Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,159
in the Human Alliance had access to his contact details. It sometimes made for a chaotic day, but most folks were good about only contacting him directly if it was a matter that needed to be brought to the attention of the Alliance’s security chief.
The message was simple: We need to talk. Too sensitive to send over unsecured line.—Isaac
He did a quick search on the sender’s number. It returned a listing for Beauclair Trucking based out of Vancouver, Canada. A little digging and he found the name of the owner: Isaac Beauclair.
Beauclair and his company had joined the Alliance a year earlier. According to the records kept by Bo’s administrative staff, no one from the company had ever attended an Alliance meeting, but they paid their dues like clockwork and the owner had made two requests for Alliance assistance.
In both cases it had been a simple application for a business introduction.
Nothing unusual in that. Many Alliance members had joined for the same reason—to expand their network among other human companies. Of course, with the Alliance now part of Trinity, with far more streamlined access to Psy and changeling businesses, that element of their membership base had increased again by a significant percentage.
Bo also had access to certain security databases, and when he ran Isaac’s name through those, he saw no red flags. The owner of the very successful company still drove a long-haul truck on occasion and he had a clean record. No smuggling allegations, nothing but a higher than average number of speeding tickets. The latter was a badge of honor with truckers—they always tried to push their trucks, the temptation of often otherwise empty highways too much.
Beauclair’s company, however, was interesting: It had a reputation for security and reliability and, as a result, often carried high-value goods that couldn’t be transported any other way. Teleporters didn’t usually stoop to such pragmatic work, and even after all the technological advances to date, sometimes the best and most economically efficient way to move certain items from one place to the next was via the road.
Instead of messaging back, Bo called Lily in from where she was catching up on her own work nearby. His sister did a little hacking at his request, found the direct link to the comm system onboard Isaac’s truck, and set up a secure call. According to Beauclair Trucking’s records, Isaac was on the road today.
“Just tap this and you’ll be set,” Lily said, then left him to it.
The call went through without any difficulty, was answered audio-only on the other end.
“Who’s this?” was the brusque question.
“Bowen Knight. You wanted to talk.”
Audio-only turned into visual and audio, and Bowen found himself talking to a broad-shouldered man who looked remarkably like his official ID photo. Isaac Beauclair had white skin touched with enough sun that it was warm rather than cool, sandy red-brown hair cut fairly tidily but not ruthlessly, a neat beard that was more red than red-brown, and dark hazel eyes. From what Bo could see, the other man was wearing what looked like a band T-shirt in black, the print white.
“Didn’t expect such a quick response,” Isaac said. “Give me a second to put the truck on full auto-nav.”
Bo waited while the other man did that, then Isaac came back onscreen. “We have a few minutes before I have to retake manual control. The roads are a little iffy in this section of my route, couple of broken nav beacons that haven’t been fixed.”
“The line is secure,” Bo told him. “I made certain of it.”
“Figure you know your business.” Isaac glanced over his shoulder, seemed to say something that wasn’t picked up by the speakers.
When he turned back, his face held a grim look. “I might’ve done something that could blow back on the Alliance itself.”
“Explain.”
“I pulled into a truck stop couple of hours ago, went in to grab a coffee, use the restroom, usual stuff.” Isaac shrugged. “When I came back out, there was this SUV parked next to my truck. Blacked-out windows, all-terrain tires.”
“Anything unusual about that?”
“Not really. I see those vehicles now and then—mostly it’s big CEOs or celebrities who want to travel incognito. They don’t usually pull in at truck stops, but I figured maybe someone started jonesing for coffee or needed the restroom—but I still took a close look because of that alert about the other SUV that went out earlier.” He paused and Bo had the sense he was ordering his thoughts.