Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (36 page)

“
Or maybe
a message in a microdot on the bills he uses to pay for it. If he
doesn't use a credit card.”

“
Oh,
Jake, microdots? That's so 1980s.”

“
I know,
I know; just playing with you.”

She laughed.
“Or if he does use a credit or debit card, he could have
encoded something in the mag stripe.”

“
Yup. Or
maybe he picks up a tissue, cleans his glasses, puts something in the
tissue and throws it in the florist's trash can.”

“
Or he”
–

“
I know,
I know; the possibilities are unendless.”

“
'Unendless,'
Jake?”

“
I know;
I just like the word.”

“
He could
also have a heads-up display with info embedded in his windshield,
and somebody in the building could be reading and recording that.”

“
Like I
said, unendless.

“
Okay if
I zip to when he gets to the cemetery? We've got people analyzing
all this stuff, so we don't have to see all the details.”

“
Sure.”

“
Okay;
here we go. In the gate, turns right and” –

“
Could he
have gone left or straight ahead to get to the grave?”

“
We'll
see. Maybe another signal there, huh?”

“
Could
be. Hey, even the color of the vase could be a signal.”

“
Or the
color or number of the flowers.”

“
Or if
his collar is turned up or not.”

“
Or if
he's wearing a hat.”

“
Or a
cap.”

“
Or a
hoodie.”

“
What is
he wearing?”

“
Oh, a
test, Jake?”

“
Just a
quiz; he's in the car.”

“
When he
went into the florist, he had a brown corduroy jacket, waist-length,
unzipped, khaki pants, pleated, dark brown socks, beige running
shoes” –

“
I'd call
those ecru, actually.”

“
Oh,
picky, picky. Okay; ecru.

– “
red-and-black
plaid flannel shirt, brown wool scarf, dark brown
driving
gloves, with a hole in the end of the thumb of the left one.
And
aviator sunglasses. And he limps very slightly, favors his right
leg.”

“
Bravo;
hundred percent. You're still top of the class.”

“
I
skipped something on purpose, Jake. What was it?”

“
No, you
got it all right.”

“
Think
again.”

“
No, you
got – ah. T-shirt.”

“
Color?”

“
Green –
no, blue – no” –

“
Blue.”

“
Right.”

“
Gotcha.”

“
Yup.”

“
Bravo,
Jake. Color of the vase?”

“
Gray –
no, beige.”

“
Ecru?”

“
Yeah,
okay; ecru.”

“
And the
flowers?”

“
Roses,
red.”

“
Bravo,
Jake.”

“
Wait a
minute. Uh, lemme” – he reversed the video, stopping
when the man came out of the shop.

“
Look at
that.”

“
Look at
wha- – oh! His scarf.”

“
Right.
Beige.”

“
Ecru.”

He backed it up
further.

“
Yup,
brown going in.”

“
And bei-
– ecru coming out.”

“
That's
it, Jake.”

“
Could
be. Could be just one piece of a more complicated drop.”

“
But it's
a piece.”

“
Oh, for
sure. I'll call Amber, have her alert the teams to dig into that
florist really deep.”

- 95 -

February
6, 2013
5:39
a.m. local time

Bonita Springs,
Florida

Gordy awoke
from the recurring nightmare that had plagued him since his
kidnapping and escape. Bathed in sweat and with his hands twitching,
he clenched his fists around the electric blanket that had kept him
tolerably warm through the 50-degree night. Perhaps not as warm as
Ro would have, but he'd spent the evening and night alone, catching
up on his writing, frustrated with a particularly tricky and
troublesome scene.

Reminding
himself that a solution would come when it chose to,
he
climbed out of bed, unplugged the blanket, stumbled onto the balcony
overlooking the Gulf, rubbing his eyes, stretching and taking several
deeps breaths of the brisk early-morning air. Then he headed
downstairs for his shortened workout, only half an hour today, and
the rest of his morning routine.

He drove to
Dotty's, parked his car in the nearly full lot and went into the
restaurant, where the owner greeted him with a warm hug.

“
You
doing okay now, Gordy?”

“
A lot
better, thanks, Dottie.”

“
I can't
imagine going through what you did. I'm just glad to see you back.
We were all worried about you.”

“
It was
tough, but I'm getting over it. And you're looking chipper, as
usual. Business good?”

“
Oh,
yeah; this is a good season. And some of the Canadians and Europeans
are even learning how to tip.”

“
Gotta
make your servers happy.”

“
Yeah.
And thanks for recommending Chelsea; she's working out fine.”

“
I knew
she would, but too bad about Deb's arm.”

“
No way
to keep the Seabreeze open after a break like that. I hear she broke
it in three places.”

“
That's
what I heard, too.”

“
Bad
things happen to good people way too often.”

“
Got that
right, Dottie.” He looked around the room and into the
adjoining one.

“
I'm
supposed to meet someone here at seven, but I don't see her yet.
I'll just sit over there, okay?”

“
Sure;
anywhere you want, Gordy. Oh, I'll need another batch of books; I'm
down to two.”

“
Another
ten?”

“
Yeah.
The mayor picked up four more last week, said he thought
they're
great for tourism. Between you and me, I think you've got a fan
there.”

“
Nice.
Tell ya what, I'll go out and bring those in now while I'm waiting
for her.”

“
Great.”

As he was
returning with the books, he saw Dallas arriving in her convertible
and waved to her. They walked in together, Gordy and Dottie settled
up and then he and Dallas settled down at a table in the far room.

“
Top
down, Dallas?”

“
Yeah.
It's sixty-one now, supposed to get to eighty today. Wish I had time
to get to the beach.”

“
Busy?”

“
Oh,
yeah. I got the book in early, even with all our worries about you,
and now the real work begins. I've got to fly to New York this
afternoon to meet with my agent and the cover designers.”

“
Geez;
good luck with all that.”

“
Anyhow,
here's another shot at that scene,” she said, setting a
few
pages on the table. “I had some new ideas, wanted you to see
'em.”

“
But that
last one was perfect, I thought.”

“
I know
you liked it, but this one I tried changing POV.”

“
POV?”

“
Point of
view.”

“
Oh,
right; I QH'd that.”

“
QH'd?”

“
Quarterheimered,
forgot.”

“
Oh, I
QH'd QH,” she said, smiling.

“
QH
squared?”

“
Point to
Gordy; good one.”

“
SCR.”

“
SCR?”

“
Sorry,
Couldn't Resist.”

“
Oh,
right; QH'd that.”

“
QH'd
SCR?”

“
Right.”

“
Okay.”

“
But now
DTB.”

“
DTB?”

“
Down To
Business.”

“
Ah,
NTM.”

“
I know
that one. Ah, New To Me.”

“
Right.
But now down to business,” Gordy said, chuckling and picking up
the papers Dallas had given him.

- 96 -

February
6, 2013
11:38
a.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

In the Gulf of Aden

Jake was awakened from
a light sleep by the captain's voice on his walkie-talkie.

“
What is it,
Captain?” he asked, glancing at his watch.

“
We've got
another fast boat heading our way. It got past our radar; must have
some kind of stealth technology to deflect our beam. It's very
close.”