Page 69

I knew why she’d said it. She was trying to tell Wolffe that the plan was already in motion, and him trying to stop it could adversely affect the very thing he was trying to achieve. Which was actually pretty smart.

George said, “You’re leaving now? Who’s the contact?”

“Sir, if I told you that, you’d really think we were crazy. Just trust me on this, please.”

He said, “Pike, I need more than that.”

I saw Shoshana dialing and said, “Hang on, sir.”

Shoshana put the phone on speaker, then waited on it to connect. When it did, she said, “Hello, Lia, this is Shoshana, the woman you met today. I just wanted to touch base and say we’re on the way. Should be there in the next twenty minutes.”

The speaker spat out, “No, we can’t meet at this hour. I have guests.”

Perplexed, Shoshana looked at Pike and said, “We had a meeting. What do you mean you can’t now?”

Shoshana held out the phone so we could all listen in, and thephone said, “I told you to come at the end of the day. That’s what I said. The end of day. It’s too late now.”

Shoshana heard the words and I saw the dark angel inside of her start to blossom, but I didn’t understand why. She looked at me while speaking into the phone. She said, “We’re coming. Hold on. We’ll be there within twenty minutes. And I’m bringing a wrecking crew.”

The speaker said, “I understand. It’s not like there are a lot of them. Only one.”

The phone disconnected and I said, “What was that about? What wrecking crew?”

“You. You and everyone else in this room. Did you not hear what she said?”

On the couch, Jennifer said, “Holy crap. It just clicked. She said ‘end of day’ as in End of Days.”

Shoshana stood up, her face a mask of death. She said, “Lia’s under the control of the killer, and he’s the only one there.”

I heard someone calling my name and realized I was still on the virtual private network video with George Wolffe. He said again, “Pike! What’s happening?”

I turned to the computer and said, “I need an immediate hit on a cell phone and the follow-on exploitation of the Wi-Fi network it’s associated with.”

I typed in the number, sent it, and he said, “What?”

“Sir, I don’t have time to explain. Get Creed on the cell number. Tell him to ping it, then exploit it, finding the Wi-Fi node it’s attached to. I have to go.”

“Go where?”

I stood up and said, “Go save the inspector.” I heard him yelling at me, but like everyone else, I was too busy putting on lethal kit to answer.

Chapter 45

Lia disconnected the phone and handed it to the killer. He said, “What was that about? I’m not good with surprises.”

She said, “Nothing. A woman who wanted to talk to me about a missing persons case. She’s been flighty since she initially reported. The kid’s a runaway. There’s no reason for you to go after her as well.”

He chuckled and said, “You think I’m some sort of monster, and I can see why, but you miss some things.”

Lia tried to appear sympathetic, saying, “What? Let me help you. Let me keep you from making another mistake.”

He said, “Youwillhelp me. Right now. Take a seat in that chair.”

She did. He went behind her and pulled her arms together, saying, “Where are your handcuffs?”

She flicked her head to her purse, and he said, “Hold your hands there.”

He found them, then returned, threading the cuffs through a spine of the chair, then cinching them to her wrists.