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He walks past me—slowly, as if he’s circling prey—then pulls a chair from next to the desk and motions for me to sit down.
Well-mannered, huh? Maybe not a street guy after all, but definitely someone on the other side of the law.
Somehow, I feel like he talks even less than Archer. And somehow, I know that he’s the type of person who gathers a lot of info and uses it against people. His eyes don’t leave my face, not even for the moment he takes to pull two more chairs out. Like he’s profiling me.
“Alright.” Marlow navigates the arrow on the screen to a conference app and finds my father’s name, then starts the call.
Considering, I came here undercover only several months ago, the conference call between the almighty of Zion and my dad is strange, to say the least.
“Mr. Ortiz, nice to see you again,” Marlow says as soon as my dad’s face appears on the screen.
Again?
“Hi, Nick.”
Since when is Marlow Nick to my dad? Am I freaking missing something?
Marlow introduces Raven, and when Raven says, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Ortiz,” I hear his voice for the first time—low, business-like, but soft. Whoa, I need to learn more about this guy.
“So, Katura already told you about O’Shea.” My father spends some time giving more detailed intel on him, all the while looking calm and relaxed like he deals with Russian mob spies on a daily basis. The best part of this? Marlow and Raven’s eyes are glued to the screen, and my chest bursts with pride for my pops.
He’s the only one talking, in that monotonous voice of a lecturer. “We need to isolate O’Shea and Cunningham. You need to figure out who they are close to. If you give Katura their work schedules and GPS tracking prints for the last month, she’ll share with me any info that might seem suspicious. There might be more guys in their crew. And that creates another problem. You need to restrict their movements.”
“Restrict?” Marlow finally asks after a prolonged silence.
“Detention. Incarceration. Whatever amenities you have at Ayana. No form of communication with anyone while they are detained. But that’s where you have a problem.”
He pauses, and it’s Raven who speaks now. “Who is reliable enough to handle and guard them.”
“Correct.” Dad nods. “You only need two-three guys who can do twenty-four-hour remote surveillance. But those guys have to be trusted. And by the looks of it, you can’t trust a single security guy at Ayana right now. In theory.”
“And in practice?” Marlow asks.
“In practice, you have to compromise. I assume Mr. Crone’s private security team left for the mainland with him.” He nods when Marlow confirms it. “You have no choice then. Someone has to do the job. I can look through the files again and make suggestions. Then there’s the next question.”
“Which is?” Marlow asks again, his foot tapping the floor—I can’t tell if he’s worried or excited.
“You need to get O’Shea and Cunningham totalk.”
I know by the edge in my dad’s voice what that means.
Marlow gets the idea. “Talk,” he repeats like he’s savoring the word.
Dad clears his throat, and I see Raven’s eyes snap to Marlow and then back to the screen. He gets it.
“Not pep-talk, Nick. They are not office employees. And you know who might’ve sent them. You need to interrogate them.”
I glance at Raven. His eyes narrow just slightly, his cheekbones sharpening as he sucks in his cheeks, which gives him an even more vicious look.
Slowly, he shifts his eyes to meet mine.
I stole a glance at the missing phalanges on his left hand before—he comes from experience. There’s no doubt in my mind, that to Raven, doing this sort oftalkingis child’s play.
5
KAT
They beat O’Shea for an hour,though he seems to be immune to the pain—occupational habit.
