Flameout by Keri Arthur Read Free Book Online Page B

there.”
    I nodded and, as a familiar golden M came intoview, said, “But you can pull into McD’s first. I’m in desperate need of a cup of tea and some fries.”
    He immediately headed into the drive-through to order my food and drink, as well as a coffee for himself. As he swung back out onto the highway, I carefully pulled the lid off the cup to let the tea cool then started munching on fries.
    Rory leaned over to snag several then said, “Jackson’s planning to do an early-morning raid on Rosen’s house.”
    I groaned. “How early is early?”
    Rory gave me a somewhat amused look, and my stomach sank. Obviously, this was
not
going to be a good night for catching up on sleep.
    â€œHe’s talking four a.m.”
    I groaned again. “Why so early? It’s not like it’s going to make much difference if we go later. Besides, PIT will have searched the place already, and if anything was there to be found, it would now be gone.”
    â€œActually, PIT hasn’t searched it. The cops apparently did.”
    â€œWhat? Why?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe they’re short staffed. I actually suspect they’re also using us to do some legwork for them—it’s the only possible reason they haven’t warned us away from Wilson’s case. They want us to uncover the missing backup notes—if, indeed, they actually exist—so they can swoop in and snatch them.”
    Given what Sam had said about PIT being stretched to the limit, that was more than possible. Especially given our investigations were the only reason PIT currently had a copy of Baltimore’s notes.
    Of course, I also happened to be the reason De Luca’s section of the sindicati had also gotten their hands on most of those same notes, but I could hardly be blamed for that when PIT and Sam had been reluctant to tell us not only about the virus, but also how important the notes were in trying to find a cure—or, at the very least, create a vaccine.
    â€œBut Rosen lived in a high-security apartment on Southbank. How the hell are we going to even get in there, let alone avoid all the surveillance? We won’t be able to cut the alarms—that’ll just bring everyone running. And we can’t cut the power, because all systems have battery backup.”
    â€œAll of which I said when he mentioned it.”
    â€œDid he also mention a plan to get around those two—rather major—problems? Or is he just planning to set fire to a substation, thereby cutting power to the entire area, and hope for a miracle?”
    â€œTwo questions I also asked, and was met with a
do I look that crude to you?
comment.”
    â€œI bet you said yes.” Amusement ran through me. “I certainly would have.”
    Rory’s grin grew. “A friend apparently works for the security company that looks after Rosen’s building. He or she has access to a pass card for building and override codes for the apartment.”
    I blinked. “But won’t unauthorized use of the override code raise all sorts of alarms back at the base?”
    â€œNot if the person who has that code is scheduled to do an in situ maintenance check on the system.”
    Trust Jackson to know someone with
that
sort ofpull. I offered Rory some more fries. “Are you accompanying us on this venture?”
    He shook his head at the offer and plucked his coffee from the holder instead. “I think it’s safer if I remain in the background, at least when it comes to this sort of investigation or anything unrelated to the cloaks.”
    â€œYou just like the idea of riding to the rescue if something goes wrong.”
    He chuckled softly. “Old habits do die hard.”
    I grinned. Rory had been a cavalry officer during several of his lifetimes, the last time as a redcoat in the British army during the eighteenth century. I’d managed to be one of the women chosen to follow their man