Garret's Gambit by Dale Mayer (book club books .TXT) 📗

At that, Garret smiled and said, “You’re right. It’s just been a while, and it seems like one thing after another in my world.”

“This too will pass,” he said, “although I suppose it’s frustrating.”

“Of course it is, but we’ll get information. It’s only a matter of time.” Just then Garret’s phone rang with an incoming text.

“Anything?” Kano asked.

He checked the message, then smiled and said, “Apparently there is facial recognition data of my brother in Belgium, after the point in time that he was kidnapped.”

“If he was kidnapped,” Charles said.

“Exactly,” Garret replied. “There is some concern regarding his disappearance. That evening, as he supposedly walked away to attend a meeting, he was picked up by facial recognition after leaving Amy’s place. He got into his vehicle and went down to a pub,” he said, reading the information slowly. He then read off the address where the pub was located.

Immediately Kano brought it up, and Charles walked over to a big wall above the fireplace, pushed some buttons, and a huge screen opened up.

Astra laughed in delight. “I love it.”

Garret grabbed the remote and brought up the address on the much bigger screen. They all gathered around to see where it was. He picked up his phone, dialed the texting number, and said, “Hey, Fallon. Where’s his car now?”

“Abandoned, on the side street. Somebody moved it from the original position, so it wasn’t initially picked up. Then it was towed by the police, as they tried to locate him.”

“And, of course, he went nowhere, right?” Garret asked.

“Exactly, he doesn’t appear to come out of the pub at any point in time.”

“So, in theory, he’s still there?” she asked.

“No,” Garret said. “There’ll be another entrance or exit to the place.”

“Great,” she muttered. “How do we find him now?”

“Has his face popped up anywhere yet?” Garret asked Fallon.

“No,” Fallon replied. “No credit cards, bank accounts, nothing is being used.”

“What about the joint account he has with his girlfriend?”

“No,” Fallon said. “Nothing.”

“She’d been warned by Gregg to avoid using the accounts,” Garret muttered.

“And how well do you trust this person?” Fallon asked, from the other end of the call.

Garret glanced at Astra and said, “Most of the time, not much. However, in this instance, there’s no reason for her to lie.”

There was a pregnant pause on the other end, as Fallon digested that. “Okay,” he said in a neutral tone. “I’ll take your word on that.”

Kano piped up and said, “I actually agree with Garret in this instance, if that matters.”

At that, with a little more relief in his voice, Fallon said, “Okay, so she’s either running on cash or has her own bank account.”

Astra popped up then, adding, “I’m sure she has her own bank account as well, but she’s lying down right now, so I can’t ask her.”

“Good enough,” he said. “It would be nice to find out for sure though, so we can see if that’s something else we should be tracking.”

“Fine,” she said, glancing toward the stairway, but, of course, there was no sound from above.

“What we could really use is more information on where Gregg could be,” Garret said.

“There may be a break on that side,” Fallon said. “Do you remember Deedee, who was managing Kingdom Securities? She still is, as far as I know. She’s the one who had a slight issue with Bullard?”

“Yes, what about her?”

“There is a chance that she’s willing to talk.”

“About what?”

“Well, the message I got was one she sent through the underground, saying she had nothing to do with it.”

“Well, that sounds suspicious,” Astra said.

Beside her, Charles immediately nodded.

Fallon continued on Speakerphone, “The issue, I think, is the fact that people are suspicious, and, because of her falling out with Bullard, they’re looking to her. So she’s saying she didn’t have anything to do with it and is willing to help with the investigation.”

“Well, let’s put some pressure on that,” Garret said.

“I’d like to,” Fallon said. “You’re busy trying to find your brother, and, as far as we know, that could be related.”

“Well, considering my brother may have had some association with her as well, maybe that’s somebody we should be pushing,” he said.

“Agreed, but, so far, I haven’t gotten an answer from her,” Fallon said.

“Does anybody over here have any connection with her?” Garret asked.

“She doesn’t trust anybody,” Fallon said.

“She trusts me,” Kano said.

“Why the hell would she do that?” Garret asked, looking at him in surprise.

He shrugged. “We have some history—no, not sexually—but she was involved in the family for a time.”

“Interesting,” he said. “You’ve never mentioned it.”

“I wouldn’t be mentioning it now, if there was any way not to,” he said. “I’d like to think she doesn’t have anything to do with the attacks on our team, but I can’t prove it.”

“Send a message then, and see if she’ll talk to us … or you.”

“I’ve already done that,” Kano said. “At the time, she didn’t respond because it was me going to her about your missing brother.”

“Why would she not respond?” Astra asked. “I don’t get it.”

“She’ll want something, and just because we have a history doesn’t mean I like her,” he said. “She’s not a very likable person.”

At that, Astra frowned. “It sounds like it, but even assholes will usually talk business, won’t they? So let’s talk business.”

“Maybe, but, if we could find the answers without her, that would be better. Then we can utilize whatever leverage we come up with in order to get answers on what’s going on with Bullard.”

“Right. That’s your game anyway.”

“It’s one part of the game,” Kano said. “Remember. That’s only part of why we came here.”

She nodded but felt a chill come over her shoulders at the reminder. “It all seems pretty messed up right now.”

“No, it is totally messed up right now,” Garret said, as he rang off from Fallon’s call and turned to look at Charles, an odd look on his face. “Charles, what’s up?”

“That Belgium pub you mentioned earlier, that your brother went into?” he said.