Hello My Angel - Sue Brown Page 0,31
us.”
Josh sent Gil a sharp glance, but Gil said, “You get the boss back. I’ll explain my theory when you return.”
Josh was curious but right now he had more important things to worry about. Like his errant Charlie.
“Oh yeah, High Wizard, it’s the Dragonlord…” Max wandered away talking animatedly to someone.
Josh, Gil, Dave, and Rick stared at each other.
“Dragonlord?” Gil mouthed.
“Bloody hell, what is wrong with that kid?” Dave said.
Rick looked like someone had just fed him a sprout.
“He plays Dungeons and Dragons,” Josh explained. “He’s talking to Stewie Granger at the agency.”
“How do you know that? You’ve only known him a few days,” Gil demanded.
Josh rolled his eyes.
“Stupid question,” Gil muttered.
“Right up there with the top stupid,” Josh agreed.
Max returned to them and three of the four men stared at him as if he’d sprouted wings. He didn’t seem to notice. “Cal isn’t at the agency, but Mullins left about thirty minutes ago. He didn’t tell Stephen where he was going. He just told him to clear all his afternoon appointments.”
“Cal’s phone. Can you trace it?” Gil said.
Max returned to his bank of screens. Josh waited impatiently. Max looked up. “I don’t think he took it.”
Josh hit Cal’s name on his phone, unsurprised when “God Save the Queen” sounded from the office Cal had supposedly been working in.
He cursed and looked up to see them all staring at him. “What?” he barked.
“The national anthem?” Rick asked, sounding bemused.
“It was a joke,” Josh muttered.
“So he’s uncontactable,” Gil said.
Max coughed and they all looked at him.
Josh raised his eyebrow. “Got something you want to tell the class, Dragonlord?”
Max went crimson. “I…I…”
“Just get on with it, kid,” Gil said. “Josh is just being an asshole.”
Max shot Josh an uncertain look but he said, “I know where they might be going.”
“How?” Josh demanded.
“Mullins likes conducting meetings outside of the agency. He says it’s safer to talk business in plain sight. I…uh…heard him telling someone.” Max added the last part hastily.
Josh nodded; the weasel had a point. “Where does he go?”
“He’s got three favorite places: the Royal Festival Hall, the top of the Shard, and the Globe Theatre.”
“Where do you think he’s gone?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dave said. “They’re all within walking distance of each other. At least it’s nothing complicated.”
Josh twisted his lips. “Yeah, but it’s all by the Thames.”
Max looked confused. “You don’t like the Thames?”
“Someone tied me up and left me to drown,” Josh said. “Just being near the water makes me want to run screaming.”
Rick slung an arm around his shoulder. “Well, suck it up, buttercup. We’ve got your boy to find.”
“Still hate the Thames,” Josh muttered. He took another deep breath and looked at Gil. “Call me if you get anything.”
“We will,” Gil promised. “Call me when you find him or if you need me to throw Mullins off a tall building.”
Max squeaked.
Josh ignored him. “Let’s go.”
It was dark by now and raining again. Josh huddled up in his coat in the back of the car, staring bleakly out at the shops shuttering their windows for the night, side by side with small convenience stores still brightly lit. For a moment, he remembered Erica Wilde, who went out for milk and never returned, a casualty of her husband’s failure to kill one of Josh’s friends. Dan, Chris, Erica and Hazel, people who’d had nothing to do with spying or politics, nothing to do with the death of a hopped-up teenager so many years ago, and yet had paid the price, three of them with their lives. Josh ground his teeth so hard his jaw hurt and he was surprised the men in front couldn’t hear them.
Dave drove through the evening traffic, Rick by his side. They spent more time together than they did with their wives. Josh briefly contemplated calling them out as a married couple. For the second time that day he held back. He just wasn’t in the mood to play silly games. Where the hell was his Charlie? How long since he’d met Mullins? None of them knew what time he’d left.
As if on cue, his phone pinged with a message. He looked at the short video clip of Cal hurrying down the fire escape, his shoulders hunched against the rain. Josh noted the time stamp. Two hours ago. He ground his teeth some more.
Rick turned to look at him. “All of these buildings are big. It’s going to take us time to search them.”
Josh thought for a moment. “This is Mullins we’re talking about. He’s a