Otherwise Occupied (Evan Arden 2)
Page 35
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.