Seth ran a hand through his wavy damp hair and shrugged.
“Not before coffee. House rules.” He got off the bed and headed toward the door, with Floyd close on his heels. “Come on. Get dressed, Jess. Sounds like we’ve got talking to do.”
Before he left the room, she called out, “Hey, Harper. Have I told you how much I love you?”
When he turned, he flashed a crooked grin, and his cheeks blushed pink. “Not today, but feel free to make that up to me.”
Jessie knew Seth would be disappointed that she couldn’t stay, especially after he surprised her with his new place—a home he wanted to make with her. She wished things could have been different, too, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the mother she never knew and a dark past that still haunted her.
Harper would want to help, but she knew that he’d respect her wishes. This trip was something she needed to do alone.
New York City
Alexa had stayed up all night, working her own contacts. She’d made countless phone calls and even worked local sources by hitting the streets and visiting old haunts of Garrett’s. No one knew what he’d been working on before he vanished.
“Damn it, Garrett,” she muttered as she checked her cell for messages.
She resisted the urge to stay angry at him. The bastard had always been secretive. It was his nature, but that made it hard for her to feel the intimacy she had always craved with him—a closeness he probably had never shared with anyone—not even with lovers.
Sipping Starbucks coffee that she’d grabbed on the go, she navigated the Upper East Side on foot, heading back to her home. It would be the first time since yesterday afternoon that she would cross her own threshold, but not before she talked to Tanya to see if the analyst had had any better luck in tracking Garrett.
After she hit speed dial, Tanya picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Tanya, it’s me. I suppose you heard?”
“Yeah, I heard what that man is sayin’.”
Alexa heard the contempt in Tanya’s voice, contempt meant for Donovan Cross. The Sentinels had replaced Garrett without causing a ripple on still water. It was business as usual, but not for her or Tanya, maybe others. Replacing Garrett would be hard, but she didn’t trust Cross. Something about him left her wary. Call it gut instinct. And she had to admit, trusting anyone after the tight connection she had with Garrett would be next to impossible.
“Do you believe his story . . . about Garrett being dead?” she asked Tanya, resenting the doubt she heard in her own voice.
“Do you?” the woman shot back.
Before Alexa answered, her friend softened her tone.
“Look, I don’t know what to believe, except that I want all this to go away. All I know is that if he’s dead, I need proof. That’s all I’m sayin’. Guess I don’t trust that wannabe, Cross. Garrett Wheeler he ain’t, honey.”
Tanya’s Southern drawl always intensified whenever her attitude flared.
“Yeah, guess I’m not willing to give up hope either. Thanks for the pep talk.”
“Anytime, sugar. Now what have you been up to? Talk to me.”
Alexa tossed her empty Starbucks cup into a trash bin on the street, happy to get back to business.
“I’ve covered all my contacts, locals and otherwise. I’ve come up dry so far. If anyone knows anything, they’re not talking. Something’s up. I can feel it.” As the traffic light changed ahead, she found a quieter spot away from the crowd. “How about you? You got anything?”
“Yeah, maybe. I’ve got a lead, but you’re not gonna like it.”
“Why?” Her voice edged with worry. “What did you find out?”
“A guy in Logistics told me Garrett had taken a small team on a mission, but he can’t find any record of it. Whatever he had seen is gone now. And there’s no trace of the cover-up either. He’s working from memory.”
“And how good is that? Can we trust this guy?”
“I trust him, but I’m also looking for confirmation. Give me a little time. If there’s something out there, I’ll find it,” Tanya said. “My contact thinks Garrett was working off book, something I haven’t seen him do before. And according to my guy, no one knows anything about it, not even those who should. It’s really strange, Alexa. It’s like he’s dropped off the planet, and no one is talking.”
“So did your contact have the names, the guys he took on his team?”
“Not yet, but he’s working up a list of operatives who are AWOL without a specific assignment. A process of elimination. He’ll call me later with that intel. It’s the best we can do without more to go on. What are you thinking?”
“Garrett is too cagey to leave a trail, but maybe someone on his team wasn’t so careful.” Before Tanya could respond, Alexa heaved a sigh. “The thing is, why would he do anything without you knowing about it, Tanya? What could be so damned important to break protocol?”
“Good question, honey. I wish I knew.” Tanya commiserated with her in silence before she said, “There’s something else I have to tell you. I got a call five minutes ago. And you’re not gonna like this either.”
Tanya had mastered the art of the understatement. If she was concerned, that meant things were usually far worse.
“What’s up, Tanya? Spill it.”
Alexa shut her eyes, feeling a headache coming on. Her brownstone apartment was a few blocks away. She’d be home soon and could use the second wind that a long hot shower could deliver.
“Donovan Cross is looking for you. He wouldn’t tell me what it was about, but I don’t like it.”
“Why didn’t he call my cell?”
“He strikes me as someone who’d rather come at you sideways rather than head-on, like one of those sidewinder snakes.” Tanya was spot-on with her analogy. “What do you want me to tell him?”
“If I was a suspicious person, I’d say he’s working you to get to me. I don’t trust him.”
“You got that right. As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on Cross. I don’t trust him either,” Tanya said. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Stall him for now. Tell him you can’t reach me. That’ll give me time to get really lost, but I’ll need you to be my eyes and ears. And when you find a lead on Garrett’s last-known location, I’ll need a way to get there. I’ll call you when it’s safe.”
“You got it.”
When Tanya ended the call, Alexa made up her mind to avoid her apartment and rely on her instincts to work off the grid. No one could know what she was doing. No one, not even Tanya. She didn’t make such a decision lightly. There was risk in what she planned to do, but she’d already set up for such a contingency. Most covert operatives had a similar backup plan, out of necessity.
Heading west, she walked across the street, tossed her cell into a trash bin, and took the first step to sever ties to her life. An operative always had a fallback plan if all hell broke loose. Cash was stashed away with prepaid cell phones, fake IDs, and passports stowed in safe-deposit boxes. It was time to utilize what she’d set up long ago.
And it was time to find out what had happened to Garrett, even if the news wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
Outside Guadalajara, Mexico
Estella crept down the murky corridor but ducked behind a stone wall when she noticed the guard outside one of the jail cells. If she got caught, Guerrero would punish her, whipping her for disobeying his order to stay in her room. She had no doubt that she wouldn’t have been alone for long. Guerrero’s men would finally come for what their boss might have promised, and Estella would rather die than sit and wait for that to happen.