Page 40 of Tracking Payton
“Yeah, I called him a little while ago. He’s the reason I had access to these photos and Wallace’s real name. I told Colin about my hunch, and he did some digging.”
“Did he say if he was having any luck with the flash drive?”
“No, he’s asking his buddy to take a crack at this this morning.” She rubbed the sore spot on the back of her neck. Sitting on this couch for hours looking down was causing a pinched nerve in her neck.
“Are you alright?” Alex asked, concerned.
“Yeah, just a stiff neck.” She waved off his worry.
“How long have you been working out here?”
She debated for a moment if she should lie, but then realized there wasn’t a point. “Shortly after we talked. I told you, I don’t sleep much.” She felt the need to defend herself when he just kept staring at her.
“Payton, you’ve had less than three hours of sleep in a twenty-four hour period. You’ve been shot at, a car chase, and a fist fight. How are you not in a coma?”
What could she say, she was a freak of nature. “It’s ingrained in me to function off of little sleep. It’s no different than you.” She shrugged. Payton didn’t know why he was making a big deal about it.
“Yeah, but I still sleep more than you do when I’m home.”
“My brain doesn’t shut down for long. I’ve always been this way. Even though I’ll only sleep for a few hours, to my brain, it feels like eight. My body on the other hand is a different story.” She arched her back and winced as she felt the pulling on her ribs.
He was at her side in a moment. “What is it?”
“It’s my ribs. They’re a little sore.” Thanks to Smith using them as a punching bag.
“Let me see.” He started lifting the hem of her shirt, but she batted his hand away.
“It’s a bruise. It’s fine. A couple weeks and I’ll be good as new.”
“Are you sure it’s not cracked?” Well, at least for once he wasn’t telling her and instead asking her. That was progress.
“No, I’ve hurt myself enough to know when it’s serious or not. Wallace just has a mean fist, and I didn’t get out of his way fast enough.”
“I know the feeling. He gave Colin and me a beating. It took both of us to take him down.”
“I would have paid to see that.” Too bad she’d been in a rush to leave her dad’s. Just the little bit she’d seen last night at her own apartment had been impressive.
“You didn’t miss much, trust me,” he said dryly.
She’d beg to differ, but he didn’t need a bigger head than he already had.
“Mind if I take a crack at the addresses?”
“Knock yourself out.” She needed a break anyway. Her vision was getting a little cross. She felt like she was forcing a square peg into a round hole, and instead of giving up she just kept jamming it in, hoping it would fit.
Two pairs of eyes were better than one. Maybe he could see a connection that she couldn’t.
Payton rose from the couch, needing to stretch out her sore muscles. Her legs ached from lying in a prone position for so long.
While Alex worked on her laptop, she walked around and checked her phone. It had been charging all morning since the battery was almost dead. She’d barely had enough juice to call Colin before it had died.
Her eyes widened in shock when she saw she had twelve missed calls and twice as many texts. All from either her boss or Colonel Diesel. She hadn’t remembered hearing her phone go off. Apparently it was on silent. What if her dad had called? She could have missed it.
“Someone’s popular,” Alex commented, still looking down at the screen.
Her boss was letting her know about what the precinct was doing to look for her dad and how they were hitting a lot of road blocks with the government even though it was their jurisdiction. General Wessex had called her to demand her father’s things again. One other person had called her too. “My supervisor, General Wessex, and Simon called.”
The typing on the computer keys stopped. “Simon?”
