Finding Grace (8 page)

“I’m glad you understand that. Let me know when
you’ve got something more. There’s nothing I can do with what
you’ve given me so far.” He’d never considered that adding Thorne
to the team could endanger his men. He wanted her to drop it, but
on the off-chance that she was even partly right…

“Oh, Dagger, I didn’t see you. Catch any of that?”
Paul didn’t jump like Thorne did when Dagger appeared. He was used
to his men moving quietly.

“Yup. FedCo’s one of our oldest clients. CEO’s a
good man, clean as a whistle. He probably just forgot to mention
his partner.”

“Thanks for helping me with the table,
Paul
.”
Thorne’s voice reeked of sarcasm.

He was sure Dagger had caught the dig, but his
fearless partner seemed reluctant to meet either of their eyes.
What the hell had happened last night? Thorne picked up a remote,
sending the stereo volume up just enough to let him know she was
ending the conversation. He didn’t like being dismissed. Apparently
neither did Dagger, who wasn’t moving either.

“Kind of loud, isn’t it?” Dagger shouted.

“Does it bother you when you’re not in here,
Paul
?”

“No, the walls are solid enough. But how do you
concentrate?” Maybe this was how she came up with her bizarre
ideas.

“I do some of my best work when I can’t hear myself
think.” Thorne grinned and turned her back on them and grabbed a
coil of cables.

Yup, dismissed. But he didn’t want to get into it
with her just now. She had to be wrong about FedCo. He had enough
on his plate as it was.

* * * *

It was already dark when Thorne turned up at his
office door wearing a look of resignation along with her wool
beanie, ripped jeans and that ragged old jacket. “I couldn’t get to
the bottom of the FedCo thing, Paul. I might as well go, I’m fried.
I’ll get back on it tomorrow.”

He was relieved she hadn’t come up with anything,
even if he didn’t like seeing her so discouraged.

“Wait. I’ll get Dagger to give you a ride.”

“Soooo not necessary. Besides, his car…” Her eyes
were fixed on her shoes as she shifted from one foot to the
other.

“Yes, necessary, and I’m getting tired of repeating
that. Anything happen last night I should know about, Thorne?”

“No, sir.”

He didn’t buy it. “Wait here, please.”

Paul found Dagger alone in the big office. “Run
Thorne home, will you?”

“Can’t. I was going to ask you for a ride to pick up
the caddy from the detailer. That’s why I was late coming in.” He
sounded relieved and something else, too.

“The detailer? Since when do you send it out?”

“Well, um, it needed special cleaning. Didn’t Thorne
tell you?” Dagger looked guilty. That was the something else.

“Nope.” He couldn’t help the sigh that escaped. It
had been another long day. “What happened?”

When Dagger got to the part about lighting the
cigarette, Paul cursed. Of course they made her sick; he could
still see the photos that accompanied the doctor’s report in his
mind’s eye and it was making
him
sick.

When Dagger had finished he said, “Karma’s a bitch,
huh, Dagger?”

“Yeah, and then you die.”

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easy. Just take
one of the fleet. And get Thorne home, to the door tonight. I’m
sick of this shit, Dagger. I’m not a goddamn den mother.”

His partner looked at him sharply and opened his
mouth to say something, but then snapped it shut and turned
away.

Damn it. He was really pissed at Dagger and yet he
couldn’t really blame the man. He supposed he couldn’t really blame
Thorne, either. If those two didn’t work things out soon, he didn’t
know what he’d do.

* * * *

They’d driven in darkness and a silence punctuated
by Dagger’s attempts to find some music he liked on the radio. He
didn’t want to think. He hadn’t expected Paul’s reaction. His
friend was protective of Thorne, for some mysterious reason. He’d
expected Paul to be bummed about Thorne getting sick. But he’d
never expected his friend to look at him like he’d tortured the
kid.

And then there was Thorne, who hadn’t said a word to
him all day. He should be glad. So why wasn’t he? It was fucking
weird.

Dagger almost jumped when Thorne said, “Would it be
terribly inconvenient for you to stop at the next corner? I see
someone I know. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

He had to check the seat next to him. The voice was
Thorne’s, but he had no idea who the words belonged to. Definitely
weird.

He shrugged and nodded. “Sure.” It was later than
yesterday and the traffic was lighter. It wouldn’t be a problem at
all and it wasn’t a bad peace offering, either. Not that he needed
one, right?

He pulled over and watched as Thorne hopped down and
greeted an old homeless-looking man sitting under an awning. Dagger
powered the window down to overhear the conversation. Why the hell
not? There sure as shit wasn’t anything on the radio worth
listening to. Besides, Thorne was acting strange. He’d better make
sure the guy wasn’t a drug dealer or something. A drug habit would
explain a lot about Thorne.

“Hey Jefferson, what’re ya doin’ out here? It’s too
cold to be sitting on the ground. You should be in the
shelter.”

“Aw Thorne, you know I hate that place. Too much
preachin’.”

“Yeah, I know, I know. But at least you wouldn’t get
sick.” Dagger saw Thorne shake his head like he’d had this
conversation fifty times.

“Too late for that, Thorne. I been sick a long
time.”

Thorne reached into his backpack and pulled out
something that looked like a candy bar. Dagger squinted. The
streetlight revealed that it was square—a granola bar? He grimaced
in disgust.

“Eat this at least.”

Jefferson looked more appreciative than Dagger
thought was warranted. That poor bastard must really be hungry.

“And hey, I brought you something else.”

Thorne reached in again and produced a pair of thick
socks. “Just finished ’em. A wool-alpaca blend this time. Try ’em
on, I bet the old ones already have holes.”

The old man pulled off oversized shoes and pulled
the new socks over the old ones. He wiggled his toes and gave
Thorne a big toothless grin. “Say, these are nice. Real soft.
Thanks, Thorne.”

“Warm too, you’ll see. Glad you like them. I gotta
go. See ya, Jefferson.”

No kind of weird could have prepared Dagger for that
exchange. He barely managed to get the window closed in time.

Thorne climbed back into the Escalade. “Thanks,
Jack. He moves around; sometimes it’s hard to find him.”

He was too surprised to talk, and Thorne didn’t say
anything more until they pulled up to the Laundromat and Dagger
parked. The kid’s eyebrows almost cleared the frames of those big
glasses.

“Paul asked me to take you to the door tonight.”

Thorne shrugged. “Kind of a den-mother type, isn’t
he, our Buzz?”

Dagger couldn’t have wiped the grin off his face for
love or money. “Don’t ever let him hear you say that.”

Maybe the kid really was psychic.

Chapter Six

Even though she hadn’t found anything conclusive on
FedCo’s silent partner yet, Thorne felt better on her third day at
Blackridge. Dagger had actually joined Farley in full-out laughter
when she’d come in, out of breath and wondering aloud whether the
driving skills of the general population would improve if cell
phones were required to be worn anally while behind the wheel.

Now she shifted in her chair and nudged the table
back with her feet. The glimpse of midday sun, rare as it was, had
created a glare on her screen. But instead of the code she expected
to see, there was a telltale flash before the darkness brought the
vision and soft whispers of discarnate spirits.

She didn’t remember turning the stereo off or
running into the big office. It was the sight of Jack doing
paperwork that shocked her back into herself. She wasted a precious
moment contemplating that strange and incongruous sight before the
words spilled out just as they’d come to her.

“Black as pitch and blowing sand, flash like fire
in an angry god’s hand. Darkness crashes, leaving bones and
ashes
.”

He looked up at her as though she’d been speaking
Latin, which was merely a dead language, not the language of the
dead.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Now that was the Jack she knew.

“The explosion. Hawks and Markham are sitting ducks
in the tent, playing cards. Collateral damage. They’ll never know
what hit them.” She reached out to steady herself on the desk
Dagger was sitting behind.

He just sat there, staring at her, along with
Farley.

She inhaled harshly and gathered the strength to
scream, “Why are you still sitting here? You have to call them!
Now, Jack! Hurry!”

“Are you crazy? If I call them, it could alert the
damn insurgents of their presence and their location.”

At the very moment Thorne realized how much she
needed Jack’s trust, she understood what Paul had been trying to
tell her yesterday. It was all about the team. And the team was
going to have two fewer members unless she could convince Jack of
the danger they were in.

He hadn’t believed she’d had a vision of what had
turned out to be a kidnapping, but he’d acted on her warning
anyway. If she could just give him something to make what he saw as
a risk worthwhile…

“I’ll hijack a satellite. There’s got to be
something with infrared capability in the neighborhood.” She didn’t
know if she’d said it or just thought it. He was still sitting
there.

“Please, Jack, please. If I’m wrong, I promise I’ll
be out of your hair forever.”

Farley hooted. “But Dagger doesn’t have any—”

Thorne didn’t hear the rest. She was already back at
her desk, pounding on the keyboard, searching the three displays
and wishing they were bigger and that she had another. Interminable
seconds went by until she found something.

Then, there it was. And it was beautiful. Too bad it
was—she really shouldn’t. If they traced it…Well, this was life or
death. She’d just have to be real quick about it. She punched the
necessary keys.

“Yes…yes…yes…gotcha! Here, Jack, look!”

“You can stop screaming, I’m right here.”

And he was, standing next to her with his big arms
crossed like some kind of genie out of the
Arabian Nights
.
Thorne didn’t know she’d jumped until her ass thumped back down on
the chair.

She grabbed a knitting needle. “There’s Hawks and
Markham in the tent.” She pointed to the two stationary figures.
“And here come Mr. Silent’s mercs, probably in a jeep or something.
The so-called engineer is on his way to meet them. He’s on foot.”
She moved her needle and pointed out the lone figure moving more
slowly, then the five together that moved faster.

When she checked to see if Jack was following her,
she noticed that Farley had joined them. How did men that big move
so quietly? It was driving her nuts.

Jack was studying the figures that moved quickly
from her left screen to the center screen where the two team
members were. His arms weren’t crossed any more.

Thorne hurried now, afraid to lose him. “You’ll have
to trust me on the rest, Jack. They’re dressed like Afghans, but
they’re whiter than Mills. It’s supposed to look like a robbery,
but these are Silent’s men, not insurgents. They’re going to steal
the high-end materials, wait three months and then sell them on the
black market. With insurance, they cash in double and then
some.”

She heard Jack say “shit” before she saw him pick up
the satellite phone he must have brought with him. “Gemini?
Bogeyman. Get the fuck out. Now. Trouble’s eight klicks north of
you. They should be there in…” He turned to her.

She looked at the screen and tilted her head. “Ten,
maybe twelve minutes.”

“Catch that…? He’s with the bastards. It’s a setup.
Go! Call me on the comm when you’re secure.” He closed the link.
“You’d better be right about this, Thorne.”

They watched the five figures on the screen and the
single one on an intercept course. Once the five had joined the
lone figure, they moved quickly toward the pin she’d dropped to
indicate the tent, while two other figures moved away from it.

Thorne saw the matrix on the third screen roll.

“Uh-oh.”

She hit the keyboard fast, and all the screens went
blank.

“Hey!” Dagger and Farley yelled.

“Sorry, boys, I had to. That was a very special baby
I borrowed to get those images. His momma just figured it out.
She’s a big bad momma—smart and fast. I just hope I broke the
connection in time or Paul’s gonna be pissed at me, and that’ll be
the least of my troubles.”

* * * *

Dagger didn’t know whether Thorne had broken the
connection quick enough or how it could possibly be the least of
her troubles, but Paul sure as hell was pissed. He’d come back from
his client lunch a half hour after the screens had gone dark.
Dagger’d filled him in with assistance from Farley. Thorne was
still in his office. They hadn’t heard anything from Hawks and
Markham yet.

All Paul’d said was, “Get Thorne and meet me in the
big office with Farley,” in a voice that reminded Dagger of a crypt
outside of Prague he’d used as a meeting place once.

It didn’t take a psychic to know Paul hadn’t bought
Thorne’s vision. If anything happened to Hawks and Markham…

Standing outside Thorne’s door, Dagger could just
make out the song thumping out of the stereo. It was one he really
liked. He wondered whether they’d be playing it at Thorne’s
funeral, or his.

He pounded.

“They called!” The kid looked so hopeful, so
sure.

Dagger shook his head. “Paul wants to see you in the
big office.” He felt like he was leading a lamb to slaughter. A
little purple-headed lamb.