Page 42 of Fallout

“Have you heard anyone talk about something like that?”

“No way.” Neal waved a hand.

“What about April?”

“Who knows what she is up to? I said I haven’t seen her.” He kicked out a chair and slumped into it.

“Any idea of where she went after you parted ways?” Jasper asked.

“Her dad came back to town. She was pretty spun up about that, wanting to drop everything and go see him. I don’t play that way.”

“Families?” Not a surprise, what with the backlog of child support payments.

“She got all wound up about him, cleaning up to impress him. Probably lookin’ for a payout. She needed the money since she screwed up the last job she took.”

Peter asked, “What does she do?”

“Computer…something.”

That made sense with the hacking skills. But who would go up against Vanguard—and Simon? All to leave something in their network.

Neal shrugged. “She was always on her laptop.”

“Who did she work for?”

“Some guy.” Another shrug.

“Any idea who it was?” Jasper had to tamp down his frustration. When Neal shook his head, Jasper said, “Pay your child support.”

They walked out the front door and back to the car. On the way, his phone started to ring. But it wasn’t an incoming call, it was an alert on the PD system. “There’s an incident going down. They need armed response.”

“Let’s go.”

Maybe not such a good plan to show up with Peter, but at least the guy knew how to handle himself—and stay out of the way of police business. SWAT needed to respond as soon as they could assemble.

He read off the address. “That’s George Anderson’s house.”

Something was happening with Violet’s father.

Peter got back on his laptop while Jasper drove with lights and sirens on. The Vanguard operative said, “Reports of shots fired. Neighbor called it in, multiple assailants.”

EIGHTEEN

“All I can say is thank goodness I had a nap.”

Clare glanced over, grinning. She squeezed Destiny’s shoulder. “The fatigue gets better. In the middle, when you get less sick, you’ll find you have more energy.”

She touched her front, right over her belt—currently a hole looser than she’d worn it before she left for Africa. “Any updates on Jasper’s mother?”

“Still thinking about her?”

She glanced at the wall of windows between the break room and the bullpen. Two guys from Cold Cases had come up, and apparently, Samantha or Jasper called the PD because a couple of uniformed officers had arrived. One of them was Romeo Alvarez, Simon’s friend. Officer Alvarez had eaten at Backdraft a lot when she worked there, and Simon had joined him.

Little had she known, just before Christmas, that she would be working as Clare’s executive assistant now. Having a baby, like her boss.

It still seemed so bizarre that her life had turned into this.

Clare said, “I’ll ask Richard how she’s doing.” She typed on her phone.

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