Page 70 of Long Past Deadly

QM International Situation Brief: 13:10:15 PST 12/20 – San Diego HQ. Security Level 4 remains in effect. International operations secure. HQ access restricted to previously cleared personnel. Ϙ

“Bingo!” Kerry Jahle shouted loud enough to startle the room. “I think I’ve found him.”

The muted light of the night hours had shifted to the brightened daytime office ones and every cubicle was active. Mackey shifted his sunglasses to stare at her. He’d slouched in Quaid’s work cubicle and shut his eyes while the teams worked through the morning hours for possibilities. This searching the streets at night and working during business hours would be the death of him. Of course, if he would find an apartment and quit sleeping in his office or at his mother’s house, things might go smoother. Life was much easier when the Army took care of him. Of course, they’d expect him to kill in the worst clusterfucked scenarios as payment.

“Where?” His standard growl had little effect anymore. He cleared his throat. “Details, Kerry.” Of all the Operations people, he liked Kerry best. She stood at five-foot-three, had pale green eyes and a button nose with a bump that spoke of broken, the athletic build of a marathon runner, and a genius brain at technology and trivia. More importantly, she was like a German Shepherd sniffing out explosives with a side of Bulldog when she got told no.

“Our Lady of the Open Gate. It’s close to the East Village area. One of the old style mission churches built in 1910. I checked the website. Beautiful stained glass and mission architecture. The kind with real character not fake piety. They have meal service three times a day and cots available for safe sleeping areas.”

“Sounds like all of them we’ve checked.”

“Yeah, but this one has medical triage with no questions asked intake. I called them.”

Mackey dropped his feet and slipped his sunglasses over the edge of his collar. “Some of the others had medical, too.”

“This one is run by a former Army medic with permission from the priest. I figured Army to Army might play.”

“Jesus. If true, he’s been close all along. He had to know we were searching.”

She frowned in sympathy. “Man with his background probably doesn’t trust real well.”

Harrison came to his side. “Find him?”

“Strong possibility. I’ll go check it out.”

“You should sleep.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll get on that after I find him.”

Harrison snorted. “I have one kid, Mac. It ain’t you. She’s sweet, seventeen, and ready for UCLA.”

“Congrats on that bill. Tell Drucker he’s going with me.”

“Good idea. If Whit’s still hurt, though, we may have a bigger problem, and we will need Cait.” Harrison snagged his phone from his pocket and typed a message.

“I’ll let Drucker decide. Let’s see if he’s there first.” He needed coffee or to mainline an energy drink. Fast.

Kerry stopped a moment to shove her blonde hair into a better ponytail. From the circles under her eyes, night hours were killing her, too. “I’m sending the church address to you. Father Eli Navarro. He’s been at the church twelve years. No stranger to street issues according to the church bio.”

“We’ve checked so many others. I’m not going to get my hopes up. Why did we miss this one? It’s right in the area.”

“I passed over it. Nobody answered the phone to confirm it was still operating the shelter. Their website is a wreck, so I bumped it to the bottom of the list. I should volunteer to fix it for them in my spare time.”

Mackey stared at her. “You have spare time?”

She laughed, then abruptly stopped. “Nope.”

Mackey gave her a thumbs up. “I’m out. I’ll keep you posted.” He walked to the door and paused when Harrison called to him.

“Shall I notify Quaid?”

“Let me check first and have a talk with the padre.”

The door opened, the knob pulling out of his hands. Drucker stopped, his eyes widened. “What’s up?”

Mackey skirted around him. “Best possibility so far in finding Whitaker. I want you with me in case he’s still injured. Grab Delaney, too. Make it fast.”

“Done. I’ll get my bag. We armed?”