Page 26 of A Very Happy Thanksgiving
It was definitely an inside job masterminded by outsiders.
CHAPTER 9
Phae
“We have three days,” Priest said. “A little less if we consider the timing of any potential rescue—clearly, we’d prefer to avoid storming a building in broad daylight.”
“Divide and conquer,” Emmy muttered. “The software version, not the dictator version.”
Right. Split the big problem up into smaller, more manageable tasks.
“We have several witnesses at the hospital who still need to be interviewed, a government to liaise with, and hostages to locate. Plus we should try to speak with the developer who owns this place, and maybe the activists at Wild Roots too.”
Heath’s eyebrows winged up. “I thought the US government didn’t negotiate with terrorists?”
That wasn’t strictly true. Sometimes we negotiated, if we thought it would give us an advantage. And sometimes we stabbed them in the back afterward.
“We’re here in more of an informal capacity, and the group has its DMs open on BuzzHub.” Every reporter in the world was probably sliding into their inbox as we spoke. “You go to the hospital with Rix, see what you can find out.”
Wait a minute…
“I can go to the hospital.” The unquestioned survivors were the best potential lead we had, and I needed to do something other than stand around on the beach. “I have an excellent bedside manner.”
Priest sighed. “These are witnesses, not suspects, my dear. I have another job for you.”
“Which is?”
“Work with Emmy to find the developer and convince him to be our backup plan. His name is Lonnie McDonald, and his office is in New York.”
Was he kidding me? “You want me to go back to the United States?”
“If that’s where he is.”
“Surely there’s a better use for my skill set on this job?”
“Soft skills are important too. Lonnie McDonald is an arrogant son of a bitch, and the consensus is that he’d be more likely to cooperate as a favour for a woman than if a peer or a government official tried to cajole, shame, or strong-arm him into cooperating.”
Emmy nodded as Priest spoke. “McDonald has no shame, and he sees kindness as weakness. His first question will be, ‘What’s in it for me?’”
“I trust the two of you will come up with an answer. Plus you’ll need to get past his entourage—he never travels anywhere without bodyguards.”
The bodyguards wouldn’t be a problem, but Priest’s plan sucked. And I couldn’t even argue, not without having to explain my connection to Marc, because sending me to find a man’s weak spots and apply pressure in the right place made perfect sense.
“Or you could switch places with Jez and take point for any rescue?” Priest offered congenially.
Damn him. The only thing worse than being thousands of miles away would be sharing air with Marc. This was the downside of being part of a tight-knit team—he knew how to push my buttons.
“Fine, I’ll go,” I answered politely, when what I really wanted to do was tell him to go fuck himself.
“Terrific. Jez, you look at potential rescue scenarios with Mimi and Sinaga—we might need to source additional transportation and equipment. I’ll work with the wider team on getting you a location.”
“You want to take my jet or yours?” Emmy asked.
“Yours.”
I should leave ours available for Sin. And okay, maybe I wanted to try sipping my water from fancy crystal instead of a plastic cup.
“Then let’s go.”
