Page 22 of One Cry Too Loud (Coastal Crime Unit #9)

C harlie looked at the card Eli gave me back at the house, the one with an address where I could supposedly find Joe. He had peered at this card for ten minutes straight. The look on his face told me he was torn.

“What are you thinking?” Kat asked.

The safehouse we’d gone to in order to talk to the rest of the team was smaller than The Last Word. It was what amounted to a cabin in the woods. Though, if many cabins existed with this sort of armory or security measures, I had never been to them.

“I’m thinking it can’t be this easy,” Charlie said, looking up from the card and at the rest of us.

Nate, Tag, Kat, Holly, and I filled the room.

Kyle, Sarah Jane, and the rest of our loved ones were at a different location; one I didn’t have the address to.

I was glad of that. As bad as things had been when we sent them away, with the bounty on our heads now, things had gotten a thousand times worse.

“Are you under the impression getting this was easy?” Holly asked. There was a coldness in her voice that I wasn’t used to hearing, especially when speaking to Charlie. Still, the woman didn’t know the truth of why Charlie reacted the way he did to her secret. She was obviously still hurt by that.

“This man is supposedly the most fearsome computer terrorist in the world,” Charlie answered. “I’m saying it could have been much, much harder than this.”

“Easy for you to say. You didn’t have to brave a coven of hippie witches just to find out that your ex, who you gave your child up to protect her from, had been with her almost her entire life,” Holly said.

She huffed. “Do you know how infuriating that is? He got to raise her. He got to be there with her, day in and day out. I didn’t.

She doesn’t even know who I am. She doesn’t even know my name, unless Joe told her of course.

” Holly’s eyes went wide. “Oh God! What if that bloody bastard told her other things about me? What if he lied to her and turned her against me?”

“He left, Holly,” I said, reminding her. “He walked away from that little girl, abandoning her. Even if he did say terrible, untrue things about you, all of that would have been whitewashed by what he did.”

“That’s another thing,” Charlie said. “If Joe did leave Cindy, why come back for her? Why kidnap her? It doesn't make sense.”

“Just because we don’t know his motivation, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” Holly said, her voice still cold.

“No, but it’s something we should consider, especially when we don’t know what we’re walking into,” Charlie replied.

“What do we know about this Eli guy? From what you told me, the only thing we’re sure about is that he lied to a woman he claims to love.

What’s stopping him from lying to you guys then? ”

“What would the purpose of lying be?” Kat asked.”He didn’t have to tell us anything. He offered this up.”

“Let me play devil’s advocate then,” Charlie said. “Like I was just told, just because we don’t know his motivation doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.”

“But it’s something we should consider,” Holly said, parroting his words back at him.

“There’s a lot to think about here,” I said, including the address that Eli gave me.”

“What is this place? A house?” Charlie asked.

“It’s a duplex,” I said. “Eli told me that Joe has been renting the top level from an elderly couple for a few months now.”

“I call bull,” Tag said, shaking his head. “I checked the electrical output from that address on the county’s utility grid, and I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

“So?” Nate asked.

“So, if Joe is Nefarious, and Nefarious is doing everything that we know him to be doing, it would take a lot of power to run him. You would see a spike in the usage grid,” Tag said. “That’s just not happening here.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Holly said. “Joe could be working from a different location.”

“He could, but I’m not seeing any anomalies for at least a hundred miles radius of this house,” Tag said.

“Which means he could be covering it up,” Holly said.

“And how exactly would he be doing that?” Tag asked.

“If you’re going to assume that just because you can’t do something, Joe can’t do it too, then you’re going to prove yourself to be pretty useless here,” Holly said.

“And if you don’t get your head out of your ass and stop listening to your hormones, you’re going to find yourself pretty dead here,” Tag shot back.

Hey!” I yelled. “You do not speak to her like that!”

“I’m sorry, Jack, but it’s true,” Tag said. “She’s so hyped up on the idea of seeing her boyfriend again that she’s not thinking clearly. She’s blowing past things that should give her pause.”

“My hormones? Is that what you think this is?” Holly balked. “The only reason I’d ever want to see that man again is to break his nose. I want my child. I want my daughter to be found safe, and I need to get to Joe in order to do that.”

“You’re not getting to Joe,” I said firmly, glaring at her.

“This is our best lead,” she answered. “It’s our only lead.”

“Yes,” I said. “And that’s why we’re going to follow it, but you’re not going to be part of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Holly asked.

“He’s right,” I said. “While I don’t like Tag’s approach and I feel like his tact is nonexistent, I can’t ignore the fact that you’re insanely emotionally compromised by this.”

“I can do this, Jack. I can do my job,” Holly said.

“This isn’t your job, though, sweetie,” I said. “It’s my job. I know how to do it, and I know how it’ll best work.”

“And it best works without me?” Holly asked.

“If it was Sarah Jane, I would expect you to do the same thing,” I said.

“I would expect you to pull me.” I sighed.

“I couldn’t think clearly if it was her.

I know I wouldn’t, and do you know why? We can’t think clearly when our children are on the line.

We would do anything, give anything, sacrifice everything to save them.

We would throw caution to the wind and fly in the face of our better angels and smart sensibilities.

We’d rip through them like tissue paper to save our kids. ”

“That’s why I have to be there,” she said.

“No, sweetie,” I said mournfully. “That’s why you can’t be.”

“He’s right, Holly,” Kat said. “I’m sorry, but he is.”

She looked at me for a long moment, her face contorting in pain. “All of you,” she said in a hurt whisper. “All of you have let me down.”

She got up, stormed into one of the bedrooms, and slammed the door shut.

“God, I hate hurting her like that,” Kat said.

“It's for the best,” I said. “Now, we have to make a plan.” I turned to the people in front of me. “Charlie, you’re right. We don’t know what we’re walking into.

That’s why you’re coming with me. You’ll be outside, listening in on what’s going on inside.

If we’re surprised or, even better, if we’re not, you come in when you sense things are going sideways. ”

“And me,” Tag said. “You’re dealing with someone who is potentially a cyber Goliath. You need a-”

“Kid with a cyber slingshot?’ I asked. “Yeah. I was just getting to that. You’ll be outside too, playing David and set up in a van with whatever tech mambo jumbo you might need to combat anything we find in there.”

“What about me?” Kat asked.

“It’s a boys’ night, I’m afraid,” I said. “I need somebody who can keep Holly and our jolly billionaire here safe if, God forbid-”

“The wolves come knocking at the door?’ Kat asked. “Yeah. I figured as much.” She winked. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

“I can’t promise anything,” I said. “We’re either going to face off with the computer equivalent of a human nuclear missile or we’re walking right into a trap.” I nodded. “Either way, it’s shaping up to be a hell of a night.”