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“What do you mean?” Noah asked, concerned.
“I woke up to no Finn, no rental car, no note, no nothing.”
Noah laughed, earning a scowl from Croft. “My guess is she won’t be sleeping comfortably on the way home.”
“Not funny, Noah.”
“Yeah, it is. As John said, your Finn is a real spitfire. It’s just going to take a lot of work on your part to teach her to yield and that her place is either at your side or underneath you. Look at Willa and Mac—neither of them has ever been happier. Shit, Croft, Finn loves you. That’s as plain to see as the nose on your ugly face.”
“That’s true enough.” Croft nodded and grinned. “I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I just thought we’d gotten through all of that…”
“Through all of what?” John asked, joining them. “Is Finn coming later?”
“I’m sure once Croft catches up with her, she’ll come plenty of times,” Noah laughed.
“Again, not funny, Noah,” Croft said, trying hard not to laugh.
“What does he mean, when you catch up with her?” John asked, trying to figure out what was going on.
Croft sighed. “I woke up this morning, and she was gone. No explanation, nothing. Just gone.”
John shook his head. “You need to put a stop to that. Mandy was bad about that when we first got together. She’d get upset about something and just leave. And Willa used to take off into the hills on horseback. At least Finn will be using conventional methods of transportation. Get Thom to track her.”
“Get me to track who?” Thom asked as he entered the building.
“Finn. She’s decided to ghost me—took off with no explanation and won’t answer my calls.”
Thom nodded. “Unless you guys need anything else from me, I’ll go try to find out where she’s gone.”
Baez and Reid came up from the living area. Reid’s question about Finn’s whereabouts provoked laughter from the majority of those around him.
“It’s a long story, Reid,” Croft explained. “Let’s just say your little sister is being a wee bit difficult.”
Reid surprised them all by laughing.
“Finn’s never been a wee bit anything… especially difficult. My guess is she’s bolted on you. I don’t think I like her odds for that working.”
Croft turned back to Baez. “Anything else from Fariq?”
Baez’s face was grim. “Unfortunately, there is and nothing we want to know about. I’m not sure it’s really safe for Reid or Finn to be out there on their own.”
“But now that you guys have the information, there’s no reason they need or want to hurt me,” Reid said.
“Not necessarily. First, they aren’t sure how much you know, and second, if we turn over what we have to the authorities, and I don’t recommend that at this point, I think you or Finn might be a target to use as an example to others in the future,” Baez replied.
“How’s Fariq?” Croft asked.
“Scared.”
“That’s not good. I’ve known Fariq a long time, and he doesn’t spook easily.”
“The worst part,” Baez continued, “is I think he has reason to be. He’s asked to remain here and has offered to give us everything he knows about his operation and Gerold Springer. Adam helped him secure some of his funds, but not as much as he wanted. Springer’s group was able to move that fast. Adam was impressed.”
Thom shook his head. “That’s really bad… Adam doesn’t impress easily. It means they’re well organized and have some good hackers with them. If you boys don’t need me up here, I’m going to head down and confer with Adam. We may want to beef up the integrity of our firewall and other systems. If we figure out anything else, one of us will head back up. No worries, Croft. By the time you’re ready to fetch Finn home, I’ll figure out where she’s headed.”
“Thanks, Thom. I appreciate it.”
Thom left, and Noah, John, Baez, Reid, and Croft took seats in the conference room. Baez brought them up to speed about Fariq’s organization, the internal factions within it, and thathe had come to believe it was far more compromised by the Springers than he had originally thought.
