“Yes, what about her?”
“There is a chance that she’s willing to talk.”
“About what?”
“Well, the message I got was one she sent through the underground, saying she had nothing to do with it.”
“Well, that sounds suspicious,” Astra said.
Beside her, Charles immediately nodded.
Fallon continued on Speakerphone, “The issue, I think, is the fact that people are suspicious, and, because of her falling out with Bullard, they’re looking to her. So she’s saying she didn’t have anything to do with it and is willing to help with the investigation.”
“Well, let’s put some pressure on that,” Garret said.
“I’d like to,” Fallon said. “You’re busy trying to find your brother, and, as far as we know, that could be related.”
“Well, considering my brother may have had some association with her as well, maybe that’s somebody we should be pushing,” he said.
“Agreed, but, so far, I haven’t gotten an answer from her,” Fallon said.
“Does anybody over here have any connection with her?” Garret asked.
“She doesn’t trust anybody,” Fallon said.
“She trusts me,” Kano said.
“Why the hell would she do that?” Garret asked, looking at him in surprise.
He shrugged. “We have some history—no, not sexually—but she was involved in the family for a time.”
“Interesting,” he said. “You’ve never mentioned it.”
“I wouldn’t be mentioning it now, if there was any way not to,” he said. “I’d like to think she doesn’t have anything to do with the attacks on our team, but I can’t prove it.”
“Send a message then, and see if she’ll talk to us … or you.”
“I’ve already done that,” Kano said. “At the time, she didn’t respond because it was me going to her about your missing brother.”
“Why would she not respond?” Astra asked. “I don’t get it.”
“She’ll want something, and just because we have a history doesn’t mean I like her,” he said. “She’s not a very likable person.”
At that, Astra frowned. “It sounds like it, but even assholes will usually talk business, won’t they? So let’s talk business.”
“Maybe, but, if we could find the answers without her, that would be better. Then we can utilize whatever leverage we come up with in order to get answers on what’s going on with Bullard.”
“Right. That’s your game anyway.”
“It’s one part of the game,” Kano said. “Remember. That’s only part of why we came here.”
She nodded but felt a chill come over her shoulders at the reminder. “It all seems pretty messed up right now.”
“No, it is totally messed up right now,” Garret said, as he rang off from Fallon’s call and turned to look at Charles, an odd look on his face. “Charles, what’s up?”
“That Belgium pub you mentioned earlier, that your brother went into?” he said. “We have one here by the same name.” He was busy working on the computer and viewing the monitor above the fireplace. “I wonder if it’s related?”
“Yeah, but there are a million pubs with the same names, all around the world,” Astra said.
“Yes, and it happens to be a great way to keep track of business, so people don’t have any problems moving stuff from one location to the other.”
“Meaning, they’re connected somehow, like a franchise or something?”
“That’s certainly a possibility. I hadn’t considered the idea that they might have made the association legal.”
“There are advantages to having a business be legal like that,” she murmured.
“There can be disadvantages too,” Garret said, as he studied the name of the place. “Maybe we should go pay this one a visit?”
“I think that’s a grand idea,” Charles said. “I’m not so sure this is all that innocent, if you look at it closely. Just see where it’s situated.”
They all studied the screen for a long moment.
“It’s on the outskirts of town,” Garret noted, “close to a main highway, close to the waterways for moving stuff in and out, and close to shipping lanes. But then, the location of a pub is important, like a gas station.”
“Yes,” Kano said. “Location, location, location.”
“But it’s also good for easily moving goods and materials,” Charles noted.
At that, Kano turned to look at him, asking, “What kinds of goods and materials?”
Charles shook his head. “I’ve been working with MI6 on sex trafficking in England,” he said. “We have a real problem that we’re trying to lock down. We were looking for this type of location, and this looks ideal to me.”
“If there’s ever such a thing that’s ideal,” Astra murmured.
“Oh, absolutely there is, but, in this case,” he said, “I wasn’t thinking of Garret’s brother, as much as this other problem.”
“In case you don’t know,” Garret said. “Astra works in cybersecurity, hunting cyberpredators.”
Charles looked at her in surprise. “I’m really glad to hear that. It’s such a sad world out there.”
“I know,” she said. “We’re working on it.”
“Of course you are,” he said warmly. “It’ll take a whole lot more than just a couple of us to do this.”
“It will,” she said, feeling a kinship she hadn’t expected. She studied the pub on the screen and said, “So I suggest we go get a beer then.”
“I do too,” Charles said. “So, my dear, would you like to come have a beer with me?”
Not sure what he was up to, she nodded in agreement. “I’d be honored, but what about these two?”
“Oh, we’ll be there,” Garret said. “Just not out front.”
“Are you going hunting?” Astra asked.
“Absolutely,” he said, giving her a hard smile. “We’ll do the best kind of hunting there is.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” she said slowly.
“You’ll be safe,” he said. “I promise.”
“You can’t promise something like that,” she said. “We have no connection linking Gregg to this particular pub, other than the name.”
“Ah, maybe not,” Kano said, looking up from his phone. “What we do have is the pub owner’s name, who is the father of one of the men who works for Kingdom.”
“Here we go again,” Garret said. “Everything keeps coming back to Kingdom.”
“It seems that way, doesn’t it? So let’s go pay that pub a visit.”
*
Dressed in black and already in the alleyway outside of the pub, Garret and Kano had pulled out the blueprints, searching for the secret entrance, knowing it had to be somewhere close by. They weren’t exactly sure where, but there had to be some entrance they hadn’t seen. Charles and Astra had gone in for a beer, and after discussing the plan with Amy—and getting her personal banking information, with more than a little resistance—had left her at Charles’ home to rest.