“I assume you must have some news about my car,” Drake said as he rose from his chair.
“No. No news. And Dan’s condition is still unknown. They took him in for surgery a couple of hours ago. Thanks for asking.”
Drake frowned. “What about the thief? Are you tracking her?”
“No.”
Drake raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, no? I expected you to be on this. You said you wouldn’t let her off the property, and now you can’t catch her?” Drake’s voice was getting louder. “You promised me you could do this job. I thought you let her get away on purpose. That you had some master plan to follow her back to Tolliver and who’s behind this.”
Most would crumble when Drake thundered at them. Mitch stood calmly and waited. Years in the military had toughened him up. There wasn’t much in the way of yelling that he paid attention to these days.
“Are you finished?” he asked calmly. Drake’s lips curled, but Mitch cut him off. “I did have everything under control, and I would have had her if she’d done what she was supposed to do, but she didn’t. So tell me. How did she know the prototype was in the car?”
Drake stayed silent but ran his hands over his face. Then he moved from behind his desk to the bar and poured himself a healthy dose of Scotch. He downed it in one swallow.
Mitch demanded, “What? What aren’t you telling me?”
“The car isn’t mine.”
“What? Who owns the car?”
“Diana Sterling. She gave it to me. Well sort of. She asked for it back when we...parted ways. I refused.” He grimaced. “So, technically, since it was never signed over to me, it’s not my car.” Drake poured himself another shot of whiskey and downed it like the first.
Mitch could tell it cost Drake a lot to admit that to him. “I see.”
“I guess the gentlemanly thing to do would have been to return it, but I wasn’t particularly feeling like a gentleman. I’d just been dumped for the ex-husband who cheated on her. Who does that?” He was gripping the empty glass so hard his knuckles were white.
“So you held on to the car and Al—it was stolen.” Mitch had almost said her name but had stopped himself. He wasn’t altogether sure why. It just seemed like a betrayal of some kind. Who was he kidding? This whole mess was based on betrayal by the sound of it.
“Yes. She gave the car to me in a momentary lapse in judgement, or so she said. Now, she and her husband have patched things up and she wants it back. Now I have to tell Diana that the car she had ordered for her husband, the one that took years to get, is gone.” He put the glass firmly down on the counter.
Ouch. Well that sucked big time but too fucking bad. Mitch wasn’t in a sympathetic mood. “Why was the prototype in the car?”
Drake grimaced again. “When we discussed the idea of letting the thief break in, you agreed but had reservations. It made me…less confident about your security. I decided yesterday that instead of keeping the prototype in the safe, I would move it. Just in case things didn’t go according to plan.”
Mitch’s gut instantly twisted into knots.
“Best hiding place. No one would look for it there, and I thought with all the security in place, the car would be safe.”
Mitch fisted his hands to stop himself from calling Drake every curse word he knew. He clamped his jaws together, but in the end, it was too much for him. “You didn’t trust me and ended up screwing us both in the process. Un-fucking-believable.”
“Yes, well my instincts were correct as it turns out. Things didn’t go according to plan and, now, not only is the car gone, but my prototype is missing, and as you so willingly pointed out earlier, one of my employees is hurt. So, what are you going to do about it?”
Mitch clenched and unclenched his jaw. “I’m working on it. The car won’t be easy to hide. I already reported it to the police, and they put a BOLO out on it. I have a couple of guys looking for the thief at the airstrips around here. I called my brothers. They have people going to LaGuardia, Newark, and JFK. I don’t think she’ll fly out if she has the car, but she’s been unpredictable so far.” Understatement of the century.
“What are you doing to find the mole?” Drake asked.
“What mole?” Mitch asked.
“As you pointed out, how did she know I put the prototype in the car? She had to have access to the security system.”
“I had access to the security system, and I didn’t know you moved it,” Mitch pointed out.
Drake frowned. “You should have known.”
“You expect me to review every hour of video every day to see what goes on inside the house? The system is there to tell me if someone breaks in. It’s not there to watch every person’s movement every hour of the day. A better question is, who did you tell that you moved it? Did anyone see you?”
Drake glared at Mitch. “I didn’t tell anyone, and no one saw me. She must have had access for her to know I put the prototype in the car. You tell me it can’t be done from the outside without you knowing, so she must have had someone on the inside.”
“You still think the prototype was the target?”
“Why? Don’t you?”
Mitch paused. “I don’t believe in coincidence, but I’m having a hard time believing that she knew the prototype was in the car. How long before she broke in did you put it there?”
“Late last night.”
“There’s no possible way she could have planned to break into the garage in less than twenty-four hours. She signed up to be part of the valet service hours before that, and she obviously knew what tools she would need to hit the garage before she arrived here. I think the car was her target. I don’t think she knew about the prototype.”
“Well, I don’t believe in coincidences either. Your thief ended up with my prototype.” Drake moved to stand directly across from Mitch. “We both know Tolliver is up to something, and it’s bloody unlikely there just happens to be two thieves in the area, so she must have been after the prototype.”
Mitch chose his words carefully. “I’m not sure what’s really going on, but I can prove she had nothing to do with the explosion. She was nowhere near it.” He hesitated. “And I saw her face when the bomb went off. She was shocked. If she faked that level of fear, then she deserves an Oscar.”
Drake opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. He sat down hard in his chair. “What’s your theory then?”
“I’m not sure.” He shook his head. “No matter how I move the pieces around, they just don’t fit in the puzzle. The thief didn’t know about the bomb, so who planted it? If she was only after the car, was it a coincidence she came on the same day the person who planted the bomb decided to use it? Were they partners? What was the purpose of the bomb? How is Tolliver involved? Is he involved at all? None of it makes sense, but you can be sure I’m going to figure it out.”
“Fine. I’ll give you some leeway on this, but I want hourly updates. I want all hands on deck looking for that car and prototype. Now”—Drake picked up his cell phone off the desk—“I have to call Diana, so if you’ll excuse me.”
Mitch nodded, left the office, and then walked back across the hall to the dining room.
Jake gave him a small smile as he entered the room. “You still have your head. That’s good.”
“Yeah, but not by much.”
“Dan is out of surgery. They took out his spleen.”
“Okay, I want to go talk to him as soon as possible. We need to figure out what went on out there.”
Jake took a slug from a water bottle. “The doctor said he’d be out for a while.”
“Well, maybe we should swing by and wake him up. Text the police chief and tell him we need to talk to Dan quick-time. See if he can exert some pressure with the doctors.”
“Sure, boss.” Jake grabbed his phone.
“Do it on the way. We’re going to see Dan whether they like it or not.”
“Where do you think nurses get their shoes? My aunt was a nurse, and sh
e would always sneak up on us and catch us in the act whenever we were misbehaving, which was a lot.” Jake shot a quick look over his shoulder as they walked by the nurses’ station. “I have a built-in fear of nurses.”
Mitch chuckled. “I’ll remember that. You never know who will show up at your door next Halloween.”
They paused in the hallway outside of Dan’s room. He’d just come down from recovery.
Jake said, “The chief called ahead. Nurse Ratchet back there gave us five minutes, but you’d better use ‘em wisely. She’s already frowning at us.”
Mitch shook his head. “You sure you’re an ex-SEAL?” he asked as he went into Dan’s room. Jake ignored him and walked over to the far side of the bed. Mitch moved to stand beside Dan.
He was hooked to several monitors. There were wires and tubes in all kinds of places. It made Mitch want to turn on his heel and run. On the drive over he’d been questioning if Dan might have something to do with all this, but seeing Dan like this, he just couldn’t make it work.
The last person he’d seen this way was his mom. She died a few years ago, but the memories swamped him as he stood there. A lump was building in his throat. He cleared it and reached out and touched Dan’s shoulder.
“Dan,” he called softly. There was no response. “Dan,” he said louder this time. Dan’s eyelids’ fluttered but remained closed. “Dan,” he said again in a firm voice, and Dan’s eyes opened.
“Mmish,” he mumbled and then his eyes closed slowly.
“Yeah, that’s right it’s Mitch and Jake. We need to talk to you, buddy.” Mitch put his hand on Dan’s shoulder and gave him a small nudge.
Dan’s eyes fluttered. “Mish...”
“Dan, do you know where you are? Do you remember what happened?”
“My...fault.”
“No, Dan. It wasn’t your fault. I need you to concentrate, though. Did you see anything? Do you remember anything?” Mitch leaned over the edge of the bed so he could catch any word that Dan uttered.
“Bomb.”
“Yes, a bomb went off. You got hurt, but you’re on the mend. Did you notice anything? Dan?”
“Wasn’t supposed...to happen...that way.” Dan’s voice was soft and hard to hear.
Jake put his hand on Dan’s arm. “You’re right, dude, it wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did. She was supposed to go for the safe. But did you see anyone else? Anything else?”
“I...lost...” Dan’s voice faded out entirely, and his eyes closed.
“Dan? What did you lose, Dan?” Mitch nudged him again in the arm, but his eyes remained closed. He tried again. “Dan? You gotta talk to me. What happened to you?”
Dan opened his eyes again. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Dan.” Mitch gave him a bit of a harder nudge.
“That’s enough, gentlemen,” a firm voice stated behind them.
Mitch straightened up and turned around. Nurse Ratchet. He glanced at her name tag. Nurse Wilson was her real name. “Ms. Wilson, we’re just trying to get some information from Dan. It’s part of an ongoing investigation.”
“I don’t care.” She moved closer to the end of the bed. “This man needs his rest. It’s almost two a.m., well past visiting hours. You cannot ask him anything else tonight. You need to leave.”
Mitch gave the nurse one of his best smiles. “I know we’re bending the rules here a bit, but we won’t be more than a couple of minutes, and then we’ll be out of your hair.”
“You’ll be out of my hair now,” she said firmly. When she shot Jake a look, he took a step back from the bed. She turned to Mitch. “You need to leave. I will call security if necessary. I did as the chief asked. You had your five minutes. This man needs his rest now. You can question him later this morning if he’s up to it.” She planted her fists on her hips. “Time to go,” she said with more force. Mitch had the distinct impression that, given the opportunity, Nurse Wilson would grab them both by their ears and throw them out of the building on her own.
“Uh, okay then.” Jake took great pains to stay as far away from the nurse as possible, hugging the wall as he rounded the end of the bed where she was standing. “Uh, I’ll just wait for you in the hallway,” he called as he went past the nurse and almost ran out the door.
“You need to go as well.”
“I understand, but I need answers.”
The nurse frowned at Mitch. “I don’t want to call security, but I will if I have to. You are disturbing him, and he needs his rest. You can come back in the morning, but it’s time you left.”
Mitch opened his mouth to argue again but changed his mind. Dan was still out of it and not very helpful. Maybe tomorrow he would be up for a longer chat. “Fine, I’m going, but I’m going to pop by tomorrow.”
“Fine,” said the nurse. Mitch walked through the doorway and out into the hall. She bustled out the door and closed it after her, giving Mitch and Jake a narrowed-eyed look before she marched down the hallway.
“She’s one scary nurse,” Jake mumbled as he and Mitch stood waiting for the elevator.
Mitch laughed. “You never went to Catholic school growing up, did you? She’s a pussy cat compared to the nuns who taught me.”
Jake shuddered a bit. “Better you than me.”
They stepped onto the elevator, and Jake hit the button for the lobby. Mitch’s phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pocket and read a text. “Drake wants us to meet him at the Sterling residence. Do you know where that is?”
“Yeah, just down the way from Drake’s. Does he say why?”
Mitch shook his head. He was exhausted. He’d been up since dawn, and with this mess, he wouldn’t see his bed for quite a few more hours. He didn’t want any more surprises. He’d had his fill today, and none of them had been good.
Ten minutes later, they pulled in front of the Sterling place and got out of the car. Drake was speaking with Diana Sterling in front the garage. Mitch could see a Ford GT parked in the bay.
“Is that the car?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, I think so. How many GTs could there be here? It’s a rare car.” Mitch prayed it was Drake’s, or rather Diana’s, car. Then maybe the nightmare would be somewhat over. Drake would have the prototype back.
Mitch and Jake walked over to Drake. Mitch nodded in Drake’s direction and then smiled at Diana Sterling. Drake waved at them and said, “Diana, this is the head of my security team, Mitch Callahan, and one of his team, Jake Boxer.”
“Ms. Sterling,” Mitch said.
“Ma’am.” Jake nodded in her direction.
“Diana, can you tell them what you told me please?”
Diana Sterling gave a large sigh. “Really, Jameson, can’t you just tell them? I don’t want...” Whatever she was going to say, she stopped at the look on Drake’s face. “Very well,” she said with another large sigh. “I was telling Jameson that I hired someone to get my car back after he refused to give it to me.” She shot him a hard look and then frowned. “Really, it would have been so much simpler if you would have been a gentleman about it, Jameson.”
“I didn’t feel like being a gentleman, Diana. You—” He clamped his jaws together.
She shook her head. “The man I spoke to said his name was John. He had a bit of an accent, but I couldn’t tell you from where. I only spoke to him over the phone, so I can’t tell you what he looked like. I can give you the number, though.” She reached into her pocket and produced a slip of paper with a phone number written on it.
A burner phone, no doubt, but Mitch reached out and took the piece of paper. Nodding his thanks, he slipped it into his pocket. “So, you never saw the man. You just communicated by phone. Do you know anything about the thief?”
“No. Just that it was a woman. He referred to her as ‘she’ when he spoke of her.”
No surprise there. Alex had been hired to get the car back, which is why she’d been in the garage. She had accomplished her goal. “Is there any video surveillance of her returning the car?”
Mitch asked as he pointed toward a camera that was attached to the corner of the garage.
Diana looked puzzled. “Oh, no. That was part of the deal. Lights off, and no cameras either.”
Of course, it was. She was too smart for that. Mitch sighed silently.
“How did she get it in here?” Jake asked.
“ I left the gate open for her. I told John that I wanted it back before today. He said they would do their best, and then he called me back and told me to leave the gate open and have a garage door open for her to deliver the car. And then he said about the lights and cameras.” Diana kept intertwining her fingers and twisting them.
“When did he tell you this?” Mitch asked.
“Yesterday morning. He called me.”
“Okay.”
Diana’s fingers flitted about, trembling when she touched her hair. She stepped back. “If that’s all, I’d like to go in before... I’d like to go in.”
Mitch smiled gently. “I just have a couple more questions, and then I need to examine the car.”
“Fine,” Diana snapped. Her patience was obviously wearing thin.
“How did you find this John person?”
Diana Sterling’s hands flew to her hair again and then came back down and twisted in knots. “From a friend. I can’t say more.”
Mitch knew immediately if he pushed her, Diana would stop talking and run into the house, so he tried another tactic. “Did your friend give you a phone number for John?”
“No. My friend told me to place an ad on Craig’s List for a repo man to help me with a problem, so that’s what I did. I really need to be getting back.” She shot a glance at the front door. It was clear she was afraid her husband would come out and join them any minute.
“Okay. I’m just going to take a quick peek at the car, and then we’ll go.”
Mitch glanced at Drake who shook his head. The prototype wasn’t in the car. He knew it was too much to hope for. At least now they knew what had happened to the car. It didn’t solve the mystery, though. He still had no idea how Alex had known the prototype would be in the car, or if she was just after the car and got the prototype by accident.
Break and Enter: A Sexy, Thrilling Romantic Suspense (Callahan Security Series Book 1) Page 16
