His father had stolen him from his grandfather when he was eight years old—he figured that money was still collecting on an old blood debt.
He definitely had enough money for a new phone.
With a yank at the old-fashioned window clips of the aging Greyhound, he tossed the phone out onto the turnpike, where it would be hopelessly shattered on the rolling pavement below.
HE WASstanding in Clint Harding’s office twelve hours later, his dusty Army duffel at his feet, the rubble of sleep in his eyes.
“You’re ready to work today?”Harding said, a kind smile on his craggy face.Harding was surprisingly tall, with broad shoulders that didn’t think of stooping, Nordic features, and a rather dominant nose.Still, he had that magnetic appeal that came with confidence and command.Would Joey hit that?Sure.Would it be necessary?No.“Wouldn’t you like to find a place to sleep, cop a shower, get settled first?”
Joey blinked multiple times and tried to squelch a yawn.“Not necessary, sir.”
“Well, as your SAC I’m going to have to disagree,” Harding said briskly, something about his voice recalling the military, which was probably a canny move on his part, because Joey took that as an order.“Do you have lodging?”
“Furnished apartment,” he said.He’d seen pictures.It was a spartan sanded floor, white tile sort of place.“Haven’t been there yet.”
Harding’s eyes widened.“Well, maybe you should check it out, hit your rack, get a hot meal, and be back here tomorrow.Don’t worry.Plenty of bad guys tomorrow.”
Joey wasn’t sure if Harding was mocking him or not, but he caught the kind crinkles at the corners of his eyes and realized that he was just making a joke.
God, he reallymustget to sleep if he was about to take issue with his SAC for cracking a joke.
“Yessir,” he said, giving a crisp nod.“Oh-eight-hundred?”
“We’ll have coffee and pastries,” Harding told him soberly.“But I suggest you eat before then.Trust me, the takeout sitch is target rich in this city.”
Joey grimaced.“Need a phone for that, sir.Mine was… damaged in transit.”
Harding grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose.“How far away is your apartment?”he asked.
Joey gave him the address, and Harding’s eyes did that widening thing again.
“That’s forty blocks away,” he said.“How were you planning to get there?”
Joey shrugged.“Walk?I understand there’s buses.I’ve got plastic.”And while his insouciance spoke of many years on his own, of tracking down prey in the jungle or wandering strange cities, he’d realized on the way in that nothing had quite prepared him for the human and concrete density of New York City.It wasn’t as humanly dense as, say, Myanmar or Tokyo, but there was an unyielding quality to all those tall buildings, the acres of automobiles.
And he felt very much like a sidewalk flower, searching for the sun.
He’d learned very early on to not admit weakness and to never be lost, but for the first time in his life, it hit him that now would be a very good time to learn to ask for help.
Harding didn’t make him ask.
“You know what?We’ve got nothing doing at the moment.The rest of the team’s on desk duty until we get a call.Kylie, our computer genius, usually runs point, and she’ll let us know if anything in our purview falls out.Here, let me call Chadwick.He lives in the city.He’ll be able to give you some tips.Let’s go.”
Joey barely remembered almost tripping over Chadwick on his way to Harding’s office.That would nag him later, how little he’dseenthe man.
Sure, he was angular—face like a three-dimensional trapezoid, with a knife-blade nose and cheekbones that could cut steak.His mouth was a lean slash, slightly off center, as though he was trying not to let on that he saw the world sideways.
Joey, who had been silently laughing at fear, at his fellow students, at authority for his entire life, should really have seen the kindred spirit.
But right then all he’d seen had been Harding’s derpy friend.
He didn’t see much more as Harding called Chadwick over and told him they were going to run their new member to the home he hadn’t seen yet.
“You got an apartment in the Upper West Side?”Chadwick asked when he heard the address.“Fancy.”
“I have no idea,” Joey said, suddenly aware that he may have wanted to do more research about his new residence.He’d been so grateful for the job.“I was looking for a place I could afford is all.”
Chadwick didn’t say anything then, didn’t make fun of him, didn’t mention that if Joey could afford the Upper West Side that meant he could afford a hell of a lot.He simply gave a shrug.
