“Duke swears Zane is one of the best men he knows, and I put a lot of faith in Duke’s opinion.”
We had gotten off topic. “Can you help me or not?”
“Sure, you can count on me to get you your private time with Zane. But before you hang up on me and never talk to me again, let me say one thing in Zane’s defense.
I sighed.
“These SEALs are real men, good men, real-life heroes, men you can count on. There are no pussies on the SEAL teams. These spec-ops guys are our modern-day no-shit knights in shining armor. Hooking up with Duke was the best decision I ever made. He has made my life so much better than it was. I can’t even describe it.”
She’d laid it on pretty thick, but her point of view was to be expected since she was engaged to Duke and he’d saved her life.
All I had in response was, “Thanks, Serena.”
“Any time. And I mean that.”
After hanging up, I thought for a moment, getting my approach just right.
Zane
Peyton had goneinto Grace’s office, probably to avoid me.
That gave me two doors to watch, demo room one where Grace was working with a new client, and the office Peyton had disappeared into.
My phone rang. It was Jordy. I put in my earpiece to take it. “Hey, man. What do we know?”
“I should get extra pay for dealing with a name like Smith.”
“I’ll put in a good word for you with your brother.” I had paper out and grabbed a pen. “Talk to me.”
“I already told you that she isn’t Peyton E. Smith. That identity is less than two years old.”
I asked the worst question. “Escaped criminal?”
“I ran a facial-rec check against ten years of escapees and bail jumpers. Unless she had major plastic surgery, she’s not on the run from the law.”
I breathed easier hearing that. “Okay. Who is she?” My pen was poised for the answer.
“Did you get me the fingerprints yet?”
I glanced in Peyton’s direction. “No.” I didn’t feel comfortable with that level of intrusion today.
“Until then, that’s all I can do. I don’t have any thread to pull on to unravel it.”
“Could she be in WITSEC?” I guessed.
“I doubt it. Those guys create longer backstories for an identity than this.”
That was pretty much what I expected. “Thanks, man.”
“Sure.”
I’d been thinking about this, so I sprung another request on him. “Hey, one other thing. Can you set up video surveillance of her building for me?”
“Maybe. What are you thinking?” His words came out slow.
“She’s in trouble, and I want to keep an eye on her until I learn what it is she’s running from.”
“Let me guess. You’re not going to ask her about this.”
