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"I'm worried for your parents," Jarrett admitted. "I know you are, too. So stop focusing on Yager here, and focus on
Sandora. Everybody wants him arrested for what he's done. Everybody is on the same side."
Eli moved on, leaving behind the question of whether or not Harold Felton was a nicer guy than Yager, or if he was
even aware they were hanging out around his stuff. When the door opened, he expected to see the ruddy face from the
desk photos. Instead, a willowy black woman in a dark suit strode in and went straight for Jarrett.
Jarrett was barely standing before she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly enough for him to gasp.
"You stupid son of a bitch," Eli heard her mutter against his shirt.
Unseen by her, Jarrett smiled. He bent and kissed the top of her head, then carefully disengaged from the embrace. "At
least you know you were always right about me now." He gestured toward Eli, waiting until she faced him to add, "Ven,
this is Eli Locke. Eli, Venice McCurry."
A mask fell over her broad, handsome features, any sign of her feelings for Jarrett now safely secured away behind
police professionalism. Her appraisal was swift, but warmer than he was used to from all the cops he'd encountered over
the past few days. Enough to give him hope, as well as embarrassment for not trusting Jarrett's instincts about his friend.
"So is this a one-off, or are you a trouble magnet?" she asked.
The odd question startled him. His gaze shot to Jarrett, but he was no help, simply watching their exchange with that
small smile still in place.
"I'm praying it's a one-off," he said. "This is one superpower I really don't want to keep."
Venice absorbed his response for several seconds before snorting and turning back to Jarrett. "Well, your taste in men is
improving. That's one good thing to come out of this clusterfuck."
"Is Yager here?"
"Yeah, just checking everything in. He brought all the files and notes we have on Cwikla and Fong. I swear that man
breeds red tape in his sleep."
"Who's this guy?" Eli said, waving a hand at the desk.
"Just an old friend who's letting us use his space this morning. The fewer new people who get involved in this, the
happier Yager will be." She cocked a slim brow at Jarrett. "You can just bet how happy he is to have me on board."
"Yager can deal."
"You might want to re-evaluate that cavalier attitude when we nail this Sandora and you need Yager's help getting your
job back."
Eli opened his mouth to ask about new developments when the door opened again. At the sight of Yager's grim face, he
promptly shut it again.
For all his efforts to melt into the background, though, Yager zeroed right in on Eli. "Any word on your folks?"
Eli shook his head. "Were you able to track the emails?"
Yager hooked a thumb at the short woman who trailed after him. "Stuart's running them through every system we've
got. I'm not counting on it, though."
Eli watched Stuart tote the heavy black case she carried to the desk, setting it out of view on the floor behind it. He was
far more interested in what she was going to do than Yager's orders to Venice behind him. Stuart crouched down, and
when Eli inched around to try and get a better vantage, she turned her back to him.
"Show Stuart everything you've got," Yager barked.
Stuart stiffened, but didn't rise. Thick fingers pulled at power cords to plug them into the wall. "That's not necessary. I'm
good."
Though her voice was muffled, something about it triggered a warning in the back of Eli's head. He retreated a step, his
hand dropping automatically to protect the flap of his duffle. She sounded familiar, and he didn't know why.
"We should concentrate on a plan to get my parents away from Sandora, don't you think?" He hoped shifting the topic
would work. For whatever reason, he didn't want anything to do with Stuart. His paranoia was probably shifting into
overdrive, but everywhere he turned these days, somebody else was stabbing him in the back. And he hadn't trusted
Yager from the start.
"I'm already coordinating a strike team to be in place for the meet. Right now, I want all your tech in my hands so Stuart
can work on finding the money."
His head whipped around. "You already have all my tech."
"We don't have your encryption keys. You took those with you, remember?"
"But..." He stopped. Yager still thought the means to tracing the money came in the Lockeford Files somehow. That
didn't make sense unless he still didn't trust Eli. Which of course he didn't, and Eli was foolish for thinking this had
anything to do with clearing his name.
Jarrett was the only one who seemed interested in his hesitation, but thankfully, he held his tongue. He knew Eli's
suspicions that the strip itself held the answers. He had the power to expose his theories. And he chose not to.
When the leather chair creaked, Eli looked back to Stuart, getting comfortable at the desk. She was a wide woman, her
agency appropriate suit stretched uncomfortably across her shoulders. Her mousy brown hair was cut short, revealing
her thick neck, and as he watched, she reached up with one short-nailed hand and flipped her bangs off her forehead. It
exposed her profile more clearly, the slightly pug nose, the rosy complexion.
The hair's wrong.
He didn't know how he knew, just like he didn't understand why her voice sounded familiar. But there was something
about her, something he should recognize. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
A warm hand curled around his elbow. He started to yank away, to stop when he met Jarrett's understanding gaze.
"Whatever it takes to keep your parents safe," Jarrett murmured.
His head felt like it was going to explode, his chest constricting. This was why he'd come. His parents. Jarrett was right
to remind him.
"Whatever it takes," he repeated. He dropped the duffle to the couch and started to rummage through it. "Let's get
going."
Chapter 15
The terrified look on Eli's face when Yager led him away ruined any semblance of optimism Jarrett might have
maintained for Eli's benefit. The excuse was reasonable. They wanted to wire him up for the meeting with Sandora.
Venice even confirmed it was a necessary step, without any prompting from Jarrett. But Eli expected only the worst
from the FBI, and he couldn't hide the fear in his eyes behind any amount of bravado. Not from Jarrett. He was learning
Eli too well to be fooled at this point.
Eli and Yager's departure left him with the stoic Stuart and Ven as guard. When he attempted to initiate a conversation
with Ven, she shook her head and cut a glance toward the agent working diligently at the desk. He got the message. Not
here. Even Ven didn't trust these guys completely.
Without anything definitive to do, he wandered over to the desk to watch Stuart at work. She'd barely said two words
since arriving, and seemed determined to make herself as unobtrusive as possible. Eli had regarded her with appropriate
mistrust, relaxing only when Jarrett prompted him about their real reason for coming in, and now she toiled to integrate
whatever programs she'd had on her machine with the data she was now downloading from Eli's.
"Sandora has to be close to the pick-up point," Jarrett said, more to break up the silence than anything else. "Did you
limit your search on the email to a specific area there?"
Stuart didn't look away from her computer. She was as intense as Eli got under the same circumstances. Where he found
it endearing in a talented guy like Eli, with Stuart it just came off as a little creepy. "Agent Yager's got it all under
control." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]