“You didn’t have to meet us here.”
“Not to worry,” he said. “We’ll drop you off at Charles’s later.”
Garret settled in his seat and said, “So you’ll put Charles in the spotlight over this too?”
“Of course not,” he said. “The way we get along with Charles is that he keeps us in the loop.”
“And did he tell you that we were coming?”
“Doesn’t matter if he did or didn’t,” Jonas said cheerfully, as they pulled up in front of a hotel. “We would have heard from other channels.”
Garret looked at the hotel and asked, “Astra’s here?”
“Yes.”
“And you expect our presence to loosen her tongue?”
“It’s worth a try,” Jonas said.
“You’re not treating her like the family of a missing person, which I find interesting. You treat all your crime victims this way?”
“Why would she be a victim?”
“Well, her sister’s missing. Yet you think she has intel that she’s not giving up? Isn’t that counterproductive? The sister would want you to find Amy. So what gives, Jonas?”
“Yeah, I don’t understand that either,” Kano said. “Something else is behind this.”
“There is,” Garret said, “no doubt. But Jonas here, he likes to play things close to the vest.”
“It’s the only way to operate,” Jonas said.
“Not true,” Garret said.
“With you guys, it is,” Jonas said. “You are nothing but consistent—consistently right in our way.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Garret said. “It’s not likely to stay that way.”
“Says you, but we need something to break here.”
“Twenty-four hours already gone by?”
“Almost,” Jonas admitted.
“Well, I’m glad that she’s deserving of at least that much attention,” he said. “Anybody mention my brother?”
At that, Jonas got out of the vehicle and leaned down, looking at him with a frown. “What about your brother?”
“Well, apparently he’s missing,” Garret said. “That’s why I’m here to talk to Amy. She supposedly had information on his disappearance.”
At that, Jonas started to swear.
“What’s the matter?” Garret said. “Did you think you were the only one with access to intel?”
“I was hoping I had access to the right information, at least,” he said, “but you guys keep hiding stuff from us.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” he said. “I was sent over to talk to her. I only found out my brother was missing moments before we got on the plane that landed here.”
“How long has he been missing?”
“Our intel is a little short on that,” Kano said smoothly. “But we’re looking at thirty-six hours, possibly forty-eight.”
“Which means not very long, and, knowing you guys, maybe he’s not missing at all.”
“Maybe not,” Garret said. “I don’t know much, but I for damn sure wouldn’t have made this trip on the back of another if I’d thought something wasn’t behind it.”
“Good point,” Jonas said, as they all got out of the vehicle and walked into the lobby.
“Is Astra expecting us?” Garret asked.
“No,” Jonas replied.
“So how do you know she’s here?”
“I called ahead, while I was waiting for you guys.”
“And don’t tell me. I can guess. She still doesn’t know that you’re here, right?”
“I don’t know if she does or not,” he said. “It would be really nice of you guys to help us out though. I understand no love is lost between you and your ex-fiancée, but, if her sister can lead us to answers on your brother and Amy, that would be worth your while.”
“I still want to know why you’re tracking Astra, the sister,” Garret said, feeling the hair on the back of his neck going up at the thought. “She’s not in this industry.”
“Says you,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
Jonas hesitated, then shrugged. “Our intel says she’s pretty high up in the government, the US government. We want to know what’s going on, but nobody’s talking.”
“So, if you’re asking us,” Garret said, “then chances are she’s in one of those little secret divisions.”
“That’s what we’re assuming because we find no sign of her on any of the websites. Also, when we Google her, we don’t get anything.”
“Sounds like little sister’s grown up,” Garret said. “You could be completely wrong though, you know?”
“It happens,” Jonas said, “but not very often.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not happening now.”
“Like we said, if it is, it is.”
“Damn,” he said. “I hope she isn’t involved in that shit. She was a pretty nice, innocent young girl.”
Just then a cold crisp voice with a hard edge cut across the lobby. “I still am, only now, I’m a woman.” And she walked across, her gaze on Garret.
He stopped and stared. “Okay, little sis, you grew up.”
She gave him a big hug. “We came very close to being family,” she said, “but all that went by the wayside.”
“I thought you would have been family by now, through my brother instead,” he said.
“Your brother isn’t too eager to move forward.”
At that, Garret stopped and stared at her. “Seriously?”
“He said he wanted to straighten things up with you before he took any further steps in that direction.”
Something inside Garret settled a little at that. “I can’t imagine he loved Amy, what with the way it happened,” he said. “But still, that’s no excuse.”
“No, it isn’t,” Astra said. “The only thing I can say is that I thought my sister was growing up a little bit.”
“Well, there’s definitely room for that,” he snapped back.
She winced. “You still pining for her?”
“Hell no,” he said. “She’s just another life lesson, that’s all.”
“Maybe so,” Astra said. “But not all lessons have to be bad.”
“They’re never good though,” he said. “So, enough of that. What are you doing here?” He motioned at the two men at his side. “Do you know these two?”
She looked at Kano, frowned, and said, “You work with Garret, don’t you?”
Kano reached out a hand, introduced himself.
She nodded. “That’s what I thought.” She turned to look at Jonas and frowned. “You’re the one who’s been bugging me for information that I don’t have.”
Watching their interactions, Garret found nothing in her crisp assertive mannerisms even slightly reminiscent of the young girl he used to know. It was all he could do to not stare at her bemusedly.
At that point, Jonas stepped forward. “We do have a few questions.”