“My husband spent eight years with the 75th Ranger Regiment. Got out in ninety-eight,” said Bauer.
“And you didn’t think to mention that earlier?” said Munoz.
“Must have slipped my mind,” said David Bauer before opening the door and getting out of the vehicle.
“We had a shooter in the front seat the whole time and didn’t even know it,” said Daly, shaking his head.
“He’s riding a desk now, so don’t get any ideas,” said Bauer.
“I heard that,” yelled her husband while walking around the front of the SUV.
“Seriously. He’s off-limits,” said Bauer.
“Got it,” said Munoz, hopping down from the SUV to let her out.
She walked with her husband to the arched mahogany entry doors and waited for Daly and Munoz to catch up. The SUV disappeared from sight behind a wide one-story stucco structure to the right of the house, which she assumed to be a garage. Munoz pressed the illuminated doorbell and stood with his hands behind his back.
“Seriously?” said Bauer.
“The door is locked,” said Munoz before winking. “Best we can do without perimeter guards.”
She shook her head. Staying here sounded less and less appealing by the moment. The door opened after a short delay, and an Indian-looking guy in his twenties appeared in the doorway.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” he said. “Anish Gupta at your service, ma’am.”
“What?” said Audra, turning to Munoz. “Is he part of the team?”
“Hell yeah. I work the electronic magic. I was out there on the streets when all of this went down. We just got back.”
“That’s right,” she said. “I remember the name from before.”
“You thought I was the help?” said Gupta, making air quotes with his fingers.
“No,” said Audra. “I really didn’t. I’m a little out of it right now. Sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t make me feel better about my brown skin,” said Gupta.
“I’m really—” started Bauer.
“Hey, just fucking with you! Seriously. Welcome to the sickest house you’ll ever see,” he said, gesturing for them to enter. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“Likewise,” said Audra, utterly confused.
“You’ll have to excuse Gupta,” said Munoz. “He wasn’t held as a child.”
“What the fuck, man?” said Gupta, with a hurt look. “I was in foster care my whole childhood. Some of us didn’t have loving parents.”
Munoz raised both hands. “Sorry, Anish. I really didn’t know that.”
“Gupta! Are you gonna make them stand out there all day?” said Graves, appearing behind Gupta.
The second man looked at least twice Gupta’s age, with a balding head.
“What? No,” said Gupta, stepping out of the way.
“Timothy Graves,” said the man. “Welcome to our temporary humble abode. And by the way, Anish was raised in a very comfortable and loving home in a rich suburb on the north side of Indianapolis.”
“Come on, dude! You’re ruining my street cred,” said Gupta.
“Trust me. You cashed in the last of your street cred when you graduated summa cum laude from MIT.”
“Damn. You’re a regular gangster,” said Audra Bauer.
“Hey, that’s not—” started Gupta.
“Just fucking with you, Anish,” she said. “Thank you for working your magic today.”
“Any time,” said Gupta.
“Foster care,” said Munoz. “Should have known better.”
“Dude, that was the first time I’ve ever seen you look sorry. Classic.”
Audra took in the grand two-story hallway, which ended at the back of the house, with a floor-to-ceiling bank of windows. “Very humble.”
“It’s kind of crazy,” said Graves. “And the place is fully stocked for us. Whatever you need, it’s here.”
“Right now, I need to see Karl Berg,” said Audra. “Try to make sense of this insanity.”
“He’ll be relieved to see you,” said Graves. “He’s been monitoring the situation very closely, against doctor’s orders.”
“I can’t believe this happened,” said Audra. “How is he doing?”
Darryl Jackson appeared from the shadows of the closest doorway in the two-story entry hallway.
“He’ll survive,” said Jackson. “But he’s in bad fucking shape.”
She detected resentment in Jackson’s voice. “How bad?”
“Bad enough,” said Jackson. “This shit got out of hand — real quick.”
“Not by my choice,” Audra said defensively.
“Nobody’s blaming anybody, but he ain’t good,” said Jackson. “He wanted to see you right away.”
Audra squeezed her husband’s hand. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll fix us something to eat,” said David Bauer, kissing her cheek and letting go of her hand.
Her husband headed toward the back of the grand hallway with Munoz and Daly while she made her way toward Jackson.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she said, offering her hand.
He glanced at her hand skeptically before shaking it. “Wish it was under different circumstances,” said Jackson before guiding her through a dim hallway to a series of rooms that occupied the right half of the house.
“So do I,” she said. “How did you know they’d come after me?”
“Karl pieced it together,” said Jackson. “They grabbed him right out from under me last night. We’d just finished dinner.”
“He was really looking forward to having dinner with you,” said Bauer.
“Karl mentioned it?” said Jackson.
She nodded. “The day before. He stopped by with something.”
“He came by your office?” said Jackson.
“He did,” she said.
“Then all of this goes down,” said Jackson. “Sounds like somebody over at the CIA didn’t like this little something the two of you discussed.”
“Apparently not.”
Jackson stopped at a closed door, gripping the doorknob. “You sure you’re ready to see this?” he said. “He’s in bad shape.”
“Yes.”
He opened the door and nodded for her to enter. “I’ll let the two of you catch up.”
“Thank you, Darryl,” she said, patting his shoulder. “For everything.”
Jackson’s cautious look softened. “I’d do anything for that fool, and he knows it.”
“Then we have that in common. He can be persuasive.”
“Audra?” said Berg.
“See you in a few,” said Jackson before leaving.
She stepped into the massive room, immediately locating her friend. Berg lay on a patio lounger in front of the king bed, with a handheld radio gripped in his left hand. Even from the opposite side of the room, she could see that his face was badly bruised.
“Everyone got sick of you already?” she said, keeping the conversation humorous.
“Funny. I’m supposed to be resting. Out of the action,” said Berg. “Welcome to the recovery wing of Galenden’s villa.”
She approached the lounger, noting the small scattered red stains on the white sheet pulled up to his neck. He caught her staring at the spotted sheet.
“Seventy-six cuts,” said Berg. “They didn’t know what they were doing.”
“Jesus. I’m sorry, Karl,” she said. “Who did this to you? What did they want?”
“It’s complicated,” he said.
“How complicated?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?” said Bauer.
“I mean I truly don’t know,” said Berg. “Nothing makes sense, which is why we need to spend some time sorting through the facts — as a group. A lot has gone on over the past twenty-four hours.”
“When do you want to start?” she said.