Page 21 of Into the Gray Zone

And now they were in the bar together.

Jennifer said, “Well, we’ll all be leaving here soon, because they’re about to close us down.”

Knuckles said, “Not if you don’t want to. Nadia knows Thakkar’s daughter. If we want to stay, we can.”

She said, “That’s true. I do, and I’m off tonight. I’m supposed to have dinner with him, so if you want to, you could join us.”

Knuckles knew we would say no, because he knew what we were about to do with the cameras, but it was pretty smart to get himself at the table.

I said, “Thank you, that’s very nice, but we’ve already eaten, and I was going to take Koko here for a walk on the shore.”

Jennifer scowled at her callsign, but Nadia smiled, saying, “I get it now. Sorry if I was rude the other night. Knuckles told me he gave it to you. It’s a tease from the people you work with, not you as a woman. Right?”

Jennifer nodded and said, “Yeah, but I’d like a different joke.”

She looked at Knuckles and said, “I wonder what name he’d give me.”

I could see the spark between them and once again wondered at the source of his charm on the opposite sex. Yeah, he was good-looking enough, in a hippy crossed with a Hells Angel sort of way, but he had some effect on women that was just unworldly.

I stood up and said, “Enjoy the dinner. I’m sure Mr.Thakkar will make it worth your while.”

Knuckles smiled and said, “Enjoy the walk. I’m sure it’ll live up to your expectations. Mine did.”

Chapter14

We left the lights of the pavilion restaurant and entered the darkness of the grounds, the only illumination emanating from small solar lights along the concrete paths.

I said, “I don’t know about her.”

Jennifer took my hand and said, “What do you mean? Are you jealous she didn’t come on to you first?”

I chuckled and said, “No, that’s not it. I’m still amazed thatyoucame on to me, back in the day.”

She inched closer and said, “Not how I remember it, but I do like pirates,” which, honestly, was the best way to describe me. At over six feet, with close-cropped brown hair and an inconvenient scar that ran through an eyebrow and into my cheek, Ididlook like a pirate. I was the guy at a party you’d take one look at, and if you didn’t know me, you’d wander off to converse with someone else. But that wasn’t what I was talking about.

I said, “That’s not what I meant. Didn’t you think it was unusual for Nadia to bump into us at the church today? Didn’t that raise a hair on your neck?”

“No, not really. It was her day off. What do you mean?”

“Yeah, so she’s supposedly worked here for years, and on her dayoff—in an area she supposedly grew up in—she went to see the ruins of a church by herself?”

Jennifer turned to me, saying, “What are you implying?”

I realized we’d walked all the way across the grounds, the ruins of an old Portuguese chapel to our front—something the resort was quite proud of—and the drainage canal just beyond. Small and made of stone, it was about fifty by seventy feet and covered in vines.

I stopped, pretending to read the plaque outside, which was a little ridiculous because it was dark. I said, “I think she’s either RAW or she’s the enemy. I think she’s been tracking us since we entered the resort, trying to uncover why we’re here and determine if we’re a threat.”

Jennifer said, “Pike, that’s insane. She’s just a waitress who was being friendly. You’re getting paranoid.”

I said, “Yeah, maybe, but her trip today makes absolutely no sense. When’s the last time you went to Fort Sumter—by yourself—in Charleston? Her going to see a tourist attraction in her own hometown just reeks of a coincidence that doesn’t stand up.”

I saw her wheels turning and continued, “Last night I just thought it was Knuckles being Knuckles, but when she showed up at the church, I began to wonder. Now she’s with Knuckles again. He thinks she’s attracted to his natural charms, but I think she’s using him for information just like he’s doing with her. Either she’s with RAW, or she’s a sleeper that RAW missed.”

We heard Brett come on the radio, doing his camera check with Veep. Jennifer ignored it and said, “So what do you want to do about it?”

“Honestly, I don’t know at this point. But I’m damn sure going to dedicate Knuckles to be with her during the meeting. We need eyes on her the entire time.”

Brett and Veep chattered about his check, and Jennifer said, “I hope you’re wrong. I can’t stand how this job makes us think the worst ofpeople. I don’t want to start questioning everyone who asks me for the time.”

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