Hell for Leather (Black Knights Inc. #6)(25)
“People,” Mac interrupted, “let’s get back to the point, shall we? Who besides me is goin’ down to Cairo?”
And either Delilah was exhausted or crazy or both, but the way he said that, like it was a foregone conclusion he’d be going with her, gave her a little thrill. Before that idiotic voice could pipe up with something scathing, she preempted it. Put a cork it, you aggravating little prick! I’ve had it with you!
“Ooh, ooh!” Ozzie raised his hand like an overly exuberant kindergartener. “Me, me! A road trip to southern Illinois sounds like fun.” He winced, peeking at Delilah. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it was fun that your uncle—”
She waved him off. “No worries. I know what you meant.” Because she was a born-and-bred biker, and she knew the thrill of the open road better than anyone. Cruising down the highway on the back of a half-ton of hand-tooled leather and high-polished steel was the closest a person could come to flying without ever leaving the ground.
“Yeah,” Ozzie shook his head woefully, “but that doesn’t—”
He was stopped when Zoelner’s phone suddenly came to life, buzzing angrily and vibrating across the table. The former CIA agent flipped over the device and peered at the screen. A look of confusion and surprise came over his face.
“I’m in for Cairo, too,” he said. Then, “Excuse me for a second.” Standing, he jogged into one of the darkened offices. A light blazed inside the room before the door slammed shut with a bang that echoed around the large space, causing the tomcat to pause in his adoration of Ali’s belly.
“Becky and I will stay here to monitor the progress of the guys we’ve still got out in the field,” Boss said. It was then that Delilah did a quick head count and realized seven of the Black Knights were absent from the conference table. Okay, and way to be completely self-absorbed, Delilah. For heaven’s sake.
“So that leaves Steady,” Mac said, tipping his dimpled chin toward the dark-eyed man, “to join those of us headed south. The more boots on the ground we have down there, the more area we can cover.”
“Agreed,” Boss concurred. “It’s all settled then. Pack up your saddlebags, boys. You’re going on a road trip.”
“Wahoo!” Ozzie shot a fist in the air, then kept his hand raised, looking around for someone to slap him a high-five. When no one took him up on his offer, he realized what he’d done and winced at Delilah again. “Jesus. Sorry. Is it too late to take back that wahoo?”
“It’s okay, Ozzie,” she assured him, eager herself to be back out on the road now that they had a plan. “I know you didn’t—”
She was cut-off mid-sentence when Zoelner’s office door flew open. The former spy—or current spy? Did the Black Knights qualify as that? In all honesty, she wasn’t sure—stood on the threshold, a strange look wallpapering his face.
“What’s up?” Boss asked. “Who was on the phone?”
“Uh.” Zoelner reached up to scratch his ear. “That was Chelsea Duvall.”
“Should I know who that is?”
“She’s an old…uh…acquaintance in The Company. She said she’s been promoted to the position of our official liaison to the CIA.”
“Our official what?” Boss demanded, his tone that of a man who occasionally munched on a baby for breakfast.
“She also said…” Zoelner stopped, scrunching up his face. “How did she put it? She said that in an effort to assist us in our exemplary work for the president and his Joint Chiefs, they’ve been monitoring the online activities on one of our computers and—”
“The hell you say!” Ozzie exploded. “Which one? I have anti-spy programs running on all of them!”
“Well, they’re obviously getting around that somehow, hermano,” Steady observed.
Now it looked like Ozzie munched on babies for breakfast. He attacked his laptop keyboard as if he had a personal vendetta against the poor thing.
“Go on,” Boss growled. “They’ve been monitoring the online activities on one of our computers and what?”
“And they were wondering if there was anything they could do to assist us in our most recent endeavor regarding Theo Fairchild,” Zoelner finished in a rush, still wearing a slightly bewildered expression.
“Yeah, well, that sounds like a prime example of my cow done up and died so I don’t need your bull,” Mac said. “Why would the CIA give one shit, much less two, about helpin’ us? I don’t trust those people.”
“Yeah,” Zoelner snorted. “You don’t have to tell me. Remember I used to be one of those people.”
Mac made a face. “Then what did you tell her?” And Delilah was curious about that as well. Was it possible the CIA could do something more than the Knights in locating Uncle Theo? Were there…she didn’t know…some sort of secret CIA ways and means?
“I told her we were simply looking for Delilah’s missing uncle,” Zoelner said. “And I told her that unless they had some sort of LoJack on Theodore Fairchild or his old Marine Corps buddy, Charles Sander, there wasn’t much they could do.”
Okay. Apparently the CIA didn’t have any sort of secret ways and means. Shit.
“Good.” Boss nodded. “Sooo,” he drew out the word, “barring any more mysterious telephone calls from the CIA, I think we all have our assignments here. Let’s get to it.”