“What time’s the thing tomorrow?” asked Collins.
Jericho let out a deflated sigh. “Early afternoon. Just after lunch, I think.”
“Ah, we’ll be there in plenty of time.” There was a long pause. “Have ya… ah… have ya spoken to her?”
Jericho shook his head. “Not for a couple of days.”
“Things still a bit tense between ya?”
“I reckon she’s had other things on her mind.”
Collins nodded. “Aye. Aye, I reckon she has.”
Within minutes, they were speeding along the nearby freeway, heading to the private airfield, where a plane would take them back to Santa Clarita.
Danger Close
GlobaTech: Book 3
1
April 30, 2020
* * *
Julie Fisher stood silent and still, a frown etched onto her face. She concentrated on stopping any tears from flowing down her cheek. Her hands rested casually in the pockets of her black pantsuit. The jacket fit perfectly around the shape of her body, clinging to all the places it should cling, allowing her to look simultaneously stylish and professional. The breeze tugged at the lapel. Her gaze was occasionally distracted by leaves that blew into her periphery.
The funeral service had ended a half-hour ago. Her brothers and their families had left the cemetery, heading for her eldest sibling’s house. But she hadn’t been ready to leave. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
Her father had passed away peacefully a little over a week ago. Persistent, underlying health issues and age had caught up with him. A few of the nurses from his care home had come to the service to pay their respects. They gave Julie a polite embrace and expressed their condolences. For a brief moment, she had been angry, assuming they were fulfilling a duty in some way. That they were there because they had to be. But they had all been visibly, genuinely upset. They had cared for her father, which she was grateful for. They had told her he didn’t suffer. Up until the last couple of days, he was still cracking his awful jokes and making comments that were only appropriate because of his age. Julie had smiled, comforted by the fact that her father had still been the man she knew, right until the end.
She stared blankly at the grave and the coffin it now contained. Small piles of dirt had been splashed across it during the final part of the service. It would be filled in completely once everyone had left.
Flanking her at a respectable distance, Jericho and Collins stood quietly, their hands clasped behind them. Collins looked around absently, not wanting to stare. Jericho felt uncomfortable, partly because of the suit he was wearing and partly because he didn’t know whether he should be standing with Julie.
Julie exhaled a long breath. “He had a saying, my dad. ‘Time is a great teacher, but it has a habit of killing its students.’ When I was a kid, I thought it was funny. That it was just some silly joke to get a laugh out of me. Never really understood what he meant by it until today.”
Jericho and Collins exchanged a glance before taking their cue to move to her side. For all his uncertainty, when it came down to it, Jericho’s reaction was natural and instinctive. He wrapped a massive arm around her and gently pulled her close. In response, she snaked an arm around his waist and rested her head on his bicep.
Collins watched, smiling to himself. He loved them both like family. Days like today hit them all hard.
He cleared his throat. “Jules, look. I… ah… I never got to meet ya old man. I know Jerry did once or twice. And let me tell ya, when it was just me and him shooting the breeze over a beer, he never had a bad word to say about the guy, y’know. Never a bad word.”
Julie turned to look at him. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her expression did nothing to convey the emotions she was battling inside. She simply looked and listened.
Collins chuckled nervously, worried he wasn’t saying what he wanted to say in the best way, but he carried on regardless.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is… well… I know for a fact that man was proud of his baby girl. I’m a bit of a dick sometimes. I know that.” He glanced down at the coffin. “Sorry for my language there, Mr. Fisher.” When he looked back up at Julie, she was smiling. “But I respect the hell outta ya. And I love ya like a big sister. Y’know, the one where I’d always hit on her friends, then she’d beat the crap outta me for sleeping with ’em and never calling them back. Ah, bollocks, I’m rambling’… sorry. Just… look, you woulda made your daddy proud, okay? Never forget that. He went for the long sleep knowing his baby girl had made something of herself. Trust me, that’s all a parent ever wants, y’know.”
Julie paused, biting her lip. Then a smile escaped across her face. She moved over to him and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, Ray,” she said. “That was really sweet of you. It meant a lot to me.”
She stepped back over to Jericho and resumed her position in his arms. He kissed the top of her head, then looked over at Collins and nodded his own gratitude.
“I’ll give ya both a few minutes,” said Collins. “I’ll be in the car, okay? No rush or nothing.”
He looked down at the grave and crossed himself before walking away.
“That was really nice,” said Julie.
Jericho smiled. “It was. He’s a good man. He’s an asshole… but he’s a good man.”
She laughed. “Yeah, people can surprise you sometimes.” She turned to address him directly. “Jericho, I’m sorry I’ve been… unbearable these last few days. I was angry and upset, and I took it out on you when you were just trying to be there for me. That wasn’t fair.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled. “Julie, you have nothing to apologize for. You just lost your father. I’m supposed to be the guy you take things out on when you don’t know how to deal with them. That’s how this works.”
“You’re the best. Do you know that?”
Jericho shrugged. “It’s been said…”
They smiled and embraced.
“You go on ahead,” said Julie. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Jericho nodded. “Take your time, okay?”
They kissed and he walked away, one hand in his pocket, habitually looking around the cemetery for signs of movement he thought didn’t belong.
Julie watched him go.
“He’s a good man. It meant a lot to me that you liked him.” She smiled as she recalled a fond memory. “The look on your face the first time you saw him!”
She laughed to herself. But the laugh soon faded, replaced by tears she could no longer contain. She crouched beside the grave, resting a hand on the cold marble headstone.
“I miss you, Dad. I miss you so much. This isn’t fair. Losing Mom was hell on both of us, but we got each other through it. Who’s going to get me through this? The boys have their own families, their own lives. My life doesn’t exactly allow me to call round for a barbecue every Sunday. Jericho’s great. He has a kind heart and… well… I love him. I haven’t told him that yet. It’s complicated. With work how it is and the fact I’m his superior in the field, I just… oh, I don’t know. I don’t want the lines to blur. I don’t want him to be there for me personally like that when I might have to tell him to run into the line of fire the next day. I just need… I need you.”
Her shoulders fell forward in defeat. The tears began to stream freely. She placed a hand to her face, as if hiding in shame, and sobbed.
* * *
Jericho and Collins stood side by side, leaning on the hood of the rental just outside the cemetery gates.
“How was she?” asked Collins.
“As you would expect,” said Jericho. “Hurting like I can’t explain. Doing her best to hide it in front of us.”
“Ah, she should know she ain’t gotta do that. It’s us.”
“Yeah, well… I know that and you know that. But she’s stubborn as a mule when she wants to be.”
Collins smiled. “Ain’t that the truth.”
“She’ll deal with it how
she needs to. All we can do is be there for her. Give her the space she asks for. Whatever she needs.”
“Check out Mister Perfect Boyfriend over here, huh? I’ve taught ya well, Obi-Wan.”
Jericho frowned. “Wasn’t Obi-Wan the teacher?”
Collins shrugged. “No idea. I just thought it was a saying. It was Josh who was the nerd, with his pop culture references and all that. Hey, remember when he told us that Adrian says he has a spider sense? That was funny as—”
Jericho glared at him.
“Okay, that wasn’t funny. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “Seriously, man, what’s ya problem with that guy?”
Jericho raised his eyebrow. “Aside from the fact he’s a hitman? Aside from the fact he kills people, without hesitation, for money? Aside from the fact he’s reckless and a danger to everyone around him? Aside from the fact he killed a sitting president?”
Collins rolled his eyes. “First of all, that president was a piece of shit and arguably deserved it. Second of all, GlobaTech pay you, right?”
“Yeah. And?”
“And… have you ever killed anyone because you thought it was for the greater good?”
Jericho held his gaze. “That’s completely different.”
Collins laughed. “Bullshit. How is it different, exactly?”
“Because I don’t like it. I don’t choose to do it. It’s just an unfortunate consequence of my job. He does it purely for profit and tries to justify it by saying he only kills bad people. That isn’t right.”
“Yeah, well, pretty sure you’d be dead if it wasn’t for him. Besides, you saw what he went through in Tokyo last year. The whole world did. Jesus, Jerry, no one deserves that.”
Jericho went quiet, staring angrily at the ground until he calmed down.
“Anyway, what the hell are you supposed to have taught me?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.
Collins placed a hand on Jericho’s shoulder. “Thanks to me and my charms, ya know how to treat a lady all proper now. Ya welcome, buddy.”
Jericho shook his head in disbelief, but before he could respond, his cell phone rang in his pocket. He retrieved it and looked at the screen. It was Buchanan.
He answered and placed the phone to his ear. “How’s it going, Boss?”
“It goes,” replied Buchanan, sounding more tired and frustrated than usual. “How was the service?”
“It was nice. As these things go.”
“And Fisher—how’s she holding up?”
“As you’d expect.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there. I… there’s just a lot going on.”
“You don’t have to tell us, Boss.”
“Hmm. Yeah, fair point. Listen, I hate to do this, but I need you back here. All of you.”
Jericho pushed himself away from the hood of the car, straightening to his full height and width, alert. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing… yet,” said Buchanan. “But after reviewing the intel you and Ray got last night, I need to de-brief you.”
“Can Julie not sit this out? It’s been a tough day for her. She needs to be with her family.”
“Take the day. The two of you be there for her. Let her see her family. But at first light tomorrow, you’re all on a plane back here. She needs to hear this too.”
The line went dead. Jericho stared at the phone.
“Let me guess,” said Collins. “He’s given us all a two-week vacation in the Bahamas with a GlobaTech credit card.”
“Not quite.”
They looked up to see Julie approaching them, wiping tears from her face.
Jericho tapped Collins on the shoulder. “Listen, let me tell her we have to go back, okay?”
Collins nodded. “Of course, mate. Ya going to do it after she’s spent time with her family, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good man. See? I taught ya well.”
Jericho rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah, but I’m your idiot, sweetcheeks.”
Jericho ignored him and looked over at Julie as she neared the car.
“All set?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
Collins opened the passenger door and stepped to the side, gesturing her in. “M’lady.”
She smiled warmly and curtsied. “Why, thank you, kind sir.”
As she slid inside, Collins looked over at Jericho and winked. “Ya still got stuff to learn, Jerry.”
Jericho sighed heavily. “Get in the goddamn car, will you?”
2
May 1, 2020
* * *
Moses Buchanan sat behind his desk, staring out at the midday sun as it blazed down on the GlobaTech compound in Santa Clarita. Spread out in front of him were a handful of folders, each with a stamp on the front, marking them as confidential.
He absently stroked his chin, listening to the grating of his stubble against his hand as if meditating to the white noise. He hadn’t slept in almost thirty-six hours. He’d returned from a short-notice round trip to Washington a few hours ago.
Buchanan considered himself intelligent, organized, and composed. He had no issue prioritizing and systematically solving any number of problems. This skill likely contributed to him getting his current job. He stared blankly ahead, his vision blurring as his mind took an involuntary break from thinking. He felt more overwhelmed than ever before. So many things were happening at once. So many moving parts seemed to overlap but never stayed still long enough to reveal the big picture. What little he was sure of didn’t make for pleasant thinking.
Honestly, it scared the hell out of him.
A knock on the door startled him, snapping him from his trance.
“Yeah?”
His secretary opened the door and stepped inside. He had inherited Kim Mitchell from his predecessor, but within the first five minutes of his new role, he knew she was invaluable. With a figure not befitting her years and make-up that would’ve looked too much on anyone else, she would have been a gangster’s moll in another life. But here and now, she was his lifeline.
“Sir, you said to let you know when they arrived,” she said with a smile.
“I did. Thank you.”
Kim hovered in the doorway longer than she needed to. Buchanan looked up questioningly.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied dismissively.
“How long’s it been since you last slept?”
He held her gaze for a moment, then sighed and looked away. “Almost two days.”
Kim raised a disapproving eyebrow. “And your last meal?”
“Do peanuts on the plane count?”
“No.”
“Then almost two days ago.”
“You’d better start looking after yourself, Moses. Don’t think because you’re my boss that I won’t shout at you.”
He failed to suppress a smile. “Kim, I’m fine, I promise.”
“I’m ordering you some lunch. And I swear to God, I will feed you myself if I have to.”
Buchanan nodded respectfully. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Damn right,” Kim muttered. She left, closing the door gently behind her.
Buchanan rubbed his eyes and stretched, then paced over to the window. He looked out over the square mile compound that housed one of the largest corporations and the largest private army in the world.
After a few moments, there was another knock on the door. This time, it opened immediately after. Jericho, Julie, and Collins walked in and stood in a line in front of Buchanan’s desk.
He turned to address them.
“Thank you all for coming back on such short notice,” he said. He looked directly at Julie. “I’m genuinely sorry to ask you here.”
Julie waved the comment away. “It’s the job. Besides, I could use the distraction.”
He smiled humorlessly. “Well, distractions I’ve got.”
“You sounded more stressed than usual
on the phone yesterday,” said Jericho. “What’s happened?”
Back behind his desk, Buchanan sat down heavily. He fidgeted with his tie, which wasn’t fastened properly around his large neck. Then he took a folder from the pile and slid it toward them.
“This is the list of people involved in the warehouse raid you carried out two nights ago,” he began. Julie picked it up and started flicking through it as he continued. “We have enough intel to link the stolen weapons to Tristar Security. Couple that with the information you… gleaned from their systems a couple of weeks back, and there’s a pretty goddamn watertight case to be made against them. They’ve been up to no good for a long time.”
“Well, that’s great, right?” said Collins. “Let’s mail it all to the FBI. Hell, I’ll hand deliver it myself if it gets those bastards off our desks.”
“Sadly, it’s not that easy,” said Buchanan.
“We don’t have enough information obtained legally,” added Julie, as if finishing his thought.
Buchanan nodded. “Pretty much.”
“So, where does that leave us?” asked Jericho.
“It leaves us knowing Tristar has been our enemy for longer than we realized and unable to do a damn thing about it. At least, for now.”
“How d’you figure that?”
Buchanan checked his watch. “I have a meeting in an hour with a member of the board of directors for Orion International.”
“Are you serious?” asked Julie.
He nodded. “I’m taking a different approach. I’m going to assume that, despite owning Tristar, Orion don’t know what they’ve been doing. From one billion-dollar empire to another, I’m going to tell him what we know and see if he wants to get involved. Give them the chance to get their house in order and take the responsibility off our plate.”
“Is it our responsibility, though?” asked Collins. “I mean, those Tristar bastards ain’t shy of a body or two themselves. Plus, all the arms trafficking and black ops nonsense they’ve been doing on the quiet for the last six months… they mean business. Yeah, someone needs to stop them. They’ve essentially privatized war crimes. But why should this be our problem?”
Danger Close Page 2
