Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“Hang on.” Jimmy left the room and came back a moment later. “Trini is shooting in position fourteen,” he said.

“I want to get a good look at him,” Holly said. “Can you put me next to him?”

“Yeah, thirteen is open. Come on.”

Holly followed Jimmy back into the range, and he showed her to position thirteen. Holly put her weapons on the shelf in front of her, then stepped back so she could see around the partition between the positions. His back was to her and he was shooting a 9mm.

She fiddled with the Beretta a little, waiting for him to recall his target.

“Nice group,” she said.

He turned and regarded her for a long moment. About Carlos’s size, well built, well dressed, slick haircut. “Thanks,” he said, then went back to his shooting.

Holly fired both pistols again, then went to a cleaning station, field-stripped both pistols, and cleaned them carefully, taking as much time as she could.

Eventually, Rodriguez walked over and began cleaning his weapon.

“You shoot here regularly?” Holly asked.

Rodriguez looked up at her coolly and nodded.

“Seems like a nice place.”

/> “It is,” he said. “Jimmy’s okay.”

She nodded, then packed away her two weapons and walked away. On the way out, she gave Jimmy a wink, and he winked back.

Connection, she thought—Carlos, Trini, Pellegrino. But who did Pellegrino connect with?

32

Holly was having dinner on the Delano’s terrace when she looked up and found Harry Crisp standing a few feet away, staring at her.

“Why, Harry, what brings you to South Beach? I thought the FBI worked in grubbier surroundings.”

“Evening, Holly. Mind if I sit down?”

“Please do. Would you like some dinner?”

“Thanks, I’ve already eaten.”

“Drink?”

“Well, why not? I’m off duty.” He flagged down a waiter and ordered a mai tai. “And don’t put a little umbrella in it,” he said to the waiter.

“I guess you tracked me down through Ham,” Holly said.

“Yep.”

“What’s so urgent?”

“I want to know what you’re doing down here, Holly.”

“Sorry, Harry. I’m tired of the FBI’s one-way information highway.”

“What do you want?”

“Full disclosure.”