Body Thief (12 page)

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Authors: C.J. Barry

BOOK: Body Thief
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Roberts told Harding, “They’ve identified three distinct teams so far.”
Harding tapped his fingertips together while Roberts sat across his desk and gave his report.
“No problems?” Harding asked.
Roberts replied, “Just some local trouble last night. They handled it. We cleaned up the mess.”
Harding checked his displeasure. He knew when he picked Mercer that there would be problems. “Any other issues?”
“Nothing. Camille Solomon appears to be cooperating, and Mercer has her under control.”
For what that was worth. Mercer was the loose cannon. The only reason he was following orders was because this was his one chance to get back into the organization. “And Ernest?”
“No issues there either.”
So far, everything was going exactly to plan. It was better than he could have hoped. “Excellent. Thank you for the update.”
Roberts stood up, turned on his heel, and left.
Harding waited until the door closed behind him before dialing the phone number on his cell.
“Hello?”
He leaned back in his chair, feeling the smooth leather under his hands. “Report.”
“The final locations will be addressed this week.”
Harding smiled. “Make sure there is no trail left, nothing to follow. Understood?”
“Understood.” The phone disconnected.
Harding hit the End Call button. For the next few minutes, he scrolled through communications, e-mails, faxes, and everything else that came into and out of this location. Even though Roberts had already given him the information, he didn’t trust anyone to do their job right. That’s how Shifters got a foothold in his organization. Sloppy work.
Which meant he’d had to step in to make things right, because otherwise, people became complacent. Their memories grew short and skewed. Before they knew it, Shifters would be walking around like they belonged, surrounded by ignorant sympathizers who called themselves Americans, letting anyone and everyone into this country. Well, it was high time this country went back into the hands of the rightful owners. The true Americans who took care of true Americans first.
And he was going to make damn sure that happened. Starting with his city.
CHAPTER SEVEN
 
C
am sat in a booth at the back of Lyle’s bar between Mercer and Ernest. It was late afternoon and the place was pretty dead except for the half dozen or so Shifters prepping the bar and tables for the night rush.
She wondered if Lyle knew he’d hired Shifters. Mercer must have told him already, but Lyle had hired them anyway. It must drive Mercer nuts. She smiled.
“So you want me to dig deeper into the locations you checked?” Ernest asked. “Why?”
Cam turned her attention to him. “I’m wondering if there is a connection between them.”
Ernest sipped his Diet Coke. “Like what?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I can tell you that these hits are not random. There’s a reason. A pattern. The Shifters destroy parts of a building but leave the rest. They ignore valuable inventory. They take risks for no apparent reason. Why?”
Ernest nodded his head slowly. “I didn’t think about that before.” Then he frowned. “But that’s really not our job.”
“Humor her,” Mercer said over his scotch. “She’s relentless.”
She made a face at him and then addressed Ernest. “I just need a little information. Are these places connected somehow? Are the rest of the hits like this? Anything you can give me.”
Ernest bit his lower lip. “The thing is, I think I’m being watched.”
Mercer went very still. “How?”
Ernest glanced around the bar and leaned forward. “I discovered a tap on my office phone. My communications to you are being intercepted. I also located digital tracers throughout my systems. Poorly embedded, I might add. And I’m pretty sure they’re monitoring my cell phone too.”
Cam gave Mercer a victorious smile. “Still think I’m crazy?”
He didn’t bite. “No offense, Ernest, but remember last year when you thought there was a conspiracy to plant a virus on your computer?”
Ernest pointed a finger at him. “They did. I was working too fast and showing up the other techs. I was sure then, and I’m sure about this now.”
Mercer studied him for a moment. “You think it’s Harding?”
Ernest winced. “I don’t know who it is yet.”
Mercer cut a glance to Cam and raised an eyebrow.
“Because,”
Ernest added, “I have to be careful not to tip them off. This is a delicate operation.”
She said, “So big surprise, Harding doesn’t trust us. Can we work around him?”
Mercer finished off his scotch. “Not easily.”
“Not since last year’s big mess—” Ernest began. Then he glanced at Mercer and stopped talking.
“What mess?” Cam asked, unable to conceal the shock in her voice. “Involving Mercer?”
Ernest stammered a little. “Just a breach in security.”
Mercer thinned his lips. “I told her about the Shifter.”
Cam put the pieces together. “He took your place in XCEL?”
“For a few weeks,” Mercer said, his tone rough. “While I was undercover.”
“Long enough to get his hands on some highly confidential stuff—XCEL missions, directives, and operatives. Then he tried to blackmail XCEL for money,” Ernest said, shaking his head. “And here he was Griffin’s partner and everything.”
Partner?
She closed her eyes for a second. Crap. When she opened them, Mercer was staring at his drink but radiating enough anger to torch the booth.
Ernest kept talking. “He really screwed the whole organization. We lost an agent—” He stopped and eyed Mercer. “Sorry. I’ll shut up now.”
Mercer frowned deeply. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What happened to your partner?” she asked, hoping for a happy ending.
Mercer stared at his empty glass. “XCEL killed him.”
Ernest added, “After Griffin spent months trying to track him down. XCEL still didn’t trust him to do the job. I’m surprised they even let Griff out of the detention center to look for him.” He winced. “Damn. Didn’t mean to say that.”
“Wait. XCEL put you in jail?” she gasped. And here she thought being a Shifter was bad. Who would have guessed that XCEL agents were only one rung above her?
He lifted his glass and gazed at her. “End of discussion.”
“Why the hell would you want to work for them?” she pressed. “You don’t need them.”
He took a swig and set the glass down hard. “Because it’s the only thing I’m good at.”
“I don’t believe that,” she said.
He cut her a quick glance and then spun the glass on the table. And that was the end of it, because he wasn’t saying anything else and Ernest was busy sucking the life out of his Diet Coke.
She sat back in the bench. No wonder Mercer could give a damn about Shifters. No wonder he followed orders to the letter. Mercer had been locked up for the crimes committed by an imposter who stole Mercer’s DNA and life. His partner had done a lot of damage—personally, professionally, and obviously, emotionally. She was surprised Mercer had even agreed to have Ernest look deeper. She must be better than she thought.
She broke the silence. “Don’t you think Harding monitoring Ernest here is overkill? I mean, look at him.”
Ernest appeared mortally wounded. “Hey.”
“You don’t look dangerous to me,” she added, placating him. “How could Harding not trust you?”
“Because he’s working with us,” Mercer replied. “Are we being watched too?”
Cam hadn’t even thought about that, but of course, they would be. Harding wouldn’t trust an agent who’d already been compromised once, and a Shifter who was a bona fide criminal.
Ernest shrugged. “Probably. But we
can
get around this.”
“How?” Cam asked.
He grinned boyishly. “I have a special network set up outside of XCEL. Same system access, but with bogus accounts.”
She smiled back. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”
Ernest blushed. He reached into his pocket and handed Mercer a smartphone. “Use this when you don’t want to be monitored. The number to my secure cell phone is programmed in.”
Cam glanced between the two of them. “Wait, I don’t get a phone?”
“Sorry,” Ernest said. “I only got one. I didn’t want to draw suspicion.”
Cam turned to Mercer. “And you were worried about our boy.”
Mercer held her gaze as he said to Ernest, “Can you access information about the targets without getting caught?”
“I’ll find a way,” Ernest said. “I’ll forward what I have to your phone in a few hours.”
Cam slapped her palms on the table in victory. “Now see, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Mercer eyed her. “Haven’t gotten it yet.”
She ignored him. “How’s my father doing?” she asked Ernest.
He nodded. “He’s good. I guess. I’m not sure I’d know if he wasn’t.”
I’d know,
she thought, feeling the guilt to her bones. “He’s moving around okay?”
“Sure. Although, I did kick his butt in chess.”
Cam inhaled sharply. “For real?”
“Oh yeah. It wasn’t easy. He’s pretty sharp for an old guy.”
Her heart sunk. “He lost at chess.”
Ernest turned from her to Mercer. “That’s what I said. It’s not a big deal.”
It was a big deal. Her father knew every move there was to play. He’d memorized thousands of strategies. He was a virtual superhuman when it came to chess, to any game. He never lost, not even to the best computers. It made him a hell of a gambling partner.
Maybe he was just tired, she told herself. Maybe it meant nothing. Or perhaps it was another sign that time was running out.
 
Griffin drained spaghetti in the sink with his bugged cell phone cradled on his shoulder and pretended to be paying attention to his boss. “Our preliminary findings indicate that there are three separate teams. We plan to contact suspects tonight.”
“How many suspects?” Harding asked. His condescending tone irked Griffin to no end. He couldn’t wait for this check-in to end.
“Two,” he answered curtly. Hell, he had no idea, but it would shut Harding up.
“That’s the best you can do?”
Griffin set the pasta in the sink to finish draining and wiped his hands on a towel. A noise behind him brought his head around. Cam walked in, fresh from a shower and carrying three hours’worth of Ernest’s printed dossiers on the sites.
“It takes time to track down suspects,” Griffin responded flatly.
Cam eyed him with curiosity. He mouthed, “Harding,” and she rolled her eyes in disgust.
“We have informants. Find a way to move faster,” Harding said.
Griffin watched the way Cam’s hair separated into thick, red ringlets when it was wet and nearly forgot his train of thought. “We are finding some inconsistencies with the sites. Have the investigators noted anything unusual about the Shifters’ MO?”
Cam’s eyes widened as she stared at him. Big, blue, and beautiful. He had to admit, she was the best-looking thing his dismal apartment had seen in a long time.
“What the hell are you talking about? Since when do you
think
?” Harding barked loud enough for Cam to hear. She gave Griffin a commiserating look.
Harding continued, “You focus on your mission. I don’t need to remind you what is on the line for you and for our country.”
Cam flipped Harding the finger.
It was all Griffin could do not to laugh in Harding’s ear. And then, just because Harding was being such a prick, he said, “It could help our interrogation of the suspects.”

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