Deadlock

43

For a full five minutes Lock argued with the cops that they didn’t have probable cause to search him. But they did, they both knew it, and they took the cell phone before he had the chance to confirm that it was Jalicia’s, never mind run through it properly. They also took back the borrowed key. That done, they let him go with a warning not to interfere any further in what was now a federal investigation.

Lock assured them that he wouldn’t. And he might have actually meant it too, if it wasn’t for the fact that the more Coburn and the cops told him to back off, that it wasn’t his problem, the more determined he became to find out what the hell was really going on. Plus, Lock had a problem with authority. It was a personality trait that made for a bad soldier but a great military cop. It was also, Lock had grown to realise, a piece of his character inherited directly from his father, which inevitably had brought them into so much conflict over the years that they rarely spoke. Lock’s father had, like so many parents, held to the dictum ‘do as I say, not as I do’. But Lock was incapable of that. Once he got hold of something, he worried at it like a dog with a bone.

The cops stood in the parking lot and watched him get into the car he had rented that morning from the Avis representative at the Rogue Valley airport. He waved them a friendly goodbye and headed back in the direction of Carrie’s hotel.

When he got there, Carrie was perched on the bed in her room, wrapped in a white cotton robe, wet hair up in a towel, answering her cell phone. She looked exhausted, having been on air pretty much all night, reporting live from the scene almost hourly, the entire nation rising from east coast to west and tuning in to see a reporter who was still several steps ahead of the competition. Meanwhile, her newsroom back in New York had been working their law enforcement contacts hard, filling in the gaps for both her and, by extension, Lock.

She waved at Lock as he walked in, held the phone away from her ear and mouthed, ‘Ty.’

‘Ty?’ Lock asked, taking it from her. ‘How are you?’

Ty’s voice came through loud and clear. ‘I’m watching the news is how I am. What the hell happened?’

‘Ask him how he is,’ Carrie said, fighting back a yawn.

‘I already did.’ Lock tapped her bare knee. ‘Get some sleep.’

Carrie swatted at him. ‘Then ask him again.’

Lock cradled his cell between his ear and shoulder. ‘Carrie wants to know how you are.’

‘Stronger by the day, and just as good-looking as before.’

Lock looked at Carrie and sighed. ‘Seems that being shot has left Ty suffering from delusions of adequacy.’

‘I heard that,’ Ty protested. ‘Any news on Reaper?’

‘Thin air.’

‘What about the guys who sprung him?’

‘Nada.’

‘That helicopter they were using was military,’ Ty said.

‘That’s what I thought too.’

‘Hard to pick one of those up on eBay.’

Carrie was scribbling something on a piece of paper which she shoved under Lock’s nose. He read it, then relayed the information to Ty.

‘One of Carrie’s sources has had word that a Little Bird assault helicopter went missing from a base in San Diego three days ago.’

‘They know who took it?’

‘If they do, they’re not saying. You know what the Army’s like.’

‘You gonna try and talk to them?’ Ty asked.

‘Be wasting my time, but Carrie’s going to keep digging.’

‘So what are you gonna do? And don’t tell me nothing, Lock, because I know you must have a hard-on for Reaper a foot long by now.’

‘I wish,’ muttered Carrie, lying back, her eyes closed, head propped up on the pillows.

On the other end of the phone, Ty laughed.

Lock shot her a fake injured look, then lowered his voice. ‘I’m heading back to the Bay. One of the AB leaders survived the attack. If he doesn’t have a clue what Reaper’s up to then nobody does. Listen, once I’ve spoken to him, I’m coming down to San Francisco to see you.’

‘Look forward to it,’ said Ty, before hanging up.

‘You sure you really want to go back in there, Ryan?’ Carrie asked, sitting up.

‘I’ll be fine. I know the territory.’

Carrie gave him an even look. ‘You mean like Ty did?’