Grace Under Fire (Buchanan-Renard 14)

“She sure as hell isn’t yours,” Noah retorted.

Dylan had been standing in the doorway listening to the conversation. Shaking his head, he looked at Michael and said, “Dumbass.”

Michael surprised everyone when he nodded agreement. He needed to talk to Isabel as soon as possible. He owed her an apology. He knew she had to be angry and hurt. The look on her face when he stupidly told her he shouldn’t have touched her said as much. Yeah, he really was a dumbass.

“As soon as she comes down, I’ll talk to her,” Michael said.

Regan shook her head. “She isn’t here. She went back to the Hamilton last night.”

Before Michael could react, Dylan asked, “How did she get back to the hotel? Did someone drive her, or did she borrow a car? Oh God, she didn’t drive... did she?”

“Calm down,” Regan said. “Car service drove her. Security was waiting for her, and after she was safely back in her suite, I was notified. She’s fine.”

“I’ve really got to go for a drive with this woman,” Noah said. “She can’t possibly be as bad as you say.”

The men continued to talk, but Michael wasn’t paying attention. He was thinking about Isabel. He needed to see her. His apology had to be given face-to-face. Hopefully, by the time he got to the hotel, he would find the right words to repair the damage he had done.

Regan was on her way upstairs to wake Alec and start packing for their trip back to Chicago when someone started pounding on the front door.

As soon as she opened the door, the young man blurted, “My name is Everett Redman. I’m a tech with the FBI lab, and it’s urgent that I see Special Agent Nick Buchanan. Is he here? I was told he was staying until Monday. God, I hope he’s here.”

“Yes, he is,” Regan said, and pointed the way. “He’s in the kitchen. You can—” She didn’t finish her sentence because the man was already gone.

Nick was surprised to see the tech. Everett was young and eager and brilliant in his area of expertise. He was usually laid-back, but not today. His face was red and he was panting.

Both Nick and Noah were wide awake now.

“What’s going on, Everett?” Nick asked.

Dylan looked perturbed by the intrusion. “Who is this guy?”

“His name is Everett Redman,” Noah answered. “And he’s one of the best techs in the lab.”

Everett was focused on Nick. “You need to see this, sir.”

“You drove all the way out here to... ,” Nick began.

“Sir, you need to see this now.” The urgency in his voice was palpable. Everett held up the flash drive Nick had given him. “I cleaned this up, got all the blood off. There wasn’t any corruption at all. When I was checking it, I thought I’d find some audio of Isabel singing. She’s quite the rage now, and I love her voice.”

Everett was talking so fast, Nick raised a hand to slow him down. “It’s okay that you listened to her sing.”

“But that’s just it. There wasn’t any singing. This doesn’t belong to her,” he said as he handed the flash drive to Nick. “But it’s all about her, or it’s all about Grace Isabel MacKenna. There are three full pages of instructions and information,” he continued. “And there’s a timetable. It has a lot of personal information on her and her schedule, beginning with the day and time of her graduation, her stay in Boston, and her flight information to Glasgow, including a list of hotels where she’ll be staying in Scotland. You’ll notice a number in the left-hand corner of the first page. One hundred thousand. I think that’s what they’ll pay.”

Nick inserted the flash drive into the laptop.

Everett scrolled down to the last page and pointed to the screen. “The last line is underlined. They want it done as soon as possible. There’s a bonus if it’s done before her birthday, June twenty-second.”

“What the hell...”

“Sir, I think it’s a kill order.”