Epilogue
T erk sat at the table, his team growing and expanding by the week, it seemed. He needed to get one of those big-screen TVs, like what Ice had set up in her place for their team. It would be great for conference calls or Zoom meetings. He reached for his phone, selected a Contact to call, and put the phone on Speaker. “Riff, what’s going on?” Terk asked. “I thought you were coming back with Sanders and Ania.”
“They’ll be there today,” he replied, “but I got another lead on my fiancée’s murder, so I’m taking off to do that.” He hesitated a bit and asked carefully, “You don’t have a job, do you?”
“I do, but it depends on where you’re heading.”
“To the US. The state of Maine, to be exact. I need to talk to an old friend of hers. Apparently, she spoke to him not too long before she died.”
“You could call,” Terk suggested.
“I know I could, but he’s an old guy, not big on technology and really not big on strangers. Plus, he seems to have a chip on his shoulder about me.”
“Ah. Do you want backup?”
“No, this won’t be anything physical,” Riff stated, “but I’ll be over there. If you’ve got anything you need me to do while I’m there, you can let me know. I’m always available, but you guys could probably use some peace and quiet for a while.”
“That’s not likely to happen for quite some time,” Terk declared, with a note of humor in his tone. “You know what the world is like.”
“Yeah, it’s a mess, and I’m damn tired of it.”
“I hear you there,” Terk murmured. “Who knows whether we’ll get any calls for assistance or not, but, maybe after you’re done, depending on whatever’s going on, we’ll move you to the next job.”
“What’s that?”
Just then Gage walked in, holding up his phone. “Bullard’s been trying to get through to you, but it keeps ringing busy, so he called me instead.”
“Hang on a minute, Riff,” Terk said, turning to Gage and taking the phone from his hand. “Bullard, you still there?”
“Yeah, I am. I had a new nurse I was bringing over to see if she wanted to do some training here. She landed in Paris and was due to get a connecting flight after spending two days there, but she apparently missed the flight. I checked the hotel, and there’s no sign of her. I think I should send a man over, but I’m spread pretty thin at the moment.”
“That’s fine. I’ve got some men who are available, and we are closer,” Terk pointed out. “Is this a case of needing our particular brand of skills or just manpower?”
“I don’t know yet,” Bullard admitted. “One of the reasons why I was looking at hiring her is because she has a reputation for uncanny healing.” He sounded almost lost in thoughts. “Although that’s not necessarily a your group versus my group thing, I just thought I would check and see if she happened to have some abilities. You know how we could always use that here,” he muttered. “Yet it seems as if, as soon as anybody finds out about your group, they head to you.” He sounded frustrated. “I don’t care if she goes to you or to me. I just want to know that somebody I feel responsible for is safe, and, so far, I haven’t been able to raise her at all. We’ve done some basic research, so I’ll send you the file. If you can give us a hand on this one, I would appreciate it.”
“We got it,” Terk replied. “Riff is heading to the US right now, so that won’t work, but I do have somebody else I was looking at hiring, or at least at testing, so this might be a good opportunity for that.”
“How about I send one of my guys as backup?”
“Sounds good.”
“So you have another new guy who’s doing your kind of work?”
“Maybe,” Terk said. “He’s not admitting to doing this energy work, but he’s an ex-Navy SEAL who’s been working out of Ireland for the last four years. I heard via the grapevine that he had some abilities. He’s not against doing a job for me, but he certainly isn’t being forthcoming about any unique skills I might be interested in.”
“Of course not.” Bullard laughed. “Nobody would because it’ll make him sound crazy. So, give him the intel on the nurse I lost in Paris.”
“I’ll contact Nate and set it up. Send the file. We’re on it.”