“What the hell have you found yourself caught up in?” I ask, suddenly concerned he’s putting himself in danger.
We might not be friends, but he is good at his job, and our country needs people like him to provide the intelligence to keep the rest of us safe.
“Okay, now I know you’re involved. Who is behind it? Which organisation?”
“That’s the thing, I don’t know. I keep hitting a brick wall. We followed a lead, but it went nowhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“I intercepted a message. Something aboutteaching that young whippersnapper his place. He was told to stand down, but it was clear he ignored them. Told them he’d see him finished the same way he did his father.”
My stomach drops, and I swallow the acid that hits the back of my mouth.
“Tailor? You still there?”
“I am,” I choke, trying to breathe past the lump in my throat. I switch on my gadget to prevent anyone from listening, including the driver.
“Does that mean something to you?”
“Robert Frazer died in a car accident seven years ago. It was reported as an accident, but it wasn’t. He was run off the road.”
There’s silence on the other end of the phone.
“You think this could be linked?”
“I don’t know. When you intercepted the message, did you get anything else?”
“I tracked the IP address, but it made little sense. It’s a stately home. The guy who lives there is a fossil. I just assumed it had been routed. When the team investigated, he didn’t have the equipment, and there was a full browser history. There was no sign of any foul play.”
I squeeze my temple points, trying to stem the headache forming.
“And the name of the fossil?” I ask, already guessing the answer.
“Sir Leonard Crawley.”
“That cantankerous old bastard.”
Needle draws in a breath. “I take it you know him?”
“The man tried to use his position to threaten a friend of mine last year. Elijah stepped in,” I tell him, wanting him toknow what he stepped into. “He has a nasty reputation for making unwanted advances.”
Needle sucks in a breath.
“He also doesn’t pay his bills. I warned him I didn’t work for free. Which gave me the perfect opportunity to call.”
He can’t risk exposing himself undercover, not when he’s spent years positioning himself. Genius. By letting us find out about the sting on Elijah’s company and work it out ourselves, he covered his back, just made his mole look incompetent.
“There’s a flash drive under the second desk of the hotel library. It will reverse the virus and reinstall what it deleted if the backups aren’t sufficient. Save you some time.”
“I’ll retrieve it when I get there.”
He chuckles again. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m out of the game.”
“You’ll be missed. You’re one of the best.”
“Anything else?”
