Relentless (Benson Security 2)

Her eyes snapped to her gran. She was right. She had to stay well. To help Joe.

“Thank you.” Julia took the pill and the water. But she walked over to the bar fridge and took out a bottle, leaving the glass on the bench.

The pill stuck in her throat.

“Still no answer.” Ed’s voice was grim.

They’d been trying to call Joe since arriving at their suite.

“I have to think,” Julia announced, drawing confused looks from both of them.

What she wanted to do was sit in the closet while she did it. But that was one step shy of being completely insane, and she wasn’t there yet. Instead, she pulled an armchair over to the corner where the window met the wall. She put the chair at an angle, so her back was facing the corner. Then she sat in the chair, her feet on the seat. She reached into her bag to get her iPad, and her fingers hit the laptop she’d taken from Juan Pablo. In her fear for Joe, the items she’d taken from the dealer’s shop had slipped her mind.

“Ed?” She called over to the man who was busy whispering to her grandmother. Neither of them did a good job at hiding their worry.

“What can I do for you, querida?”

“Can you go through this computer? I need you to look for the sale of the mummy. If you start with transactions on the date Marcus sold it to Juan Pablo, that would be good. We’re looking for a name, or a way to track down the person who has the mummy.”

“Of course.” Ed took the laptop from her and headed for the desk.

“After you’ve had a look, I’ll see if we can set up a remote connection for Elle. If there’s hidden information on that laptop, she’ll find it.”

He nodded and pulled out the chair. A moment later he was hunched over the machine, with Patricia looking over his shoulder.

Julia took out her iPad and started to go through the copious amount of notes she’d made since her grandmother called her for help. Patterns. She was good at patterns. Good at planning. Good at making things fit a schedule. Good at seeing details nobody else could see.

A thought. “Ed?” He instantly looked over at her. “Did you call the police? There were sirens. Maybe Joe is in custody.”

“Of course.” Ed reached for his phone. Then paused. “I’ll try the hospitals too.”

Julia focused on breathing. Slow in and out. She tapped out a rhythm against her leg. Three times through the rhythm. That was enough. Back to the notes.

Focus. She had to focus.

“It’s gorgeous here.” Elle was bubbling with so much enthusiasm that it hurt Callum’s head.

He glanced over at the blue-haired tech as she rubbernecked out the car window on their drive from the airport into central La Paz.

“Why doesn’t she have altitude sickness?” Ryan complained, clutching his stomach.

“Look at all the lights. They go right up the mountains. Oh, I can’t wait to see the mountains in daylight. Can you believe how many skyscrapers there are here? Does Bolivia get earthquakes? If they do, those buildings wouldn’t be good in an earthquake. Oh, look at the women in their traditional dress. I want a skirt like that.”

“Make it stop,” Ryan wailed, and Callum had to agree with him.

He turned the wheel and swung their car out into an even busier road. Half the cars on the road should have been sold for scrap years earlier. His phone buzzed, and Callum reached onto the dash for it, hitting the speaker option.

“I need help. Who do you know in La Paz that you can call now? Right now.”

Joe.

“What’s going on?” Callum snapped.

There was silence in their car. All attention on the call.

“Got jumped. Julia, Patricia and Ed got away. I hope. We got separated. The cops came. We scattered but I was chased. I’m holed up in a basement. I can’t see a way out.”

“Why the hell didn’t you call Ed?”