“It’s what I saw,” he said.
“I don’t think ‘guzzle’ is the word I would use. Charles?”
“Never, my dear. Chug perhaps.”
That sent her into a fit of giggles and left Garret shaking his head.
When they were back in the vehicle, however, she was all business. “So, what’s going on?”
“We found the courier.”
“And?”
“He’s dead.”
“Where is he?” she asked, her voice sober.
“In the trunk of his car.” He twisted in the seat to look at Charles. “You want to call Jonas?”
“Of course,” he said, and moments later they heard Charles making the report to MI6. Garret sat back against the front seat, his face grim, as he mapped out a route to Maggie’s house. He showed it to Kano, who nodded. The trip was hard and fast, but the silence in the back seat worried him the most. He twisted to look back at her. She had a pinched gray look to her face. “You okay, Astra?”
She gave him a soft look and said, “Yes, I was on a nice buzz from the beer, but that news was enough to send anybody’s good cheer down the drain.”
“It is,” he said. “I wish you were back at Charles’ place, with your sister.”
She gave him a ghost of a smile. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“No, it wasn’t part of the plan, at least not part of your plan,” he said. “But it certainly would be nice for my plan.”
“Not happening,” she said, chuckling.
He shook his head. “Just saying, that’s all.”
“Maybe so, but it’s not happening, so don’t worry about it.”
“What do you want to do then? The next place could be bad.”
“It can’t all be bad,” she said. “I’m here. Charles’s here. We’ll hold down the fort, as you guys do what you need to do.”
He hesitated, and she reached her hand over the seat, closer to him. Garret immediately grabbed it and hung on.
“We’ll find him,” she said gently.
He squeezed her fingers and said, “I know. We definitely will. The question is, what shape will he be in?”
She winced at that. “We’ll hold on to the belief that he’ll be alive and fine, once he’s out of there.”
“Okay.”
She smiled. “Come on. We’ll make it through this.”
“We will.”
She stopped, then not giving herself the chance to bite back the words, she said, “I’m living in New York these days.”
“New York?” he said, with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you said France?”
“No, I was at a conference in France, when I last saw Amy,” Astra said. “I do travel a lot. That might be a problem.”
He gave half a snort. “I do a lot of traveling too.”
“New York is easy to get in and out of at least,” she said.
He glanced at her, and a smile was in his gaze. “Is this leading somewhere?”
Yes,” she said, carrying on bravely. “I thought maybe you’d like to go for coffee sometime?”
He chuckled. “If you’re asking me out on a date, the answer is definitely yes.”
She chuckled too. “Well, I’m still a bit old-fashioned and figured you should do the asking, but I thought coffee was safe.”
“How about we go out for dinner when we meet up in New York?”
“Is that a nebulous if and when?” she asked.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “When this nightmare is over. How’s that?”
“That is a definite possibility,” she said, and she let his fingers go.
“The other thing is,” he said, “since we both travel a lot, we could meet up in other places too.”
“I’d like that,” she said, settling back comfortably. “I’m due for a holiday in London.”
“Why London?” he asked.
“Because I like London,” she said, “and I’m still dealing with some family stuff.”
“We could both be dealing with a lot of family stuff after this,” he said. “There’s not just my brother but also your sister to consider.”
“Who could ever forget,” she said, laughing.
“It is what it is,” he said.
“I know.”
Just then Charles got off the phone, and the vehicle rolled to a stop. With both those things happening so suddenly, she looked around and asked, “Is this Maggie’s house?”
With no lights on in the car, they remained inside the vehicle, parked a couple houses from what looked like was probably the house where Maggie lived because it was the only one nearby with a garage.
“Supposed to be a space above the garage,” he said.
She pointed. “There?”
“That’s what our GPS is saying,” Kano said. “And it’s got the only garage in sight.” He looked at Garret. “We could be early.”
“I suggest we scope it out first,” Garret said, then looked back at Charles.
Charles smiled, patted Astra’s arm, and said, “We’ll sit here and wait.”
The men got out, walked down the street together, quickly disappearing from sight.
She sagged back against the seat. “How did I do?”
“I think you did brilliantly,” he said. “When you think about it, you haven’t had a whole lot of opportunity to get anything out there, so today was lovely.”
“It felt pushy,” she muttered.
“Guys like Garret, they don’t normally jump in. Especially in this case because of all the family stuff going on. In such a circumstance, a little pushiness may be required.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said.
“It was well done,” he said. “You’ll probably have to fine-tune it a bit though.”
“Yeah, he’ll leave it as nebulous, won’t he?”
“He might,” Charles said, with a chuckle. “But if he’s smart, he won’t …” and he let his voice trail off.
She smiled, settled back, and said, “No, he won’t be smart about it at all.”
“In that case,” Charles said, “you might want to up your game a little bit.”
She chuckled. “Not sure I know how to do that.”
“You don’t have to think about it, don’t rationalize it,” he said. “Just do what comes naturally.”
“I’ll have to think about that,” she said, as she yawned. “You know what? Sitting in a warm vehicle after all that beer, I’m about to crash.”
“Close your eyes,” he said. “It’s all good.”
“Says you. I’m not used to sleeping in a vehicle like this.”
“You’re also not used to being in a vehicle on a stakeout,” he said. “These things can be long and drawn out, so enjoy yourself while you can.”
“Not sure how much of this is enjoyment, but—”
“Stop,” he said. “Close your eyes, and get some rest. It’s all good.”
She chuckled and said, “Are you always this forceful?”