I thought about calling Stryker again, but the man started talking before I could. “You have a lot of missing teenagers here, more than you should.”
“Okay.” Sinclair rubbed his hands over his face before dropping them to the desktop. “Then I’m not imaging it.”
Stryker’s answer was simple and to the point. “No.”
“I need you to look into these seven cases. There’s something…” Sinclair shook his head. “I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something about these seven cases that doesn’t sit well with me. I need you to find out everything you can about them.”
“It could take a few days.”
“I understand that, but I still need it done. I’ll do what I can from here. If you learn anything, let me know. We can sit down and discuss what we’ve found once we know what we’re working with.”
“You know this isn’t what I normally do.”
“No, I know that, but I need this done. If something is happening to shifter kids, I need to stop it. I can’t do that if I don’t know what is going on.”
“So, why not send in one of the council investigators?”
Sinclair sighed as he leaned back in his chair again. “I don’t trust them.”
I could totally understand that, especially after I had learned of the things Councilman James had done, and how far it had gone. A lot of people had gone down with the former councilman. It wouldn’t surprise me if we missed a few people.
Stryker’s voice was strong in the silence of the room. “I’ll look into it.”
“I’d appreciate it, Stryker. I just…the thought of something happening to these kids, and it looks as if this has been going on for a while and no one has done anything.”
“You mean James.”
Sinclair nodded. “Some of these complaints date back to over a year ago.”
“Makes you wonder what the man was doing all this time.”
Sinclair snorted. “I know what he was doing, embezzling money from you guys.”
I knew just from looking at the deep glower on Sinclair’s face that he was still angry about that. He tended to be very protective of the assassins he handled, and knowing we were being taken advantage of by Councilman James didn’t sit well with him. I just hoped he didn’t blame himself. Sinclair had nothing to do with it.
“You need to eat more. You’re looking a little thin there.”
I narrowed in on Sinclair’s face when Stryker spoke. I pressed my lips together. Sinclair did look a little thinner. I hadn’t really noticed it before, too worried about his pallor.
“I’m eating,” Sinclair insisted, “but the cook keeps making me tuna sandwiches. I hate tuna.”
“Have you told him this?”
Sinclair’s eyes dropped as he shook his head. “He doesn’t like me.”
“He works for you,” Stryker said in a stern tone. “It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like you. If he won’t cook what you want, fire his ass.”
“Maybe.”
With that one word, I knew Sinclair would never fire the cook. Sometimes, he was too soft-hearted. Not a good thing for a man in our business.
“I need you to get right on those.” Sinclair gestured to something beyond the view of the laptop. I assumed it was the files he had handed to Stryker. “The quicker we figure out what is going on, the quicker we can return these children to their parents.”
“You believe they are still alive?” Pure doubt laced Stryker’s voice.
Obviously, he didn’t.
“I do,” Sinclair replied. “I can’t tell you how I know, just that I do.”
