t, and changing the hit to another place was going to make it ten times harder. I’d practically have to start over again, and I hated to waste work.
I had to move fast, but I had to be careful, too. Bringing in the wrong people would be just as dangerous and career-ending as being late. I had to know I was right, which means I had to go the fastest route possible.
First and foremost – alibis.
Usually I would use Jonathan Ferris and his computer skills for such work, but I was going to have to do this one on my own. It wasn’t my strong point, but I had resources people didn’t know about.
I walked into Walgreens and picked up a pre-paid cell phone which I paid for in cash. I examined the packaging as I headed back outside. As soon as I stepped out of the revolving door, I had to jump back against the building to avoid some guy doing a duck-walk down the sidewalk. He had a cup of something in his hands, which were clasped behind his back. With every step he took, the liquid sloshed out of the cup and onto the cement. A nearly burnt-out cigarette stuck between his lips completed the scene.
I shook my head and tried not to laugh as I dumped the phone’s packaging into the trash, activated it, and dialed a number from memory.
“Hey Eddie-boy,” I said into the phone. “It’s Arden.”
“How goes, LT?”
“I’m retired, asshole,” I reminded him.
“You’ll always be my lieutenant.”
I honestly wished he wouldn’t say that.
Edward McHenry, or Eddie-boy as everyone called him, was the communications guy during the first mission I commanded and the only mission I commanded that turned out favorably. We bonded just because we both grew up in southwestern Ohio, and his was the first friendly face I saw after I was brought back from the desert.
“Well, how about you do your friend a little favor?”
“Anything you want, LT,” Eddie-boy said.
“Phone records,” I said. “From the past week from six different people. Just numbers and shit will do, but if you got VOIP logs, that would be awesome.”
“Give me the numbers,” Eddie-boy said.
I rattled off the phone numbers.
“I need this quick,” I told him. “Super quick.”
“You paying super much?” Eddie-boy asked with a laugh.
“What happened to all that ‘oh, my lieutenant, my lieutenant’ shit?” I asked.
“You should have gone for the promotion, war hero,” Eddie-boy responded. “It just doesn’t flow like captain does.”
I sighed.
“Wire transfer?”
“Naturally.”
“On its way,” I said. “Half now, half when your information proves good. Double if you get it in the next hour.”
“Yes, sir!”
I could practically see him saluting.
It cost a shitload of money, but the information received fifty-two minutes later was definitely worth it.
I checked out Jonathan first and was glad to see that he ordered a pizza on his way out of Rinaldo’s office and spent the next three hours exactly where I would have expected – on the internet, watching porn. I scrolled through the other numbers he’d dialed and other areas his GPS had tracked him, but found nothing the least bit suspicious, and I was glad.
I took a deep breath and happened to glance up at a shop window across from Millennium Park. In the window was a “Save Ferris” T-shirt from the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off movie. Jonathan always took shit for his last name because of it, but I couldn’t resist the irony, so I popped inside and bought him one. His birthday was coming up.