“Oh, yeah. Right. Got it.” Ace typed quicklythen looked up at me with a nod. “You should be able to get himnow.”
“Jeremy? Did you see? We got them!”
There was a pause over the line, thenJeremy’s voice came in, rough and clipped.
“We need to talk.”
Chapter 3
“We still have to send her in,” Halluisargued, his face screwed up in anger, eyes shooting daggers atJeremy. It was an hour later, and we were once again gatheredaround the kitchen table. No food this time, just angry, tensevoices and a whole heap of trouble.
“I’m telling you, the kid is a psycho.There’s no way I’m sending her in to that mess.” Jeremy sat upstraighter in his seat.
“It’s not only your decision—we are a team,and we all have a mission to accomplish. You can’t just overrideeveryone else’s opinions.” Halluis slammed his fist on the table,his face bright red. I needed to do something to diffuse thissituation, quick. The relationship between Jeremy and Halluis hadalready been tense, but this was the first time Halluis hadactively challenged Jeremy’s authority. Jeremy had joined themission when I had, and the director had made him team leader. Igot the impression that before then, Halluis had been calling theshots.
I cut in, trying to keep my voicereasonable. “Jeremy,” I said, placing my hand on his arm. He was sotense, his muscles felt like rocks. “I’m a trained operative. I’vebeen in dangerous situations before, as you very well know. I canhandle a couple of teenage boys.”
Jeremy shook his head. “You didn’t see whatI saw. I don’t want you messing with these guys, Christy. There’ssomething seriously wrong with that Jericho kid. And Ace, you guysgathered some pretty nasty stuff on Mikado, too. Back me up.”
Ace glanced down, avoiding Jeremy’s eye.“I’m just the tech guy. I don’t make mission decisions.”
Jeremy glowered at him. “Fine, just pull upthe audio feed from tonight.”
“You had audio?” I demanded. “Why didn’t youtell us that right away?”
“I thought you’d trust my judgment.”
I winced. “Just…show us the feed.”
Ace opened his laptop, typed in a fewcommands, and soon we were listening to the sounds of thecity—distant horns blaring, the scuffling of feet, and variousunidentifiable sounds.
“What are we hearing?” I looked at Jeremyquestioningly.
“Just wait for it. It didn’t take long. Thishappened a few streets away from where they lifted the car.”
A moment later, a muffled voice came ontothe feed, rough-sounding and a little garbled, like maybe the guywas missing more than a few teeth.
“Hey, man. Can you spare a dollar? Justtrying to catch the train home, know what I’m sayin’?”
“Of course, friend, of course.” That wasJericho’s voice; I recognized it from the feed earlier. “Just stepover here with me for a second, okay?”
“Oh thank you, man, that’s real nice of you.You got a good heart, I can tell—hey, what the—? Hey!”
After that, all we could hear was the soundof fists connecting with flesh and cries of pain and alarm.
Jeremy nodded, and Ace stopped the feed. “Hetook that guy into an alley and just whaled on him.” Jeremy’s facelooked grim. “When he’d stopped moving, Jericho opened his wallet,pulled out a dollar and dropped it on the guy’s chest. Then he justwalked away like nothing had happened.”
I shuddered. “That was… awful. I…” I didn’tknow what to say. What could I say? I still had to go in, andJeremy knew it.
“He wasn’t even anywhere near the crimescene. It’s not as if he could have been a witness or causedJericho any harm. Do you see what I’m saying? The kid just did itfor the fun of it. A guy like that—you just never know what he’scapable of.”
“Was there any more?” Halluisinterjected.
Jeremy looked confused. “I got the guy help,if that’s what you mean. I called an ambulance. I think he’s goingto be all right, but I can’t be sure. He was beaten prettybadly.”
Halluis was shaking his head. “I mean on thefeed. Did you hear anything else?”
We all stared at him.
“Look, I’m not trying to be callous, butsomebody here has to be the practical one. We have a mission toaccomplish. We need every bit of information we can get. Was thereanything else on the feed to go off?”
Jeremy scowled, but then he shrugged. “Rollit forward, Ace. He didn’t talk again until he met up with theother kid.”
Ace complied, and the audio skipped ahead. Anew voice joined the feed, a quiet, impassive voice that must havebelonged to Mikado. “You’re late.”
“Don’t take it hard, Mikey, you know you’remy best girl.” Jericho’s tone was mocking. “I just gotta spread thewealth, you know? The J-Love’s gotta make the rounds.”
Mikado didn’t respond. I remembered thestillness of his stance, his curt nod. This kid wasn’t one torespond to mockery. He knew when to keep his silence.
Jericho snorted. “Come on, where’s this ladywe’re lifting tonight?” A moment passed, then there was a faint,low whistle. “Day-am! Ol’ S-Dub doesn’t mess around, does he? Jeez,that car is sweet.”
Jeremy nodded at Ace, and he cut the feed.“That’s it. After that, they just take the car.” He sighed andrubbed his eyes.
“We still have to send her in,” Halluisrepeated. “These are the only guys we’ve found with a solidconnection to the thefts. It’s the only choice.”
That started Jeremy off arguing again, and Isighed. It was so frustrating to have them squabbling over me likethey were my parents or something. I was a trained Divisionoperative. Shouldn’t I have a say in this? But neither of them waseven asking my opinion. I checked out of the conversation and letmy mind wander back to what I’d heard on the feed.
Yes, Jericho sounded scary. And Mikado wasso poker-faced it was hard to know what to expect from him. I’dhave to look into the intel they’d gathered on him, find out whatI’d be dealing with. He hadn’t responded at all to Jericho’sgoading or to his exclamations over the car.
“Hang on,” I interjected, forcing my wayinto the argument. “There was something in that feed we need to payattention to. Jericho named their leader.”
“What? No, he didn’t,” Halluis started, butfell
