Lachlan’s eyeballs nearly clicked in their sockets. “Youwhat?”
“I know, I know. Fire me later once we get our Spooky back home safe.”
“Elissa, there isn’t going to be a safe home for any of us if they catch you.”
“Well, that’s the thing, they have to catch me first.” She waggled her mouse which woke up her computer, and started clacking away on her keyboard. “You think I’ve only been playing video games this whole time? I’ve been learning everything I could about, well, everything. Kyle put me in touch with a friend of his who knows way more than I do about hacking and I’ve quadrupled my knowledge.”
“Elissa—”
She stopped typing and spun in her chair. “It’sfine, Lach. You hired me to be the best, and this is me being my best.” She blinked quickly as if she were about to cry. “You believed in me when my own family didn’tandyou gave me a chance. So did Gina. So did Nash, and Kyla, and I mean just everyone did,includingMalcolm. This is me being grateful and giving all that back. I’m going to find Malcolm before it’s too late, and Gina, and they’re going to come home and we’re all gonna be one big happy family again, even if it takes me a while not to think of Jake and Psychic as a couple of big dumb chuckleheads for doubting Gina’s integrity, but I’ll get there. Is that cool?”
“Goddammit, Elissa,” Lach said quietly, fighting a lump in his throat.
Elissa turned back around, sparing them both more embarrassment. “So. I’ve been trying to discover who her ‘friends’ are, besides Malcolm and Walker. Fun fact: every organization, even a secret one, is built on paperwork, and that paperwork requires an accounting department, and that accounting department can sometimes leave a trail a mile wide if you know what to look for.”
A few more keystrokes, and Elissa smiled. “For example, a private jet was rerouted from Denver into Longmont, Colorado and then flown back to Los Angeles right after that huge Christmas blizzard that pretty much shut down the entire Midwest. This was before my time here, but I believe that corresponded with your first call to heel, am I right?”
“Correct.”
“And Kyle McGuire was on that flight, and a former military working dog named Camo, and one Gina Smith.”
“Also correct.”
“Cool. Then, looking at this…I can tell you that this very same shell company posing as a travel agency just purchased a business class plane ticket for one from LAX to Newark. I just had no idea it was probably for Malcolm until like five minutes ago.”
Lachlan’s heart pounded. If Gina was in Newark, she might be trying to either disappear into New York City or, she was trying to appear that way, and instead sneak into Canada with Fleur. No way would she stick her beloved dog in cargo for a transcontinental flight.
“What’s the name on the ticket?”
“That’s gonna take some extra digging and I’m sure it’s not his, but in the meantime, you wanna catch a flight?”
“Book me. Now.”
“Got it, Boss.” A few more clicks, and Lachlan was on a flight leaving in five hours.
“I’m sorry, best I can do. Can’t exactly use her friends right now, can we?”
He chomped on the pen casing. “The Repair Shop.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what they’re called. The Repair Shop.”
She leveled her gaze at him. “You know, that could have been helpful to know before now, but whatever.”
“The plan was different before now.”
She nodded, then gave him a guilty smile. “Fine. You aren’t the only one holding back.”
“What do you mean?”
“So. I know who Gina really is,” she stated simply.
Lachlan started. There was supposed to be nothing—absolutelynothing—linking Gina Smith to her prior identity online.
“How long have you been digging up info about her? More importantly, did you wipe what you found? Why are you waving me off?”
“Because, Boss, number one, I didn’t find anything about her online, and number more important, if Ihadfound something, of course I would have wiped it immediately and probably nuked whatever server I found it on for good measure. Sheesh!”
