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The guards hauled him to her office, where she waited for him with a small smile. At her side, Cannon stood tall while she sat at her office desk, gesturing for Strap to sit once the guards released him.
“Good to see you, Strap,” she said, a cheeriness to her tone that made him scowl. “How are you doing?”
“Amazing. Fantastic, even.” Strap plopped onto the chair, motioning toward the cold, vacant walls of the office and the lack of color that made him want to tear his hair out of his scalp. “This is even better than a stay at the Marriott if I must say so myself.”
“I’m truly glad you think so,” she replied, shooting back with her own sarcasm. “Sorry for the abrupt end to your supervised recess, but I have some pressing questions for you.” General Nydia leaned back in her chair, running her tongue over her teeth. “How’s Michael Granger? How well do you know him?”
Strap scoffed. “Michael? It’s pronouncedMee-shel. It’s a French name, have some decorum.”
General Nydia smiled. Cannon stared at him with a blank face.
“And I don’t know jackshit about the guy, so I don’t know why you’re asking me.”
“I’m glad to know that you’ve never lost your humor, Strap.” General Nydia leaned forward. “Where is he?”
He did the same, gripping the edge of her office desk tight enough to turn his knuckles white. “I’ve been in prison for the last five years. I don’t know where he is. He could be in fucking Mongolia right now, and I’d be none the wiser.” Strap’s eyes narrowed, eyeing her with a skeptic glare. “Why do you want to know?”
“He has information I’m looking for,” she said, folding her hands across the desk. “And I’m willing to cut you a deal if you help me find him.”
Finally. Something that caught his attention.
“Track him down and get me his location.” General Nydia pressed her finger on her desk. “If you can do that, I’m willing to set you free. A swap for you. Your freedom, and I have him here.”
Freedom? And all I have to do is sell out that old bastard?
Strap cracked all of his knuckles in one go. “Tell me what I’ve got to do.”
“I knew you wouldn’t turn me down.”
“I’ve never been one to pass up golden opportunities. It’s what got me in this hellhole in the first place.” Strap tapped his fingers along her desk, motioning toward her laptop. “I might be able to find his location if I do some research. Can’t guarantee I’ll find anything, but it’s a good starting point.”
“Smart idea.” Nydia swirled her laptop on the desk and slid it his way. Then, she snapped her fingers and directed Cannon to stand over his shoulder and watch what he typed onto the computer. “Go ahead.”
At first, he figured that Mick was back to his old stunts, stealing priceless items across the globe. He searched for recent news articles about extravagant burglaries, but what he found was more …surprising… to say the least.
The Vermeer painting they stole together? Returned to the museum they nabbed it from.
The Vietnamese copper bell that Strap had gone to great lengths to steal from a Buddhist monastery? Returned. Anonymously.
Strap bit his bottom lip, a bit worried about continuing searching. As he browsed the trending news, his eyes gravitated toward an article about a medical conference on human aging that was happening soon. The International Master Course on Aging Science. World-renowned plastic surgeon Peter Hidalgo was going to be in attendance.
That surgeon was on Mick’s radar for hiring a competitor to steal the Liston knife that once belonged to Jack the Ripper from under Mick’s nose. Strap figured maybe Mick might try to get it for himself.
“I’ve got a lead,” he said. And the spark in General Nydia’s eyes intensified.
“How perfect,” she whispered, a smile falling from her face.
* * *
Freedom.Wind soared beneath his outstretched wings as he glided across the skies of France in search of the condo that belonged to the plastic surgeon.
He knew Mick and all of his old tricks. Peter Hidalgo had humiliated him by stealing the knife. A thief getting thieved from. Thinking back on it, the whole thing was pretty funny, even though Strap acted outraged for Mick to make sure the old man didn’t feel too bad about the ordeal.
I should have laughed in his face,Strap thought bitterly.Stupid old man. Who gets their knife taken by a plastic surgeon with enough filler in his own face to swell up his cheeks?
General Nydia had replaced the suppression chip in Strap’s nape with a GPS tracker. This enabled him to shift again, but it also meant he was under constant surveillance.
At the moment, that didn’t mean shit to him, and neither did it worry him at all. He wanted his freedom. He wanted the sun on his skin and the wind in his hair, fur, or feathers. So he agreed, signed the paperwork, and flew off into the sky once he got the go-ahead.
