Midnight Kiss (Men of Midnight #7) - Lisa Marie Rice Page 0,29
the side, clearly aimed at Felicity. Who was also awake.
“Can I talk to her?” Hope asked.
Luke held out his cell.
Hope was smiling as she took it. “I want you to listen, not talk,” she said, trying to sound authoritative. Her voice was too soft to be commanding, but there was steel there. “I sent you my conclusions re the file. You can go through them if you want, but I think you’ll agree with them. I’d feel good, I’d feel really good, if you just fed them straight to your bosses and took a nap instead. In that file you sent me, there were a few outstanding issues with regard to your command server, just a little flotsam and jetsam, and I took the liberty of cleaning it all up. I think you’re all caught up, now. So Luke and I are going to …” she shot him a look and he nodded his head. “We’re going to go chase that lead in Sacramento, but you can always shoot me an email if something needs doing. I’ll drop everything.”
“Thanks, Hope.” Felicity sounded tired. “Emma got in touch from San Francisco. She was worried about you but I told her you’re in good hands. She said to send her stuff to do because she’s bored. And for you to get in touch via HER room, if you need help. So between the two of you, I’m completely covered and you’ve got backup. I’m going to switch off now and sleep for a while.”
“For a couple of years,” Metal’s voice said to the side. “I’ll wake you up when the boys go off to college.” Metal disconnected.
Hope handed Luke’s cell back to him.
“Do we know any more about Sacramento?” he asked. Up to now Felicity had called it a thread.
“I’ll check when we’re in the air.” She squinted at him. “The plane has wi-fi. Right?” It was said in the same tone someone else would use to ask if the airplane had wings.
“Yep.” Her face smoothed out. “It also has a bathroom with a shower, food and beverages.” The plane also had enough weaponry to start a small war, full combat gear, including armor for five people, gas masks, bioweapons detectors, a Geiger counter and parachutes, and enough survival gear to survive the apocalypse for a week.
No flies on his guys, no sir.
“Cool. Let’s go.” She’d already stowed her laptop. She hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and made for the door.
“Just a minute, Lara Croft.” Luke tugged at her elbow. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She touched her backpack again and frowned. “What?”
“Luggage. We don’t know how long we’re going to be in Sacramento. Don’t you want your things, even if they are basically Summer’s things?”
“Sure.” She smiled. “You carry the bags. Felicity says that the guys at ASI are the muscle.”
That was true. They were. Without a word, Luke went to get their bags.
Presidential suite
Willard Hotel
It had been an excellent dinner, netting pledges for over ten million dollars for his campaign, and above all netting support from the movers and shakers. But he was tired.
Court Redfield loosened his tie and sat down on the overstuffed armchair in the suite’s living room. He opened his mouth but before he could speak, a cut glass crystal tumbler half full of a single malt whiskey was put in his hand.
He looked up at the man who’d put it there and nodded.
The man nodded back.
Good man. The best. Captain Lorne Resnick, formerly of the USMC, then of the CIA’s SAD, where Court had met him. While DD of the CIA, Court had met many highly capable men who went … unrecognized. Underpaid. Underused.
Court recognized their potential. There was a lot to be said for highly trained and competent men willing to do anything as long as you paid them enough. He kept a small army of them on retainer. Their main task up until now had been to make problems go away.
Court had made many friends in Congress. He knew a lot of stories. He was the kind of man other men confided in. Trusted. The kind of man you told your darkest secrets to, your wildest dreams, your deepest desires, your greatest fears. Late at night, in his darkened den, after a couple of whiskies, men opened up to him. It was essentially the same story, over and over again. They had problems, they wanted things. Court’s men could make things happen, make problems disappear. They could bend your enemies to your will.