Hello My Angel - Sue Brown Page 0,33
lover.
“Cal,” Josh crooned. “What a surprise to see you here.”
Mullins turned and scowled, obviously displeased at finding Josh interrupting his tête-à-tête. “Cooper. What are you doing here?”
“Retrieving what’s mine,” Josh said bluntly, not taking his eyes off Cal.
“Josh—”
Josh ignored Cal and sat in the empty chair at an angle to the sofa. The number of empty coffee cups on the table in front of them suggested it had been a long conversation. He ground his teeth again and focused his attention on Cal.
“Imagine my surprise when I discovered my business partner had left the building without telling anyone.”
“Josh—”
Josh continued on, brushing past Cal’s interruption. “Imagine how concerned I was when we found his phone and realized we couldn’t contact him.”
“Josh—”
“Imagine when we rang the agency and discovered Mullins was AWOL too.” He tapped his chin. “Hmmm, two plus two equals four. Oh yes, they must be together.”
“Josh—”
Cal sounded pissed off now. Good.
“My business partner seems to have forgotten his manners, but never mind. Here I am. Cal, dear, get me a coffee and you can bring me up to speed.”
Mullins’s scowl deepened. “This is not your concern, Cooper.”
Josh leaned forward. “Cal is very much my concern, Mullins.”
“Josh—” Cal barked.
Josh turned to face him. “Yes?”
“I know I shouldn’t have left without telling you.”
“Ya think?” Josh didn’t even bother to hide the sarcasm. The fuck you was barely implied.
“But I knew you’d object. Mullins and I have history.”
Josh stared at him and Cal’s eyes widened.
“No, not like that. I mean, we were both at the agency for a long time.”
“And?”
“And we have things to discuss, Cooper. Agency business.”
“In case you’ve forgotten neither Cal nor I work for…the agency.”
He would never say they worked for Mullins.
“For heaven’s sake, Josh, stand down,” Cal snapped.
Josh opened his mouth to tell him what to do with his order when Cal said, this time his tone gentler, “Look, we were just finishing up here. I was going to come back and tell you what we discussed. It took longer than I expected.”
Josh sat back in his chair and folded his arms. “I’ll save you the bother. Talk now.”
Mullins’s face grew more pinched. He didn’t like it when the lackeys got mouthy. Cal kicked Josh’s foot. He received a wide-eyed fuck you Josh Cooper special look. He sighed.
“Fine. I needed to talk to Mullins because he had information restricted to top directors.”
Josh nodded. “Go on.”
“Weatherly had a list of properties not on public record. Places she visited on rare time off. I didn’t have access to the information. Sir Gideon, Chopper, and Mullins were the only people with the list. And her assistants.”
Cal emphasized the words, letting it sink in.
Josh grimaced against the sour taste in his mouth. “You mean Chyna Moles has the information.”
“Yes.”
“Give me the places. Rick and Dave can start checking.”
“He won’t give it to me,” Cal said, his eyes bleak.
“Why the fuck not?” Josh spoke heatedly and people from the next sofa looked over to them.
Josh’s glare must have scared them off because they hastily looked away.
“Easy, Angel,” Cal said under his breath.
“Fuck you,” Josh muttered. “We need the names and locations of these properties.”
“This is agency business,” Mullins said. “We can’t give away classified information to civilians.”
“Have you checked the properties?” Josh asked.
“They haven’t,” Cal said.
Josh ignored Mullins and stared at Cal. “Why the hell not?”
But it was Mullins who answered. “The agency has continued, despite the trouble, Cooper. I’ve had more important things to worry about.”
“More important than finding the head of your own goddamn agency?” Josh couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Mullins stared at him as if Josh were a particularly annoying bug. “As I recall, you insisted you were going to find her.”
“You didn’t tell us you were withholding information.”
“I think this conversation has reached its end, gentlemen. I need to get back to the office.”
“Mullins—”
Cal reached out to grab Mullins’s forearm to stop him leaving.
Mullins looked down at his grip. “I suggest you remove your hand, Ross, before I call the police and have you arrested for assault.”
“You’d be dead before you could make the call,” Cal assured him grimly.
Josh heard a gasp from a neighboring table.
Mullins blanched. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“Try me,” Cal snarled.
Josh intervened before things got out of hand and Cal got hauled off to jail. “No need to waste good jail time on this weasel, Cal. We’ve gotten all we can from him. We need to get back to the office.”
Cal didn’t respond, still involved in a stare-off with Mullins.
“Charlie,” Josh snapped. “It’s time to