Page 155 of Bad Attitude
Ifshe’s alive when her phone isn’t responding.
My stomach twists, bile rising.
No. There has to be a hundred reasons why her phone would give that message… though I can’t think of any of them.
She has to be alive. I can’t accept anything else.
Breathe, Declan.
Think it through.
She’ll have got out and be back in LA by this time tomorrow. Yes… that’s what’ll happen. She’ll stop for the night somewhere, too. That’s most likely. She won’t ride six hours off the back of the day we’ve had. A motel somewhere. There’s no rush; I don’t have to leave straight away, riding back through the city on a bike that may have been flagged close to the scene.
I’ll stay the night here. Return to LA in the morning, when it’s all calmed down a bit. Find her in her apartment, or sitting on a couch in Kurt’s unit, drinking coffee and chatting to Tasha.
Except Tasha won’t be there. She and Cammy have Cole to deal with.
Her apartment, then. Or waiting outside mine, for all that.
With nothing else to do, I flick the TV on, chewing at the inside of my cheek as I scan the various reports for any evidence she’s dead. But the headlines are sparse:BASE Jumpers Leap From San Francisco Skyscraper in Late-Night Stunt.No mention of arrests, high-speed chases, or shots fired. No mention of Meridian Pacific or corporate robbery. SFPD ‘investigating’ means they have no leads. A footnote that the SFFD attended a ‘false alarm’ at the same building and were turned away.
All they have is some eyewitness footage of us jumping. Raven and I are out of the picture by the time the bystanders had their phones up and recording, but there’s footage of Renner and Dario, Cole struggling with a ’chute that’s bleeding air through the holes. None of that’s clear on the shaky, grainy film, but I can see it because I know what I’m looking for. They won’t even be able to ID us off of phone imagery recorded at distance in the dark. No risks there.
We got away with it. Meridian Pacific buried this rather than admit they lost valuables they shouldn’t have had in the first place. But that also suggests they’ll take revenge into their own hands. How anonymous and protected are we? Worth asking Renner, assuming he ever talks to me again and doesn’t just send Cole to take meout—when he’s back on his feet.
None of this explains why I can’t reach Raven, and the only other number I have is Renner’s. That won’t do me any good.
There’s nothing to do but go to bed, and see if the morning brings any more news.
But I know I won’t sleep.
Ten the next morning, just as I’m heading out the door with leathers on and helmet in hand, I get a text about my car’s warranty.
“Well?” I ask, as soon as I’m transferred.
“You were right,” she says wearily, “he didn’t have anything on him. He called his lawyers and they got here early. But that’s not the worst of it.”
“Do go on,” I say sarcastically.
“Someone made a call to Assistant Director Charlton, with enough weight that it’s already rippled through. We’ve been stood down.”
“Shit!”I kick the wall.
Then I take a moment to think.
That means the goddamnCIApulled jurisdiction. Why? What could be so important that they wantRennerout?
Unless they think he had the package they want. Except he didn’t. Mercer wouldn’t have had to release him if he had. The CIA were being cautious. He was always goingto get out.
This is past my pay grade. I’m fucked. No, I’m fine.Haleis fucked. But so is Raven. I even feel a surprising twinge of guilt about Cole, Dario and the others. Where the hell has that come from?
I sigh. “Seven months of an operation up in smoke.”
“Officially, you have to come in.”
“I know the drill.”
“Mmm hmm. I expect it’ll take you a few days to unwind your life there…”
