There was a slight disgust in his tone when he referred to Sloane, but before she could snap back, Luke took her arm and pulled her back in the direction they came from.
“You know he’ll never call you back, and if he does call, I doubt that anything he says will be useful.”
No surprise that Sloane would say that. As a cop, Quincy would’ve been reported as causing problems.
“Maybe, but if he decides to help, he may work way better than any camera. We have to be logical. The two of us can’t canvas every tunnel efficiently, not without spending a lot of time down here. We don’t know when the traffickers are using the tunnels or where, and we can’t be sure they’re using the known network. Quincy is a wild card, but if he doesn’t work out, we could find more of those tunnel rats and bribe them.”
Sloane stayed silent, and when they were far enough from Quincy, she switched on her flashlight. “I hate that you’re making sense, professor. Do we have time to check another spot?”
Luke looked at his watch. “I doubt it. It will be dark within the next hour. We need to leave now to avoid raising suspicion.”
The way back was faster, as they knew they wouldn’t run into any traps. Getting out was tricky as Luke had to lift Sloane on his shoulders, a circus trick that went surprisingly well. Once he finally pulled himself out of the hole and replaced the metallic lid, Luke looked around and saw a second truck parked beside them.
Pure survival reaction made him reach for his gun, but Sloane reassured him. “Easy professor, that’s my ride.”
“Your ride?”
Freeing her pink hair from her ponytail, Sloane winked before throwing keys at him. “Keep my truck for now, and head directly to the safehouse. You’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Good night.”
Sloane was out of sight before he could answer, leaving her equipment on the hood of the truck and Luke with even more questions. This time though, they were all about the elusive Slone Friday.
Chapter 10
Once the dishes were put away and the kitchen area was tidy, Luke turned it into his personal office.
When he’d returned from the tunnels, he was only mildly surprised to see fresh clothes on his bed, and most of the stuff he’d require too. Whoever worked for the Vigilante was undoubtedly efficient.
The first task at hand had been to update his GPS and log where they’d explored today. If he were totally honest with himself, he didn’t expect to find anything significant. It had been a wild guess but also a sort of test to check if Sloane Friday was up to the task. Not only had she passed with flying colors, but she’d showed him that she had more skills and talent than he gave her credit for.
Again, not a surprise. If she worked for the Vigilante, she must bring something to the table he found useful.
Poring over the maps, Luke checked for potential areas that could be utilized as underground highways.
It was a blessing he’d been so organized, using spreadsheets from the beginning of his pet project. That way, he could discard several possibilities and classify the remaining options from highly probable to low. One thing he wished he could do was to cross-reference the most probable locations with increased criminal activity. It may be a dud search, but it could give them a new perspective. Highly probable with low activity would be his best bet. The crew they were after wouldn’t want to use a crowded area, too much risk of being discovered.
That type of filter wasn’t easy to do, and still debating the process, Luke opened his web browser and searched the headlines. Chicago wasn’t peaceful in any way, and especially not since the Vigilante had appeared. The main news channels and papers rarely mentioned him, as he was only a rumor, and no journalist worth their salt would publish something they couldn’t verify first.
Parallel presses weren’t as picky and there was a lot of information about the Vigilante. It ranged from serious investigations to conspiracy theories and alien connections, even superpower mutants.
The Vigilante he’d seen in that reservoir was human and prone to errors and the potential of being killed. One thing that made him different was the aura of menace, the threat of danger raining down on the criminals of this city, that when you saw him, there was no way out. It was a wise move to play that angle.
Wise, smart, and resourceful summed him up for sure. Holding that thought, Luke pushed papers around until he found the card Sloane had given him when they’d first met at the university.
No email, just the name Noctem Consulting and a phone number. Maybe he could call and ask Sloane if she knew someone who could help with his idea.
He grabbed for his phone before debating it more. It only rang once before a male voice answered.
“Noctem Consulting. We didn’t expect to hear from you, Professor Radcliffe. What can I do for you?”
Surprise had Luke speechless for a second. “Are you spying on me, whoever you are?”
The man on the other end of the line snorted. “I wouldn’t call it spying. You agreed to help us, so in return, we make sure you’re safe.”
“Not to sound rude, but who are you?”
Luke heard another snort from the other end of the line. “I’m just the guy who lost the coin toss and had to sacrifice his evening to man the phone. What can I do for you, Professor Radcliffe?”
“Please call me Luke. I was hoping to speak to Sloane. Sloane Friday.” Luke could hear a definite hesitation on the line. “Is everything okay? Sloane Friday does work for Noctem Consulting, right?”
“Sloane Friday works here. I’m just surprised she gave you her real name. That’s not common around here, so forgive me for being a little surprised, scratch that, flabbergasted. Well, Luke, Sloane isn’t available at the moment, but can I help you with something?”
Luke was a bit disappointed, but the most important objective took precedence over everything else. “I have an idea that requires some computer talent. Can anybody help me with that?”
“Well, you’re in luck. You’re currently speaking to a computer genius. Shoot.”
Point-by-point, Luke explained his idea of cross-referencing the data and the man on the other end of the line seemed to understand where he was going with it.
“Listen, I can crunch those probabilities for you.”
“It’s not foolproof, but if it can get us an approximate location of where to check next, which I’m sure would help the Vigilante.”
“I’m sure it will. I’ll start working on it and update you. Continue to work that brain of yours, professor. We need it.”
The man disconnected and Luke put down his phone, looking at the map once more, his fingers tracing the lines. “Where are you going?” He was speaking to himself, and that meant his brain was going into overdrive, and that wasn’t good.
He pushed away from the counter and stretched a little. A run would’ve done him good, but that was out of the question.
Still debating if he could maybe push the sofa aside to get a bodyweight workout done, his phone buzzed. He looked at the unknown number and hesitated. The Noctem guy was a genius for sure if he could find the data that quickly but he didn’t think it was him. “Hello?”
“Is this Luke?”