CHAPTER 19

“YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD HER,” Ryan said as he stopped beside Callum. “It’s going to be worse when she finds out.”

Callum didn’t say anything, because what could he say? Ryan was right.

They went through the door at the top of the stairs, and Ryan put a hand on Callum’s arm to stop him.

“You need to tell her before she finds out some other way,” Ryan said. “It’s my experience that when you’re missing a body part, or two, women like to know that kind of thing.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Callum felt the rage that was always present surge forward, trying to break free.

Ryan was unperturbed. “Look, I know you don’t like to talk about personal stuff, or emotion, or, well, anything, but this is serious. You can’t wait until you’re getting into bed with her again and go, ‘By the way my legs are metal.’” He froze. “Oh, dude, tell me you weren’t just planning to drop your jeans and shout ‘surprise’?”

Callum clenched his fists and fought the urge to lash out. Ryan took a step back. “You want to hit me now, I can see that, but it doesn’t change the fact that you need to come clean with your woman.”

“She isn’t my woman,” Callum said through his teeth.

“She’s carrying your baby, dude. That’s about as attached as you can get.”

“Stop calling me dude. What are you, twelve?”

“I don’t think he’s even that mature,” Rachel said as she came up beside them.

Ryan’s easy-going attitude morphed into something far darker, and he scowled at Rachel. “We’re talking about emotion, Rach. We don’t need you for that. You need to be capable of experiencing some to have an opinion.”

Rachel’s eyes narrowed, and Callum held up his hands to stop them. “What is wrong with the two of you?”

“So many things,” Elle called from behind them. “Now get in here. I have stuff to tell all of you.”

“I’m coming too.” Jack came up from the basement. “You can’t make me stay down there. They’re talking about PMS. I don’t think it’s good for my development to listen to that.”

“Women.” Ryan fist-bumped Jack.

“You can stay,” Callum told Jack. “But the same rules apply. No talking. No telling.”

“Basically, keep your mouth shut,” Jack said. “Yeah, I heard you. Do you have any snacks up here?” He made a beeline for the pantry, Ryan in tow.

Wondering yet again how he’d managed to get from the professionalism of the SAS to this motley crew, Callum headed into the kitchen. The dining table had been claimed by Elle and was covered in computer equipment. Megan sat on the kitchen counter sipping from a mug of coffee. Dimitri stood beside her, leaning against the counter, but ensuring most of his body touched his wife’s. For some reason, seeing them so cosy irritated Callum more than it usually did. And this time it wasn’t purely because their behaviour wasn’t professional. It took a few seconds for him to realise what he was feeling—it was envy. Ashamed and angry with himself, he turned to Elle. “What you got?” he barked.

Elle didn’t seem bothered by his attitude. “I sent photos of the dead guy through to our contact in the government who has access to the face-recognition database that uses Harry’s software.” Harry was the fourth, and now silent, partner in Benson Security. He’d made a fortune developing security software for the government, then married his childhood sweetheart and was now setting up literacy centres in Africa. “It came up blank.”

“Okay,” Callum said. It was to be expected; the database wasn’t exactly extensive. “Is that it?”

She gave him a look of utter disappointment and tapped away at her keyboard then turned the screen towards him. “The search on his fingerprints came up blank too.”

Callum felt a tingle creep up his spine. The atmosphere in the room changed as each of them realised what Elle was saying.

“Did you try the Irish and European databases too?” Ryan said around a mouthful of peanuts.

Jack nodded. “We’re a hub. Easy access to the Atlantic, Ireland and Europe. I don’t know why we don’t have more people here. Apart from the smugglers. Smugglers like to come here.”

Callum shot him a look. “What’d I tell you?”

Jack slapped a hand over his mouth and gave Callum a thumbs-up with the other hand. Ryan handed him the peanuts. “Keep your mouth full. It helps.”

Barely containing a groan, Callum turned back to Elle. “Did you try the other databases?”

“Do I look like an amateur?” Elle said. “Of course I did. He doesn’t exist anywhere.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Ryan said. “He had prison and gang tats. If he has a record, his fingerprints are on file.”

“Exactly, yet there’s no mention of him anywhere,” Elle said.

“What about DNA?” Rachel helped herself to some coffee. “I shouldn’t be drinking this. It will keep me up all night.”

“Cruella, you’re a creature of the night. You don’t need sleep,” Ryan said.

Jack stifled a laugh that turned into a coughing fit when he almost choked on a peanut.

“Cut it out,” Callum snapped at Rachel and Ryan. “Your bickering is getting on my nerves. Whatever is going on with you two, sort it out like adults and keep it out of the business.”

Rachel and Ryan shared a look before both nodded. An uneasy truce. It was a better result than Callum had expected.

“DNA is going to take a couple of weeks. This isn’t CSI,” Elle said. “We can’t get the results by the end of the show. But, to be honest, I don’t think we’ll get a hit there, either. I think someone has hacked the system and erased this guy.”

“Who could do that?” Rachel asked.

“Governments do it,” Elle said. “I think they did it to that guy David I’ve been trying to track down since we met him in Peru. But, to be honest, a very skilled and connected hacker could do it. Someone like Harry would have access to most databases, and the knowledge to hack into the ones he didn’t.”

“We need to eliminate the government possibility,” Callum said. “I’ll call Lake. See if I can get him to tap into the same network that produced David for us. Maybe someone there will have information on this guy.”

“And if he is a government agent?” Megan said.

“Then we’re in deeper than I thought. You can all kiss goodbye to your freedom for the foreseeable future, because if he is government, there will be people locking us up until they get all the answers they need.” Callum reached for his phone.

“If we’re going to lose our freedom,” Ryan said, “I need a last meal. There must be someone in Campbeltown who delivers out here. Anyone want pizza?”

The rest of the team shook their heads, but Jack held up his hand.

“If it isn’t the government,” Elle said, “it could be a thing this group is doing to stay off the radar. If I had prints from someone else on the team, I could see if their records have been erased too.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have that. The house blew up taking any prints they might have left behind, with it,” Callum said.

“What about the black box Callum got from the pawnbroker?” Dimitri said. “Couldn’t you lift some prints from that?”

Elle shook her head. “It’s been handled by too many people. There’s no way to get decent prints off it now.”

“It’s a pity Isobel threw away the rest of the stuff in that bag,” Callum said. “We might have lifted a print from something in there.”

Jack cleared his throat and held up his hand. “Permission to speak,” he said with sarcasm.

Callum ignored the tone and pointed at him. “See that? I like that. You should all do it before you open your mouth. What is it, Jack?”

“Mum didn’t throw away the bag. She gave it to me to throw away.” He hesitated and shuffled his feet. “I didn’t exactly do what she asked me to do.”

Callum stilled. “Spit it out.”

“I traded the stuff for a video game I wanted.” The words came out in a rush, and his cheeks flushed a little when he realised he now had the undivided attention of everyone in the room.

“Traded it with whom?” Callum said.

Jack looked around before fixing his eyes on Callum. “Friend of mine. She’s making a robot, and I thought she could recycle some of the gear. Use it for parts or something.”

“Does this friend of yours still have the stuff?” Elle asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

“I think so.”

“Where is she?” Callum said. “She local?”

“She’s in Campbeltown,” Jack said. “We go to school together.”

Callum looked at Ryan. “Guess you’re going to Campbeltown. Take Jack and get that stuff back. Pay for it if you have to.”

“It’s late,” Jack said. “By the time we get there, we’ll be waking her family up. Her dad will be mad. Can it wait until the morning?”

“No.” Callum stared at Jack until he looked away.

“I’ll tell Mum where I’m going.” He dragged his feet out of the room.

“I’ll come with you.” Rachel picked up her black leather bag. “I managed to find a room in a hotel in Campbeltown that isn’t too awful. You can drive me instead of me having to call for a cab.”

“Thanks,” Ryan muttered.

“If you don’t need me,” Rachel said to Callum, “I’ll head back to London tomorrow. Something has come up that needs my attention.”

“We’ll be fine without you,” Callum said.

“More than fine,” Ryan muttered.

“I’ll wait in the car,” Rachel told Ryan. “Don’t take too long.” She strode from the room, expecting Ryan to follow.

He did so reluctantly, giving Callum a dirty look as he passed. “This is punishment for giving you great relationship advice, isn’t it?”

“This is work,” Callum said. “Nothing more. Suck it up and act professionally for once.”

Ryan let out a sigh. “And even though you say stuff like that, I still prefer working with you to working with Cruella.”

The door slammed behind Ryan and Jack as they went out to meet with Rachel.

“There are two bedrooms up here,” Callum said to the three team members left. “Sort yourselves out in them. I’m sleeping downstairs after I call Lake, and the Sinclair sisters leave.”

“Bagsy the one with the bathroom,” Megan shouted.

Dimitri grinned at her. “Guess we’re in the master bedroom.”

“I don’t care where I sleep,” Elle said. “I have searches running, so I’ll probably camp in here with my baby.” She stroked her laptop lovingly.

“I wonder about you,” Megan said.

“I wonder about all of you,” Callum muttered, and headed off to find somewhere quiet to talk to Lake.