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He had a slideshow presentation of the mansion with all the ingress and egress points labeled. "If Mag or Wren say the code words, they exfil pronto, but the team doesn't enter until either he or Wren says—"
"I know how code words work." He glared at my interruption of his carefully prepared speech. "My cover is solid. The crypto transaction went through this morning. We're good."
Fontaine didn't acknowledge me and returned to his overly complicated plan. He was a team guy once, but now he was a fed, so that made him an outsider.
Instead of listening to him, I checked the security monitors at Wren's bakery. She was smiling and talking to the woman she had the appointment with. They both looked carefree and happy. As it should be.
Celeste was standing on the front walk looking very conspicuous.
Me: You circled the perimeter?
Celeste: On the quarter. All clear.
When the meeting finally ended, I texted her again.
Me: En route. ETA 1300
Celeste: Copy.
As we were filing out of the conference room, my second phone buzzed.
Sheila.
Why was she calling me?
I rejected the call, but a text came through at the same time.
Sheila: Please answer. It's urgent.
Of course she sent something vague that would force me to call her. "What's up, Sheila? No bullshit."
"Some dudes came by here looking for Gavin." She spat it out quickly, and my whole body went on alert.
"When?"
"Like two hours ago."
"Why'd you wait to call?"
"I felt terrible. I'm so sorry." Her voice was stressed and weepy.
I flagged Vander down, and he waited with the team in the hallway.
"Talk fast."
"Two Asian guys. They said they were looking for info on Gavin, but they showed me a picture of you in a tuxedo with a really pretty girl."
A photo from the magic show at the mansion. They were looking into me. "Why you? What's your relation to Gavin?"
"He stays here sometimes." Her voice grew timid. My brother was nothin' but trouble. The whole time I was looking for him, he was with a woman I couldn't stand? "I know I should've lied," she went on. "I shouldn't have told them anything, but I was so jealous." Her high-pitched voice gratedon my ears.
"What did you say?"
"I told them the guy in the picture was Magnum Beaumont, and he's a cop."
"Fuck, Sheila. I'm not a cop!" I made eye contact with Vander and Fontaine, who were listening closely. Fontaine rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air in defeat.
"Well, you never told me what you really do," she said, defensively.
