Page 129 of Secret Weapon

“He left his passport in his apartment.”

“His home’s been searched?”

“The day after he left, and he didn’t pack for a long trip.He told his roommate he was meeting a buddy for a drink and promised to pick up a pizza on the way home.”

“Any family nearby?”

“An estranged wife.There’s a child too, a four-year-old girl.”

“Do we know why the Santoros split?”Emmy asked.

“Yeah.He was—according to the wife’s statement—married to his job.”

“Dedicated to the pursuit of research, or hanging in there for a pay-off?”

“That’s the key question, isn’t it?”

“Any other family?”

“His mom still lives in Mexico, and she hasn’t heard from him either, not since he called to wish her a happy birthday.But he was too early because her birthday isn’t until next month.”

“She didn’t think that was strange?”

“Apparently, he has a terrible memory when it comes to dates.”

“He doesn’t have a calendar?”

“A calendar is only as good as the man adding the events.”

The way Vance said that, I knew he’d forgotten a birthday at some point or another.

But back to Santoro… It wouldn’t be the first time a man had run away from his problems, and he could have acquired a second passport, especially if Ilya’s crew had deep pockets.But it was equally possible he’d gotten in the way or seen something he shouldn’t and was lying in a shallow grave somewhere.Or perhaps they’d tried to recruit him, and he’d refused to cooperate?

“What about Stern?”I asked.

“Sticking to his story—he doesn’t know anything about anything, he cared deeply for Ottie, and he would never do anything to hurt her.”

Yet when she was in trouble, she’d turned elsewhere for help.

“Fitz?”

“Embarrassed that his addiction came to light, but swears he had nothing to do with the weapon’s disappearance.”

“He needed money—has he acquired any recently?”

“Apart from his salary, there’s only been one significant payment made into his bank account in the last two months, and that came from a casino.He took a trip to Vegas the weekend after the weapon vanished and won big, but according to the file the Feds put together, he gambled half the winnings away before he got escorted out of the Zodiac for being inappropriate with one of the waitresses.”

“The Zodiac?”Spider made a face.“He must’ve taken a heck of a lot of liberties to get kicked out of that place.It ain’t exactly the Bellagio.”

Mentally, I added “asshole” to Fitz’s list of attributes.

“Didn’t you get married there once?”Black asked Hawaiian-Shirt Guy.

“Apparently I did.”He shrugged.“Don’t remember much of it.”

“Was that the cocktail waitress?”Spider asked.

“No, that was the frozen-foods heiress.”

“What frozen-foods heiress?”

“We were only hitched long enough for her daddy’s lawyer to draw up the annulment papers.”He settled an arm over Spider’s shoulders.“Hardly worth mentioning.And you, my lovely, need to stop asking questions and work out how you’re going to get into our target house.We have three days, and the clock’s ticking.”

Three days, and with every hour that passed, Ilya’s team got closer to having an operational weapon.Yes, they’d failed with Ottie, but I couldn’t believe they didn’t have a backup plan in place.A man like Ilyaalwayshad alternatives.

Not only that, I couldn’t stay away from Baldwin’s Shore forever, and nor did I want to.Yes, this trip had turned out to be less unpleasant than I’d feared, but Baldwin’s Shore was my home, and I’d already had three messages from Brooke and six from Paulo asking how my imaginary sister was.At least the new girl at the Craft Cabin—Everly—was working out okay.

And so was my relationship with Alex.Wait, relationship?Did we have a relationship?I thought that maybe things were heading that way.Spending more time with him would be a challenge, though.I didn’t want the whole town asking questions that might ruin my cover, but I was an excellent liar, which gave me a small advantage at least.

Three days, and the clock was ticking…

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