Chapter Eighteen #4
Mackey patted her shoulder. “Don’t bother. He’s crazy about you, and it also shows from your end. You two have no idea what your body language is saying.”
She found a small smile, but swore silently at the blush spreading over her cheeks. “He’s pretty special to me.”
“Let’s don’t blow it, then.”
“Promise. No quitting. No stopping. No failure.”
He nodded, satisfied with his pep talk. It had been a good one. “Let’s plant this message and blow this popsicle stand. Quaid’s waiting.”
“Have we put out enough?”
“We don’t need a billboard or a ticker tape parade. He is watching, and now we’ve got him curious. He’ll seek out what we’re doing. Let’s go back to homebase and get prepped. My gut says soon. And I always listen to my gut.”
“Me, too. I’m with you.”
They planted the message next to the little yellow painted flowers. Alanna mourned her friend for short seconds, then put it away. She couldn’t delve into that memory and keep her discipline. And the team was depending on her to finish this.
“Let’s go, Mac. We have other stuff to do.”
He followed her to the car, but unlike Quaid, he got in the front with Bailey and left her in the back – sorting through his advice and making silent promises to Quaid she hoped she could keep.
&&&&&&&&&&
Spending part of the morning signing contracts, arguing on the phone with their Dubai client who wanted to go back in country, and hanging up from a call with a government source with questionable information on another case pushed Quaid’s dicey mood to testy.
He’d been all over the world in difficult, secret circumstances and held his own. Not today.
Elizabeth reminded him they had a business to run this morning and like a good schoolteacher made him take a seat and tend to it.
Between rich businessmen who believed the rules didn’t apply to them to Seth Tenney blowing up his phone, he’d had enough.
Could he admit he was worried about Alanna being on those streets alone?
Yes. Not that he didn’t trust Mac. He did. But he wanted hands on.
Distracted and not giving a fuck, Quaid pasted on a smile and didn’t pretend it meant a damn thing.
Seth Tenney stood over six feet, lean and polished, and was a man who expected attention and usually got it.
It worked on most people, but put Tenney up against Zephren Patton and it was like comparing Mac to a green recruit. Rich people had their tier levels, too.
“I’m spending all this money, and all you’ve done is review what’s already been reported?
I saw the news. Rumors are you’re in the center of some manhunt.
” Seth shifted the seams of his expensive slacks.
Quaid hadn’t changed from his camouflage pants.
They were still dusty from training time.
God, it was good to get back in a real uniform.
Something honest with some integrity behind it.
He leaned back in his executive chair, staring at the man across the flat, clean surface of his formal desk.
What wouldn’t he give for a War Table here.
“We’re always working on something else, Seth, and we always verify what the police have found.
” Quaid’s expression stayed bland, neither bothered nor interested in explaining their case matrix.
Tenney didn’t like being called by his first name, but Quaid dismissed his displeasure.
It was past time for the deference to end and reality to take precedent.
Seth’s mouth firmed and he puffed up, the coming threat as obvious as the red in his face.
Quaid held up a hand, stopping Tenney’s habit of throwing his weight around. “Calling Congressman March again or your FBI contact will waste your time and mine. Priorities, Seth. We all live by them.”
The man straightened in his chair, his shoulders squared. Quaid could read his thoughts without a crystal ball. He wanted to continue the threat, but reigned himself in. “Where do you propose we go from here?”
Quaid used blunt honesty to test the waters and get this over with.
He had other things to do. “That’s up to you.
At this point, it will involve deeper investigation into those around her when she disappeared – your sister, your wife, and your wife’s boyfriend.
It takes honesty, cooperation, time, and dogged persistence. The decision is yours.”
The man’s eyes widened.
Yeah, you motherfucker. We figured it out.
“How many other cases are you managing?” His sly look gave away the attempt to recapture the moment.
Quaid blanked his expression. He didn’t play into “gotcha” moments ever, and he narrowed his eyes with displeasure. He borrowed his grandfather’s frostiest tone. “Client confidentiality is ironclad and not pertinent to this discussion. Whether we continue or not is up to you.”
He didn’t bother to tell Seth his case was most likely a body search now. The truth would come from the data and facts when they found them. Whether guesswork, intuition, or a paper trail led them to the answers, it would end when the truth lined up.
“I’ll have to give that some thought.” Seth didn’t like being dismissed, but ceded to reality.
Quaid wouldn’t be moved, and the man surrendered with a grudging respect in his eyes.
He rose to leave. No handshake, as if that transmitted to something Quaid would care about.
He followed Tenney out of his office. Welker was waiting, the operative providing the extra security in the admin area they needed right now.
“See Mr. Tenney to the parking lot.”
“Yes, sir.” Welker caught up with the obviously miffed man.
Elizabeth came and stood next to him. “Not renewing?”
“Not liking our priorities. He’s going to rethink it.”
“You didn’t encourage him, did you?”
“Not this time.”
In a business sense, he should show more care to a valuable client. He utilized this cultured, savvy version of himself in the CIA, and he’d evolved the mask to open doors, close deals. It built QM into what it was. But it wasn’t who he was when things mattered. And things mattered right now.
He’d have to assess the shift in attitude later because it was part of retiring the playboy. And, truly, he was ready to be in the armory prepping his weapons and testing his equipment, not handling a man who was being less than honest about the details of the case.
“Harrison says to tell you Mac and Alanna are clear and on their way back.” Elizabeth turned and strode to her office.
Profound relief flooded through him.
Thank God, they weren’t going anywhere tonight. They were staying in the confines of QM, babysitting Whit, and appearing as necessary to keep the trap active. That was his priority now.
Quaid still had two phone calls to make, manhunt updates to audit, global protection details to check with Harrison, and a woman walking into a fight he wasn’t going to let her face alone.