Chapter 20

Alec stood back observing everyone as they worked through the information that had been on the stick. It wasn’t good. Every few minutes, Ian would glance in her direction, and with just a brief look he seemed to control her entire body. She needed to get her head in the game and off the man that stood bent over a table with Reid and Brent. Shaking her head, she moved over to the information they had mapped out on the wall. This was one huge, clustered mess now. Too many names and information and so far, they hadn’t figured out the end game.

The information on the stick had been dates mostly, a long list of them, most of them falling within the next month. Each date had letters beside it and Jac was now frantically trying to piece together the letters to see if they would lead them to any definite answers. She studied the list Jac had copied to the wall. 5-21 C.V / T.G @ CFR 8 pm. 5-22 p/u @ LT 10 pm N.C. 5-23 MEET 9 pm 463E. 5-30 prelim 9 am VP.

The list continued on with dates for the next month, each just as cryptic. It was something big, that was a given and they only had a month to figure it out and stop it. Sighing, Alec went and glanced over Jac’s shoulder. “Any luck?”

Without raising her head, Jac answered. “The first parts are dates, but we know that. I’m pretty sure the letters with periods are representing people...” she glanced up at her, “I just need to figure out the ones that aren’t.”

“Okay, I’ll work on mapping out the people then.” She moved back over to the board and looked over the list of players they knew so far. She felt Ian move to stand behind her. It should bother her that she knew who it was without looking, but she was too stuck on the new feeling of being in tune with someone to analyze why. “C.V could be Christian Veritas.”

“Who is going to be present tomorrow at the big doo...”

Nodding, Alec picked up one of the markers. “So, CFR could be a charity fund raiser?” She wrote Christian’s name beside the date. “But who is T.G?”

“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow night.”

As she straightened up, Ian’s breath brushed against the back of her neck. Suppressing a sigh, she pointed to the next date. “N.C could be Nick Colette, but where is LT?”

“Lucky Tavern?”

They both turned to look over at Jac. She shrugged. “It seems to be a meeting spot for them.”

Alec nodded. “It makes sense to have regular meeting places. Too bad we didn’t know what they were picking up.” Her gut cringed. “What I am having a hard time grasping is why is all of this on a stick? What’s the purpose? Surely they have better ways to relay things to one another.”

“Guess we’ll have to be there to find out what they were picking up,” Ian added and then stepped away from her to stand in front of the board. “My guess is this list came from whoever is at the top and it’s passed down to all of the main players, so everyone is on the same page. Why they do it this way is a bit weird, but you can’t tap a stick being carried in someone’s hat.”

Alec nodded slowly, what he said made as much sense as everything else they had at this point.

“Any thoughts on what 463E means?” Ian tapped the board beside it.

Reid came over and stood beside Alec, his hands crossed over his chest. She looked up at him. “Something East?”

He nodded. “463 could be damn near anything.”

“I’m more concerned about the next date. Obviously, it’s some sort of preliminary meeting or hearing maybe, but what is VP?” Alec circled it on the wall. “Jac, is there any way you can find out everything Pierre Cardiel has his hands in?”

“If it’s legitimate, no problem. Do you want charities and companies or everything possible?”

Alec grinned over her shoulder at her. “Everything possible.”

“I’m on it.” Jac started typing quickly.

Glancing at Ian, she watched an extremely focused look cross his face as he stared at the list of names. “What?”

Crossing his arms, he glanced at her briefly and then back to the wall. “We need to figure out where the meeting is,” he seemed to be thinking more out loud than talking to her, “what if we pick some of the top players and tail them tediously?”

Looking back at the names, she nodded. “One of them should lead us to the meeting.”

“Yes.” He took the marker out of her hand. “If I were doing this on my own, I would hack into these minds...” He circled Bill, Nick Colette, and Christian Veritas.

“You don’t want to tail Veritas.” Brent came over with a piece of paper in his hand. He held it out to them. “He runs a private security firm. His background is so top secret, not even Jac can find out anything.”

Ian looked back at the list on the wall. “No tail in the world would go unnoticed then.” Holding out the marker to Alec, he motioned to the wall. “Who would you pick?”

Taking the marker, Alec studied the names. “It wouldn’t do us much good to follow Cardiel, he has more muscle tagging along than an Iron Man competition.” She smirked and then circled Felix Espinosa and Vance Shaw. “A favorite lapdog and the one that knows where to dig.”

“Not Kimberly or Andrea?” Brent asked from behind her.

Shaking her head, Alec capped the marker and turned around. “No. I don’t think the females really have any place in the top ranks, they’re just information gatherers and push it along to the right players.”

“We’ll find out more about Andrea after her lunch with Sandy.” Ian cocked an eyebrow at her. “What makes you think the women aren’t important?”

“I didn’t say they weren’t important; I just know human nature and with men like Nick Colette and Pierre Cardiel in the mix, I know they’d never take orders from a female.” Like most males on the planet. Ian frowned at her and for a few seconds, she was worried he may have been inside her head and caught her thoughts.

“Coffee?” He held her with that look for a few more seconds and then turned toward the kitchen.

She glared at his back as he walked away.

***

“I feel a bit strange sitting here at a restaurant, alone, talking into my phone.” Ian looked around once more checking to see if Sandy and Andrea had arrived.

Brent’s amused voice replied. “Then you should have used the blue tooth piece.”

Ian toyed with the glass in front of him. “I hate it when people walk around with those things sticking out of their ears.”

“Then the phone and speakerphone for us will have to do,” Jac answered quietly.

“I thought you’d have comm links or something.”

Alec laughed on the other end. “We do but pushing a switch on a black strap around your throat might look a little suspicious. And your hair isn’t long enough to cover an earpiece. Are they there yet?”

“Yeah, they just sat down.”

“Are you close enough?”

Ian paused while the waitress set his plate in front of him. “Yeah, I’m going to put the phone down and pretend to eat for a few minutes.”

“Okay. We’ll be here.”

Eating slowly, he looked around and waited until they had ordered and started to talk in soft voices. The restaurant wasn’t busy enough that he’d have to focus hard on the thoughts surrounding him. He wanted Sandy to distract her with polite chat for a few minutes so he could climb into the other woman’s mind and go deep enough that he could see the memories they needed to fit a few missing pieces together. The clock was ticking on this and so far, all they had were a few bottom feeders that were being used to do the dirty work. They needed a break and soon.

Putting his fork down, Ian set his watch for the fifteen-minute time limit and then moved his hand near the phone so it would look like he was busy with it and not just staring off into space. “Here we go,” he said loud enough that those waiting on the other end would hear him.

Lowering his eyes to the table, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he sought the thread he needed to gain access. It only took a few seconds to know he had the right one. That was one scorned woman sitting with the Doctor.

Ian didn’t need to listen to know that Sandy was talking about the charity dinner they were going to, Andrea’s thoughts were loud and clear; she wasn’t thrilled that the Doctor was going when she’d been the one to come up where to meet. He pushed in further and tried to find out why they were meeting at such a large event. Her thoughts were cloudy with traces of the anger she was feeling, making his task a little harder than he would have preferred.

When he didn’t find what he wanted within a few seconds, he moved on, fifteen minutes wasn’t much time to sort through a lifetime of memories and he wasn’t leaving until he had something that would help.

It was like he was going through index cards that had her past jotted down on them. A somewhat normal childhood and teen years, she had a lot of fun when she went away to school, but then he supposed most did.

For a moment, he was shocked when he realized that she had literally slept her way into her position and then pieces started to fall into place. Andrea’s connection to all of it wasn’t out of some misguided belief of justice or malice as the case may be, she was involved because from the rather graphic memories he’d just previewed she was sleeping with Pierre Cardiel. Miss Weaver fancied herself in love with the man and she was more than just a little miffed that she was still shuffled aside and not involved in the more important planning.

Ian paused when he caught her thoughts. Whatever Sandy was talking about, Andrea wasn’t really into because her thoughts were on were filled with a yacht and anticipation of a rendezvous. He listened in for a moment more and then pulled out when he understood it wasn’t going to be a romantic meeting, but Andrea planned on issuing an ultimatum to her lover.

Blinking at his watch, he turned off the timer and was surprised it only had a minute left. Taking a sip of water, he picked up the phone and spoke quietly into it. “Jac, check harbors and dock slips, see if the 463E fits into anything there. If I’m right, it’s going to be a rather sizable yacht belonging to one of the key people on the list.” He reached into his wallet and tossed some money on the table. “And get Sandy out of this lunch, the less she associates with Miss Weaver right now, the better for her.”

“Did you get anything about the charity?” Alec asked.

Turning, he watched Sandy answer her phone, and then he got up and headed for the exit. “She arranged the meet, but she’s one jilted woman and I couldn’t find anything really helpful.” Smiling at the restaurant staff he passed, he kept his voice low so no one would overhear. “She’s also sleeping with Cardiel and plans on issuing an ultimatum to him.”

“An ultimatum to what?” Brent wondered.

Crossing the street to his car, he got in and turned to watch the restaurant entrance. When Sandy stepped outside a few seconds later, he waved her over. “My guess is she wants a more key position in all of this, she’s not happy with being what she feels is the equivalent of a secretary.” He waited until Sandy got in on the passenger side. “Sandy and I’ll be there shortly.” He hung up the phone and turned to the anxious doctor. “How long have you known Andrea?”

Sandy’s expression was filled with questions. “We met just after I set up my practice here.” She put on her seat belt. “How deeply is she involved in all of this?”

Ian started the car and checked his mirror before he pulled out onto the street. “Oh, I’d say neck deep at this point.”