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“Thanks, Tricia. It’s really the best plan.”
***
Next Day
Kendra’s Condo
Lynch delivered Tricia to Kendra at five the next afternoon. It was obvious Tricia was not pleased. “I told him it was too early,” she said as she stood in the doorway of the condo. “He wouldn’t pay any attention to me. I never leave the pool until at least seven. I’m in training!”
“Too bad,” Lynch said. “I didn’t like the setup. I’ll try to make it more secure starting tomorrow. Until then she’s over to you, Kendra. I’ve got Scanlon and another of Griffin’s top men guarding the condo tonight. I’ll be here at six in the morning to pick her up and take her back to the university. Now I’ve got to go back to make that damn pool facility safe for her.” He held up his hand as Tricia started to protest. “I don’t want to hear it. We’ll talk tomorrow. Don’t give Kendra a hard time.” He pushed her in the door and left the condo.
Kendra immediately followed him into the hall. “Milo? Any report from Griffin?”
“Sorry. I heard from Griffin just before I left the swim center. I was a little occupied with getting Tricia out of there. Like I told you, the Escalade was stolen from the parking garage at Horton Plaza. They’ve continued searching it for DNA and prints, but they’ve turned up nothing. They still might get something from security camera recordings in the area. He’ll let us know if they discover anything else.”
“Which is basically what we expected,” Kendra said wryly. “Now we just wait for the next attack? That sucks.”
“Agreed.” Lynch turned away. “But until we can find a way to turn it around, we just play a defensive game and keep our naiad water goddess in there alive and well. I’ll do my part, go in and do yours.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” she said grimly. “Count on it.” She opened the door and went back into the condo.
Tricia said to Kendra the instant she saw her, “Lynch wasn’t being reasonable. The pool was absolutely safe. It was crowded with people, but no one came near me. He stayed poolside and I was within calling distance. This isn’t going to work out, Kendra.”
“Yes, it is,” Kendra said firmly. “Because we’re going to make it work out. Lynch isn’t unreasonable. He probably told you exactly what his problems were with the security at the pool. You probably didn’t want to hear them. Isn’t that right?”
Tricia was silent for a moment. “Perhaps. But no one could have that many possible threats to deal with in such a restricted area. He went overboard.”
“Really. Tell me all about them. I’d like to hear what you consider unreasonable.”
Tricia hesitated and then looked away. “You’re not going to let me off the hook, are you? Okay, here goes. He said there are six unlocked access points to the aquatic center alone. Four more if someone picked or broke the locks. The dining hall is a security nightmare as far as he’s concerned. My dorm is a little better, since you need to swipe a badge to get through any of the four main entrances. But Lynch had no problem getting students to hold the doors open for him when he entered behind them. And he thought I’d be particularly vulnerable between there and my classroom buildings.” She made a face. “It sounds much worse when you put it like that.”
Kendra’s brows rose. “You mean the truth?”
Tricia grimaced. “Yeah, something like that. He didn’t like it that I argued with him.”
“He’s not used to it. You don’t know how lucky you were to get him to handle your security. I should have told you more about him before I threw the two of you together.” She shrugged. “I liked you, I thought you were smart, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can read someone as complex as Lynch. It wasn’t fair to him. Tell me, what was your impression of him?”
Tricia frowned thoughtfully. “Very intelligent, sophisticated, lots of charisma and personal magnetism, most of the time he appears to have a great sense of humor.” She added, “Not today.”
“Okay, now I’ll fill in the blanks.” Kendra took Tricia’s arm and led her back toward the door. “We’re going to go downstairs and I’m going to introduce you to my friend Olivia and her dog, Harley. We’re going to take the stairs because I need the time to tell you about Lynch and by the time you reach her condo, you’ll realize that you can’t ever accept anyone at face value, particularly a wild card like Lynch. Which will prepare you to meet Olivia.”
“I’m beginning to get nervous. Should I?”
“Nah, because you’re not stupid. You’re actually quite bright. You’re just young, ambitious, and a workaholic, and you’re seeing what you want to see.” They were in the corridor, and she was leading her toward the staircase. “I’ll just open your eyes a bit. Lynch is all the things that you’ve reeled off to me. But if I’d given you his background you would have seen beyond that surface. You didn’t know that he was formerly with the FBI, but it wasn’t challenging enough for him. He’s a master manipulator and he seldom worked with conventional methods. They called him The Puppetmaster.”
“Rather melodramatic.”
“That’s what I thought until I heard the story of how he once went undercover with two different crime families in Philadelphia and New York and pitted them against each other. They crippled each other’s operations and murdered many of each other’s top men. The Bureau managed to take down both families eventually.”
Tricia gave a low whistle. “You said that wasn’t challenging enough for him?”
“Too small a canvas. He’s now a black ops strategist for U.S. intelligence agencies. He also does extractions and he’s the man everyone goes to when everything is falling apart. If he said all those soft spots at the pool were security dangers, then that’s what they were. Because he has the experience to identify and neutralize them better than anyone you’ve ever met. Do you understand?”
“You’ve made it very clear.” She gave her a mischievous smile. “Except your personal relationship with him.”
“Which is none of your business. But I will tell you that when we work together, we discover all kinds of new and different ways that we agree and disagree. He’s never let me down and he’s always been there when I’ve been in a corner.” She’d paused in front of Olivia’s door. “And now that I’ve explained Lynch, it’s time you meet my best friend, Olivia.”
“And her dog, Harley,” Tricia added. “I love dogs.”
