Page 30 of No Fear

“When?”

“Soon as possible. I know you’re in upstate New York.”

That meant he needed to head to the airport and wait on standby.

“Donnie?”

“Yeah. Got it.”

“What’s the matter? You enjoying home that much?”

Donnie sighed. “I’m not in New York. I just arrived in Toronto. Was hoping to take care of a personal matter. Just bad timing.”

“A personal matter? Is it important?”

The question took him by surprise.

“To me it is.”

Dex was silent.

“It’s fine, Dex. It’s the job. I’ll head to the airport. Be there as soon as I can.”

“If you can be available for a couple of calls, then stay and report back Monday morning as planned,” Dex suggested. “We won't be traveling for a few days. We can bring you up to speed.”

“Are you sure? I mean that would be great, but I don’t want to let the team down.”

“You’re not. If you have something personal and important to take care of, then I’d rather you sort that out than be distracted by it on an op. Especially this one.”

Damn, Steve had sensed he was off, had Dex sensed something, too?

“I appreciate this, Dex.”

“No sweat. Just be ready to roll Monday morning and keep your phone on. I’ll text you to keep you in the loop.”

“Copy that. Thanks.”

“Enjoy Toronto. It’s a great city.”

“Never been, and not sure I’ll get to see much, although I’m looking at the CN Tower right now.”

“I hear you can walk around the edge of it, hanging on a harness.”

“Sounds just like our kind of thing.”

Dex laughed before ending the call. Working for Onyx definitely had some perks. Way more relaxed than SEALs ever was. Being allowed to report back late? No chance in hell that would have ever been allowed.

He stepped into the lobby of the hotel, admiring the historic building. It was quite something. It looked like it had been recently renovated. The high wooden ceilings were impressive as hell.

Walking to reception, he quickly checked in and had his bag sent up to his room. After his conversation with Maddie, he’d phoned the hotel direct and been lucky to get a room. Another call to Mackie had gotten him Charlie’s room number. His teammate could hack just about anywhere and had not even asked Donnie why. He had her cellphone number, too, but he wasn’t planning on using it. This conversation needed to be face to face.

It was Friday night. He had two days to make things right with Charlie. But it was late, almost midnight. Too late to do anything now. He wandered into the lobby bar and sat on a stool. A big face-clock hung on the wall above the bar. His eyes were drawn again to the magnificent ceiling.

“Hand-crafted,” the bartender said.

“Seriously? It’s awesome. Maybe I should get the guy’s number, he can come and do my place.” He grinned at the young man.

“What can I get you?”