
She stood up from behind the reception desk, smoothing down her bright yellow dress. The color should’ve clashed with her red hair, but on Louise it worked.
“I just got in.” Lamont leaned against the chrome and glass counter, giving her his best smile as he flicked his hair back over his shoulder. “You’re looking well.”
“Me? Please. I saw you on social media last week.” Louise lowered her voice, even though the lobby was empty except for the two of them. “I know that was you looking all mysterious and dangerous in Tuscany. When did you start moonlighting as a bodyguard?”
Lamont chuckled. “That wasn’t moonlighting. I was just helping out a friend.”
“A friend who needs a bodyguard or a sexy entourage?” Louise fanned herself with one hand. “The photos were something else. Half the women in the office were swooning over you and your friends. Not to mention a few of the men as well.”
“It was all show, you know how it is.”
“Uh-huh.” Louise didn’t sound convinced. “So what brings you to our humble newsroom? Please tell me you’re picking up a new assignment. This place has been so boring lately.”
“No assignment, no.” Lamont shifted his weight, keeping his movements casual.
“Actually, I was hoping to catch up with one of your journalists. Ewen Cross? I ran into him in Egypt about ten days ago, but we didn’t get much time to talk.
I figured I’d swing by his office now that I’m back in town.
He mentioned wanting to check some facts for a story I’m working on. ”
The change in Louise was immediate. Her bright smile froze, then faded. Her eyes darted toward the security camera in the corner, then back to her computer screen.
“Ewen Cross?” she repeated, her voice carefully neutral.
“Yeah.” Lamont kept his tone light, but his instincts were screaming. “Is he in? Busy? I can leave him a note and come back later if he’s on a deadline.”
Louise’s fingers moved over her keyboard, clicking through what looked like an employee directory. Her shoulders hunched forward slightly, and when she spoke again, her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper.
“When exactly did you see him in Egypt?”
“About ten days ago. We bumped into each other at a restaurant.” Lamont watched her face carefully.
“We only talked for a minute before he had to leave - apparently he had another appointment. But he gave me his card and said he had something important to discuss. He did mention he was only going to be in Egypt for two more days when I saw him, but I got caught up with other things, as you saw. I figured he’d come back here.
I’ve been trying to touch base with him ever since, but I’m not getting any response. ”
Louise glanced toward the elevators, then toward the hallway leading to the back offices.
Nobody was coming, but Louise gave the impression someone evil was going to jump out of the nearest artwork.
She leaned forward across the reception desk, and Lamont mirrored her movement until they were both hunched over the glossy surface like conspirators.
“He never came back,” Louise whispered.
Lamont’s blood went cold. “What do you mean?”
“From Egypt. Ewen never came back from Egypt.” Louise’s green eyes were wide and worried. “He was due back last week, but from what I hear, nobody’s heard from him. His phone’s off. His apartment’s empty. His editor filed a missing person’s report with the NYPD three days ago, but...”
She cut herself off, glancing around again.
“But what?” Lamont kept his voice low and calm, even though his hound was snarling inside him. “Come on, Louise, you know I can be trusted.”
“Word came down from upper management that we’re not supposed to talk about him.
Like, at all.” Louise’s fingers twisted together.
“His name got scrubbed from the active reporter list. His office was cleaned out yesterday – the things on his desk were just boxed up and stuffed in the basement. It’s like they’re pretending he never existed. ”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know!” Louise’s whisper turned urgent.
“Ewen’s been with The Times for three years.
He’s a good journalist. A really good journalist. Apparently, he was working on something big before he left for Egypt, but we all know how protective you journalists are about your leads.
He wouldn’t tell anyone what it was. Renee, in accounting, said she heard him tell someone in the break room that it was too dangerous to involve anyone else until he had solid proof of whatever this thing was. ”
Lamont’s mind raced, his brief meeting with Ewen now seen through a more sinister lens. The two men who’d grabbed Ewen at the restaurant...how Ewen hadn’t seemed pleased to be with them...although he went when grabbed. The desperate, almost pleading edge to Ewen’s tone when he asked Lamont to call.
“Do you have any idea what the story was about?” Lamont asked.
Louise shook her head. “Ewen kept everything locked down tight. I overheard him on the phone a few times. He was talking to someone about government contracts. Defense contracts, maybe? And something about falsified documents, but they were all snippets, and face it, around here, those sorts of conversations are common.” Louise sighed.
“So you think he might’ve been investigating some form of corporate corruption?”
“Maybe? I honestly don’t know.” Louise bit her lower lip. “Whatever it was, it was big enough that Ewen took vacation time to go to Egypt. He didn’t file it as a work trip. He paid for everything himself.”
Which meant Ewen had been trying to keep The Times from knowing where he was going. Smart, if he was investigating something that involved people with enough power to make a journalist disappear. Although not smart enough, apparently.
“Who else knows he’s missing?” Lamont asked. “Is anyone looking for him at all?”
“Just the people who’ve noticed he hasn’t been around.
His editor, like I said. A few of us who worked with him regularly.
But everyone’s being really careful not to say anything out loud.
” Louise’s voice dropped even lower. “There was a guy here two days ago. Tall, expensive suit, government badge. He was talking to the publisher for over an hour. After he left, that’s when the word came down.
No more questions about Ewen Cross. No more looking for Ewen Cross. Drop it entirely.”
Lamont’s hound growled. It took some serious connections in high places to scare a newspaper outlet into silence.
“Any idea what kind of government badge?”
“I didn’t get close enough to see. He didn’t even stop at the reception desk on his way in - just went straight upstairs to the publisher’s office. He had that look, you know?” Louise hugged herself. “Like the kind of person you don’t argue with.”
Yeah. Lamont knew exactly that type.
“What about family? Did Ewen have any? Someone who might be looking for him?”
“His mom died a few years ago. Dad’s out of the picture.
He has a sister in California, but they’re not close.
” Louise’s eyes were getting suspiciously shiny.
“Lamont, Ewen’s a good guy. All of his stories were focused on helping regular people.
Last year, he exposed that housing fraud scheme that got those slumlords arrested.
He actually cares about finding the truth. ”
Lamont straightened up, his mind already cataloging everything he needed to do.
Logically, he could track down Ewen’s editor.
Find out which NYPD detective got the missing person’s report.
Dig into what Ewen had been investigating before he left for Egypt.
Figure out who the government agent was who’d put pressure on The Times.
Unfortunately, all that would take time – time, Lamont wasn’t sure Ewen had.
He needed to find Ewen himself. That unsettling feeling Lamont had been carrying around for the past ten days was now a full-blown alarm screaming through his entire being. His hound was pacing, snarling, demanding they start tracking, even though Lamont had already tried that.
Find him. Find him now.
“Thanks, Louise.” Lamont pulled out his phone, making a show of checking the time. “I’ve got to run, but if you hear anything - anything at all - will you let me know?”
“Of course.” Louise grabbed a sticky note and scribbled something down, then pressed it into his palm. “That’s my personal cell. Text me so I have your number. Don’t call the main line here.”
Lamont pocketed the note. “You worried they’re monitoring calls?”
“After what happened to Ewen?” Louise’s laugh was shaky. “I’m worried about everything.”
Smart woman.
Lamont headed for the door, then paused and turned back. “One more thing. The day before Ewen left for Egypt. Did he seem scared? Nervous?”
Louise thought about it, her brow furrowing.
“Not scared exactly. More like...determined? He came in really early that morning, like seven a.m. I was just starting my shift. According to Jo, who is in the office across from his, Ewen printed out a bunch of documents from his computer, stuffed them in his messenger bag, and then deleted everything from his hard drive.”
“He wiped his work computer? Are you sure?”
“Completely. Jo saw him doing it. Ewen told Jo he was clearing out old files, but...” Louise shrugged. “It seemed like more than that.”
Clearly, Ewen had known he was walking into danger. He’d known enough to cover his tracks, to hide his research, to make sure nobody could trace what he was investigating through his work computer. But he’d still gone to Egypt, regardless of any risk, and it had gotten him disappeared.
A difficult situation, but not impossible, Lamont thought as he left the office.
He needed a coffee, then a place to zap back to Egypt before he got in touch with someone who could help.
After what Coda had put him and his pack mates through in Tuscany, he owed Lamont a favor, and Lamont was cashing it in.