Page 59 of Falcon’s Forever

Nobody looks surprised when I walk in, which probably means they expected me to get even less sleep than I did.

Harrier glances up from the counter. “Are you hungry?”

“Coffee first,” I tell him.

“That wasn’t the question,” he replies.

He pours me a mug anyway, then points toward a foil-covered plate. “Eat.”

I take the coffee and eye him suspiciously. “Are you and Cara starting a club?”

“What club?” Harrier asks.

“The one for people who enjoy telling me what to do,” I explain.

“Pretty sure Vulture founded that one years ago,” Zip says without looking up from his paperwork.

I turn my attention to him. “Did anything happen overnight?”

“No SUV and no movement on the outer cameras,” Zip reports. “Rook found fresh tracks near the east road around four, but they could be unrelated.”

“They could be,” I agree, although neither of us sounds convinced.

Condor swivels one of the monitors toward us. “I got another match on the rental. Not the plate, but the VIN class. The same rental chain hired out another black SUV under a false identity three months ago. The rental location is six miles from one of the warehouse addresses Sterling found.”

I study the information on the screen. “Is it connected to Vance?”

“Not directly,” Condor answers. “But it’s close enough to bother me.”

“Do we have anything actionable?” I ask.

“No,” he admits.

“Then we watch,” I decide.

Zip gives me a sideways look.

I turn toward him. “What?”

“You’re getting disturbingly sensible,” he remarks.

“Fuck off,” I tell him.

“There he is,” Zip says with a satisfied nod.

Vulture calls Church for nine.

At eight thirty, Knox finds me near the garage. He looks exhausted, but Knox always looks exhausted. He holds out a folded sheet of paper.

“Prescription pickup,” he explains. “The pharmacy only has part of Rachel’s order in stock. The rest has to be collected from another branch.”

“Send a prospect,” I suggest.

“It’s a controlled medication,” Knox replies. “I’m not handing the authorisation to a prospect.”

“Were you planning to go?” I ask.

“I was,” he says. “Rachel had a bad reaction to a new antibiotic overnight, though, and I want to keep an eye on her.”