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Rebecca begins to unbutton her blouse.
And my bloody mobile rings.
I unleash a string of Gaelic curses as I struggle to extricate my mobile from my pocket while Rebecca is on my lap. By the time I say hello, I'm a wee bit winded. The caller ID tells me who it is. "Logan, do you have what I need?"
"Aye. I've sent it to you via encrypted email."
"How do I decrypt it?"
"You'll see. Evan and Errol will be coming your way shortly, and Grey Dixon will join in via video call. And please let Rebecca know that her son and daughter are safe, and there's no sign Holden even knows about them. But a mate of mine will keep tabs on them covertly."
I can't believe Logan could arrange all of this in such a short time. It's been forty-two minutes since I called him. "Dinnae know what to say, Logan. I appreciate all the help, but that doesn't seem like an adequate response."
"Good luck, Thane. If you need anything else, just let me know."
I toss my mobile onto the coffee table. "No time for a poke, I'm afraid."
Rebecca slides off my lap. "Oh, well. There's always later."
Someone bangs on the front door. "Wakey-wakey, Thane! The reinforcements have arrived."
"Who is that?" Rebecca asks. "Errol or Evan?"
"It's Errol. Evan MacTaggart never uses the term 'wakey-wakey,' and he also never bangs on doors." I jump up and hurry over to the door, swinging it open. "Come in, laddies. Evan, can you swear to me that Errol doesn't have any explosive devices on his person?"
Evan pushes his glasses up with one finger. "No one can guarantee that. For all I know, he's dropped miniature land mines throughout your property, and he'll detonate them via the app on his mobile."
Rebecca springs off the sofa and races over to me. "Land mines? Are you serious?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Errol is a bampot of the first order."
Errol feigns shock. "Who, me? I'm the gentlest person on earth."
The other MacTaggart, Evan, rolls his eyes heavenward and sighs.
I swing the door all the way open. "Hurry up and get in here. Dinnae want Odin to become agitated and think you lot are attacking me."
The two laddies amble into the house. Rebecca and I head for the sofa, but only Evan follows us, and he takes the desk chair. Errol detours over to the window.
He opens it up and waves while grinning. "No worries, Odin. It's just me, Errol. Evan is here too. We're all mates, and I promise to go out there and have a chat with you later. Brought some treats for you too."
Errol shuts the window and saunters over to the armchair, dropping onto it with one leg slung over the side. "Sooo, what should we do first? Dinnae reckon you've got any explosives on hand."
Rebecca, who sits beside me on the sofa, glances back and forth between me and Errol. "Is he insane?"
"Aye." Evan and I say that at the same time.
Errol clutches his chest. "I'm wounded. My mates think I'm a bampot." He winks at Rebecca. "Ye haven't lived until you've experienced my remotely detonated land mines. It's better than a fireworks display. I could show you right now. Wouldn't ye love to see that? You can tell your son and daughter that you witnessed a unique explosives display."
Rebecca looks completely flummoxed. "Uh, no thanks. Maybe some other time."
"Aye, just let me know."
Evan steeples his fingers as he rocks his chair gently. "Perhaps we should get to the geospatial data."
"That's my cue to visit with Odin," Errol says. "Be back in a wee while."
I rise and approach the desk, leaning my hip against it. My focus remains on the computer screen as Evan downloads the compressed files and opens those up so we can peruse the contents. I recognize that we're looking at geospatial data, but it doesn't seem to be in any particular order. In my job at the DIO, I never needed to unpack a data dump. I received the files already cataloged and ready to go.
