Black And Blue (Quentin Black Mystery #5) (27 page)

I hesitated on an answer, then shrugged. “They’re not seer,” I said.

I’d already read him to determine the exact story Black gave him, regarding the seer stuff. I’d found a fairly nuanced explanation that managed to leave out the dimensional portal side of things, viewing seers instead as an evolutionary leap of some kind. The Colonel knew seers had significant genetic differences from
homo sapiens,
but he hadn’t yet made up his mind if we constituted an actual, separate species.

He also knew a fair few of the basic skill sets Black told me about, in pretty surprising detail. He’d worked with Black directly on how best to employ those things in the field when Black fell under his command.

I knew my knowing about Black, about what he was, interested the Colonel far more than anything else I’d said.

It also came closest to convincing him I was who I said I was.

“Does Lucky have any idea where this other group could be holding him?” he said. “Where they maintain bases of operation?”

I nodded, once. “According to Lucky, they have stations set up in a number of different countries. The logical place to start might be the business headquarters of the Konstantin Group in London. Again, they have so many branches and subsidiaries, it’s still little more than a starting point. And we’d have to assume they keep the legitimate side of the business sheltered from the illegal operations they undertake... so that might be a waste of time, as well.”

“What
did
Lucky suggest?”

I frowned. “Actually, it was me who suggested something, Colonel. Several things, in fact. First, I tried to get him to set up a meeting between me and someone with decision-making power within the Konstantin Group... meaning the side of the business that runs smuggling and trafficking operations on six different continents. I thought if I asked them directly what they wanted... and what I can offer them to get Black back alive... that might provide us with a clearer direction. Unfortunately, they won’t respond to Lucky’s attempts to set up a meeting. So I’m forced to look at other options.”

The Colonel shook his head, a small smile ghosting his lips. “Do I want to know what options those might be, Mrs. Black?”

I returned his stare without returning the smile. “I don’t know. Do you?”

His expression lost its humor. “With all due respect, what is it you think you can offer a group like this? Given everything you’ve told me, it seems they want your husband... or possibly Lucky. Unless I missed something, money won’t solve this problem. If it would, they likely would have made demands already.”

I hovered on the edge of my final decision as I looked at him.

Then, taking a breath, I said what I’d come here to say.

“I’ll be honest, Colonel,” I said, my voice blunt. “I’m not really interested in talking strategy with you at this time. I’ve already done that with my people... in fact that’s all we’ve been doing for the past two weeks.” My voice grew colder. “Before we go any further in this, I have a question for you. Just how loyal are you to my husband?”

When his eyebrows rose in surprise, I went on in the same voice.

“Are you willing to entertain options that don’t strictly follow parameters of legal activity? And are you willing to extend the same operational and confidentiality agreements you have with Black to his wife, if I can successfully prove who I am?”

The Colonel frowned, his eyes and expression shifting back to that warier scrutiny. “Just how illegal are we talking?”

I didn’t play coy. I didn’t have time for that, either.

“I’ve got a team geared up for an operation tonight, to breach the residence of the leader of the Konstantin Group,” I said evenly. “Not the CEO. Not the President. The real leader. I’ve verified with Lucky the identity of this person, as well as their responsibility for high level decisions regarding both legal and illegal aspects of their business. Coincidentally, his name is also Konstantin, and Lucky informs me he is the founder of the original company, and continues to be the controlling shareholder.” Pausing, I added, “...I could use your help.”

“You intend to conduct a military operation against a private citizen?” The Colonel’s eyes verged on a humorless kind of disbelief. “Again, with all due respect, Mrs. Black, but what makes you think you have a prayer in hell of accomplishing something like this?”

“I’m like Black,” I said simply.

The Colonel’s gaze grew wary. “Like him... how?”

“I mean I’m a seer. I’m
like
him. Maybe not in terms of the military experience, but I’ve got his team for that. They don’t know about me, by the way... which is another reason I sent Kiko and Dex out of the room. They don’t know about Black, either, in terms of his psychic ability. They do know he has some genetic anomalies, but they think it’s a medical condition.”

Pausing, I watched his eyes widen in a sharper understanding. He was still looking me over in shock when I went on.

“I do have two human friends who know... both of them homicide detectives with the SFPD. Like me, Nick Tanaka also has a background in intelligence work in Iraq and Afghanistan, and served at the front in both wars, as well.” Pausing, I added, “I’ve also got Lucky’s people to help me. He wants his name off it officially in the hopes of avoiding an all-out war between the two groups, but he’s willing to lend me foot soldiers. They’ve been coordinating with Black’s team for the past two weeks.”

The Colonel’s eyes got wider and wider as I spoke.

“And where, exactly, will this operation take place?” he said.

“Here,” I said. “In Los Angeles. Konstantin has a home here. I’m told he is in town right now, possibly due to this same operation. Our window is relatively small, though, thus the decision to move tonight.”

He stared at me. I could feel him reassessing me as he looked me over.

“What is it you desire from me, Mrs. Black?” he said finally.

“I was pretty clear on that. I’d like to be included in the deal you have with Black. In terms of what that means for tonight, I would like intelligence support.”

“What kind of intelligence?” he said warily.

I fought impatience again. Did he really think I didn’t know about his and Black’s deal at this point?
 

“I want the same access you’ve given Black over the years,” I said, sharper. “Satellite feeds. Any intel you have on specific names or photographs I feed you, including during and following the op. We’d like real-time, on the ground support, if possible... including any information you can provide on buildings we may try to breach, local or private security in place... including military, intelligence and police in Los Angeles itself. I have a few contacts there, but frankly, after what happened at the Port Authority, I’m wary of trusting too many people in Los Angeles.”

“But you just said you’re psychic,” he said, frowning.

“So is my husband,” I said, my voice harder. “It didn’t keep him from being kidnapped. I have to assume they have some way of blocking or circumventing our abilities.”

I watched him think about that for a few seconds, then nod.

I added, “I was also told by Detective Andrew Mozar in LAPD homicide that there was some chance that the federal agencies have a mole who works for the Konstantin Group, and also works out of LAPD. If you could find out the identity of that person, all the better. I know you have access to mobile phones, internet searches, emails...”

He raised his hand, waving me off, frowning.

Even so, I could feel the alarm emanating off him.

For a few seconds, he just sat there, thinking as he stared at me.

“If you’re telling me all this, you obviously think I’ll cooperate.” He paused, studying my face warily. “So what if I don’t? What if I decide I am required by law and my office to prevent you from doing this crazy thing, Mrs. Black?” His jaw hardened as he looked me over again. “Not to mention my loyalty to your husband. Or did it not occur to you he might not thank me for allowing his wife to get herself killed?”

I held out my hands, not realizing it was a Black gesture until I’d already completed it. I saw him follow the motion with his eyes though, disbelief touching his expression.

“Then you won’t remember this conversation ever took place, Colonel.” My words drew his eyes sharply back up to mine. “You’ll find yourself in a room comforting the distraught wife of an abducted vet who used to work under you. I’ll leave a few minutes later, and you won’t see me again. You’ll be worried about Black, of course, and you’ll probably go through channels to try and find him on your own. Meanwhile, I’ll be breaking into Konstantin’s mansion tonight, with one less advantage I might have had.”

His eyes grew visibly harder. “Are you threatening me, Mrs. Black?”

I shook my head, once, but it wasn’t really a no.

“I’m impressing upon you my determination to get my husband back alive, regardless of your willingness to help.” The voice coming out of me verged on my professional one now, the one Black called my “doc” voice. “If you don’t feel comfortable being involved in that, I absolutely respect your decision, sir... but I don’t intend to let you get in my way.”

The Colonel’s eyebrows lifted higher and higher, the longer I spoke. When I finished, he was aiming that appraising stare over me once more, his lips pursed.

“You really are Black’s wife,” he muttered, his voice holding a kind of wonder.

“I’ve mentioned that, yes.”

He shook his head, smiling ruefully. “Pardon me. I never thought you were lying exactly, but I also had trouble picturing it until now.”

Leaning back in his seat, he cleared his throat, folding his arms across his chest. I found myself thinking he’d been an even bigger man once, and he was hardly small now.
 

“All right,” he said, after another pause. “Likely you have surmised you’ve piqued my interest significantly, Mrs. Black. So there’s no need to have the psychic hitmen throw a cloth hood over my head just yet.”

He paused. I watched him look at me, obviously still thinking. Whatever he saw in my face, he seemed to make up his mind.
 

Leaning back in the chair, he continued to watch me with that measured stare.

“Mrs. Black,” he said finally. “You are being frank with me, so I will be frank as I can with you. I get away with what I do with your husband because I have a powerful ally in the Pentagon who trusts me implicitly. How I sleep at night is by reminding myself that, whatever my feelings may be for Mr. Black himself, I am obligated to monitor such a dangerous asset, and to protect that asset from falling into the wrong hands. My superiors agree with me, from what they know of Black’s record... although all but one is entirely unaware of the extent of his abilities. Black has held up his end of that deal without fail over the years, primarily by taking contracts with us, as needed... and providing us with valuable intel.”

Pausing, he continued to gauge my face.

“He’s canceled a lot of those contracts of late.”

I frowned. “Are you trying to blackmail me into Black renewing those contracts?”

The Colonel held up a hand. “I am simply observing the timing of those contracts being canceled and my new discovery that Black went and got himself married. I cannot help but wonder if the two things are related.”

I felt my jaw harden so much it hurt. “I’m not promising you Black’s labor,” I said. “Only he can do that. If that’s your condition for help––”

“It’s not, Mrs. Black,” he said at once. “But it might be a topic for discussion between myself and your husband in the event he is returned safely to both of us.”

Again, I stared at him, reading him openly now. He kept his mind frustratingly blank though, blank enough that I found myself thinking Black must have trained him how to do it.

“My interest is piqued, as I said,” the Colonel continued, his voice still carefully polite. “Of course, I feel compelled to remind you in no uncertain terms that the United States government will strenuously denounce any incursion against private residences, businesses, or persons operating legally inside the borders of the United States, whether the involved individuals are citizens or not. Obviously, we would never support such a thing utilizing government resources, for any reason...”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Further,” he added, holding up a hand. “In the event of your capture, I would never admit to knowing anything about you, or your relationship to Mr. Black. My interest would be solely due to the official relationship I maintained with your husband while he was an enlisted member of the armed services... and it would end with me saluting at his funeral.”