Kendra drew a deep breath and pressed the disconnect. She’d gotten what she wanted; she could only hope it would give her what she needed.
She got to her feet, strode out of her room, and knocked on Jessie’s door. “I just spoke to Metcalf,” she said when Jessie opened it. “We may have to make a deal with the devil, but it may be the only way we can get the information we need. Come into my room and have a cup of coffee and we’ll talk about it.”
Kendra’s phone rang at eight o’clock the next morning.
“Kendra Michaels? This is Ted Cambry.” The man’s tone was curt and not particularly pleasant. “I understand that you want to talk to me, and I’ve got orders to oblige you. Lord knows why. As if I weren’t busy enough. I certainly haven’tgot either the time or the inclination. But I might as well get it over with since you seem to have been able to persuade both my boss at Justice and Griffin at the FBI that you might be helpful.”
“My, my. I can’t tell you how warm and appreciative I feel to hear how glad you’re going to be working with me,” Kendra said caustically. “I hope I won’t disappoint you. Regardless, since you do have your orders, I’m sure you’ll cooperate. It appears that both Justice and the FBI seem to think that my presence on the case might be of value, since Lynch and I have known each other and worked together for a long time.” She couldn’t leave it at that after his opening rudeness. “And I don’t care if you want to work with me or not, but be prepared for me to squeeze every bit of information I can from you before we’re done with each other. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly,” Cambry said. “And I’ll return the favor. The only good thing about your interference in this case is that you might serve as a lure to bring Lynch out of hiding.” He paused. “If he’s even still alive.”
Kendra’s grip tightened on her phone. “You don’t think he is?”
“I have no idea. My bosses seem to think he’s still alive and are making me work my butt off to find him. But then they’ve always thought he was the golden boy who could do no wrong. They’ve given me hell since the day he disappeared. As if it was my fault that I couldn’t persuade him to come back when he was scheduled instead of putting me off until the next day.”
“And Lynch didn’t give you any reason why he was doing that?”
“He just said he had to finish the job and he’d rather do ithimself. It wasn’t that unusual, Lynch usually worked alone. Justice just sent me this time as an errand boy to watch out for him because the assignment was so important.” Another pause. “You can imagine how that made me feel. I’m a very good agent. I should have been the one assigned to that job in the beginning. I can’t help it that Lynch gets lucky so often.”
“No, you can’t,” Kendra said coldly. “Any more than he can help having more intelligence and better instincts than anyone you’ve ever met. Certainly more than I’ve ever run across. And that’s why I’m banking they’ll come through for him this time, too. So you can stop thinking all that negative bullshit you’re spewing out. Because as long as we’re working together, I don’t want to hear it. I’m going to find out about every minute of Lynch’s time with you, and you’re going to remember every positive thing that might lead us to him. Do we understand each other?”
“Of course,” Cambry said mockingly. “I don’t want a bad report from you to go back to headquarters. Where are you located? Where shall I pick you up?”
“I prefer to meet you, if you don’t mind.”
He suddenly chuckled. “Are you afraid that I might bring you in for a little Q and A?”
“No. I’m hardly afraid of you on any level. I can take care of myself. I just want to be in control of our relationship and the way it’s going. Can I text you the address at this number?”
“Sure.”
Kendra texted him the address she’d already entered into her map app. “You should have it any second now. I’ll meet you atthis address in two hours. It will probably take you that long if you’re in central London.”
“Really?” She heard him move his phone away from his face. Then he gave a whistle. “You’re right. You’re nowhere near me.” He suddenly started cursing. “And I recognize that address. Hell, you’re almost over the border into Scotland. It’s damn near the airport where I was supposed to meet Lynch and bring him back to the U.S. What the devil are you doing there?”
“Exploring,” Kendra said. “I wasn’t trying to fool you. I just thought that we might as well start at the beginning. According to what Griffin told me, the last time you saw Lynch it was in this area. When I realized I needed to talk to you, I called up and chatted with Mackeller, the airport manager, and pumped him a little about you and Lynch and your meetings. He said he didn’t know much; he’d only run into you and Lynch a few times at his office when you’d rented a helicopter, and once at the bar next door that was the hangout for the pilots who used the airport. It was pretty obvious that someone had warned him not to answer questions. Was it you?”
“It might have been,” he said cautiously. “But did it occur to you that it might also be either Lynch himself or the scum who was responsible for his disappearance? I was suspicious myself when I was questioning Mackeller after Lynch no-showed me.”
“Both did occur to me. So I decided we should meet there and I could retrace your steps and perhaps discuss what you were doing with Lynch there at the airport.”
“I don’t have to discuss confidential information about the case with you. That wasn’t part of my instructions.”
“I’d bet that was because you aren’t privy to any pertinentdetails about it anyway. Griffin stressed to me that it’s top secret. Isn’t that true?”
Cambry was silent for a long moment. “What if it was? It’s not as if I wanted to be included. It would have just been a courtesy to a fellow agent.”
And that had evidently stung, Kendra thought. “I can see how it might have annoyed you. But wouldn’t it give you a sense of satisfaction if you could uncover all that top-secret nonsense and then rub their noses in it?”
Another silence. “Perhaps.”
“Then it might be to your advantage to help me with a little more enthusiasm?”
“Maybe.” He added quickly, “Not that I’ve been spinning my wheels since Lynch disappeared. I’ve been doing my job and exploring the hills near the airport. I’ve even spent several hours hunting through those Highlands that Lynch was so damn interested in.”
“Highlands?” she repeated. “I hadn’t heard anything about the Highlands.”
“Then you know even less than I thought,” Cambry said harshly. “And you’re probably wasting my time.”
