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I gasped. “Why? You can’t suspect my coworkers.”
“Until people have been vetted, I suspect everyone.” He turned us toward the freeway entrance. “Were your company meetings this morning random visits, or coordinated ahead of time?”
“Both visits were scheduled a month ago.”
“Is either of the companies in trouble with your office?”
“No. Excalibur Plating was a fine visit. No red flags. They had everything ready for me. Knife Creek Chemical is full of jerks, but in the past they’ve always been in compliance.” I wished I could put the Knife Creek people on the suspect list just for being assholes, but they didn’t have a motive.
“Money can be a big motivator. Can’t you fine them or something?”
“If they had issues, we would start with abatement orders before progressing to fines, and we have some companies that are in that category, but not these two.” After a moment of silence, I added, “I’m going to work. I have to.”
“I don’t like it.”
Sometimes, the best defense was an offense. “Why do they call you Cobra?”
He sighed. “It was my call sign on ops—the cobra is deadly and strikes without warning.”
“Yeah, I just wondered why you use yours at work, and the others don’t.”
He shrugged. “The bossman’s isn’t very appropriate in our line of work, and the others aren’t military. Winston came out of the FBI, Constance was Secret Service, Jordy is from the CIA, and Terry Goodwin came to us from the LAPD SWAT. It alsoscares the groupies when a client calls me Cobra—makes the job easier. You never want to use force if words will do.”
“And?” I prodded.
“A while back, I was protecting a client who decided she didn’t want to let go at the end. She found out where I lived and?—”
“You had a stalker,” I finished for him.
“I like to keep my work identity separate from my personal one.”
“What did she do?”
“Not relevant. What’s the address of your office building?”
“Eleven-thousand Wilshire.” It didn’t seem fair that his stalker was need-to-know only.
Duke hit buttons on the screen and initiated a call.
“Hey, Duke,” a man’s weary voice answered through the speakers. “What do you need?”
“I need to locate a place to hang out while our new client is at work at the eleven-thousand Wilshire Federal Building.”
“Hold one sec… I’ve got an office for lease on Wellworth, the other side of the parking lot. Four hundred and fifty square feet. No idea what floor it’s on or if it faces her building or not. If you don’t like that one, next closest is… Let’s see… Two blocks farther away.”
“The first one works,” Duke said. “Get me a showing in let’s say an hour or so. I’m looking for space for my satellite law office, and you’re my assistant.”
“Copy that. Anything else?”
“Nope.”
The call ended without either of them saying goodbye.
Since he hadn’t offered, I had to ask. “Who was that?”
“My other brother, Jordan, but he prefers Jordy. He’s our tech and comms specialist.”
I hit redial on the screen as soon as Duke looked out his side mirror. “Now I know why they really call you Cobra. Because you have the manners of a snake.”
