Charlie dropped his feet from his desk, spun his chair around and fired up his Mac.
“Damn, Charlie,” Sin said, “are you still using the old Apple. Isn’t it time you stepped into the twenty-first century.”
“Don’t let looks fool you, Sinclair. This baby is faster than anything the State Department has,” he turned toward her with a twinkle in his eye, “and it’s loaded with all of their software.”
Sin smiled and shook her head. “Once an agent, always an agent,” she laughed.
“Let’s just say, I still like hunting down a good conspiracy.” His computer fired up and opened to a page with flashing red letters.
Warning, this is a secured site, leave now or be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“Screw you,” Charlie mumbled as he punched in a thirty-digit, alphanumerical code. Tapping the enter button, he was now privy to all of the Bureau’s classified information.
“Are you sure this can’t be traced?”
“I would have been in Leavenworth years ago if that were the case,” Charlie answered.
He scanned and read the file about the dead girls. It wasn’t anything Sin didn’t already know.
“Pull up the file on the dead agents,” Sin said.
“What dead agents?”
Sin stood and walked behind the desk so that she was leaning over Charlie’s shoulder. “The fishermen who washed up on shore in Tumbleboat.”
Charlie brought up another file and read.
“How the hell did I miss this,” he said.
“Probably too busy with the whole ‘weapons of mass destruction’ conspiracy,” Sin cracked.
Charlie didn’t respond, he just sat back in his chair and threw his head back. “I can’t believe Alex is dead,” he said. “I wondered why I hadn’t heard from him.”
“Whoever is responsible sent his body back to Washington in pieces,” Sin said.
Alarms began buzzing from the computer. Charlie punched a bunch of keys, which began an encryption process on his hard-drive and powered it off. Sin looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Early warning system,” Charlie said. “It lets me know if the Bureau’s mainframe is doing a random search for unauthorized users.”
He stood up and poured himself another cup of coffee. “So that’s how they got to you . . . Alex.”
Sin nodded. “Yeah, I was approached by Frank at his funeral. He knew I couldn’t stay away.” Sin stared at a picture on Charlie’s wall. It was a picture taken at a party right after she graduated from the FBI Academy. A picture of her, Charlie, and Alex. Other personnel and graduates loomed in the background. Her eyes glistened as she wiped the dust from the glass frame. “This seems like a lifetime ago,” she sighed.
Charlie stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders.
Sin glanced at the clock. “Crap, I had no idea what time it was. I need to get moving.”
“We need to talk about this, Sinclair.”
“I know,” she said as she straddled her bike. “Meet me at our spot—three a.m.”
He nodded.
“Oh,” Sin said. “See what you can dig up on Heap.”
“You got it, anything else?”
“One more thing,” she added, “what is your opinion of Troy Stubbs?”
“He was an asshole when he was younger, he’s been through some shit, and he seems to have come out the other side a whole lot better,” Charlie said.
“Will you do a little fishin’ before we meet?”
“Consider it done.”
Sin kick-started her bike and rode off. A half mile down the road, she saw a tow truck with the pick-up that had been trailing her hitched up to it slowly making its way down the road. She laughed as she twisted the throttle and blew past. Good old Charlie, she thought.
15
Sin rode up to her house and saw Troy’s truck sitting in the driveway. She jumped off her bike and strode up to the front door, hoping to make it upstairs unnoticed. The squeak of the hinge precluded that from happening.
“We’re on the porch, Sin,” Thomas said.
Walking towards the porch, Sin viewed Maria sitting on the couch watching TV. Troy was standing at the railing talking with her father and Carmelita. He was wearing a turquoise, button-down Tommy Bahama shirt, and a pair of tan khaki pants. Shit, Sin thought, I guess this really is a date.
“I thought you were going to stand me up,” Troy smiled. He bent down and pulled a cold, longneck out of a cooler. Using just his thumb, he twisted the top and handed her the beer.
She took a pull and wiped her mouth. It was then that she noticed that her dad and Carmelita were also dressed to go out. “Sorry for keeping everyone waiting,” she said. “I had a little bike trouble and it took me a while to get her running again.”
“Anything I can help you with?”
She looked at Troy and shook her head. “It’s all taken care of. If you will excuse me, I’ll take a quick shower and be right back.”
Troy looked at his watch. “I made reservations for seven-thirty. I better call and tell them we will be running late.”
Sin eyed his watch. “Don’t bother, I won’t be long, promise.”
“Okay then,” Troy said pocketing his phone.
Twenty minutes later, Sin looked in the mirror before exiting her room. She was wearing a pale yellow sundress with spaghetti straps. While the neckline and dress length were modest, her four-inch, open-toed heels were not. Her silky, ebony hair fell softly against and down past her shoulders.
The change must have been more drastic than she realized because Troy’s mouth was unhinged as his eyes traced her every move.
“Mi hija,” Carmelita said, “you look beautiful.”
Before anyone could say another word, Sin glanced at the clock and said, “We better get going if we are going to make our reservation.” Suddenly she realized she had no idea where they were headed. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“The Shell House,” Troy answered.
Sin’s expression glimmered as she grabbed her purse. “Nice choice.”
“I do have a little class,” Troy joked.
Sin’s jade green eyes twinkled. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
Troy just shook his head as he grabbed his keys.
Sin was surprised when her
