Page 53 of Midnight Secrets

Joe shifted the monitor so Nick could see both Metal and Jacko in close-up. He was glad he’d Zoomed because the seriousness of the situation could be read in their faces.

“Now?”

“Now.”

Both Metal and Jacko nodded.

Joe turned the monitor back. “Can you do it?”

Nick was checking his cell phone. “There’s a flight leaving in five hours. A red-eye. I’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

“Come to the office,” Joe said. “We’ll have a briefing.”

“I’ll be there,” Nick said and killed the connection.

“We need to tell Mystery Man.” Metal and Jacko nodded.

Mystery Man seemed to be keyed into Joe’s computer. Probably by malware. He’d been meaning to have Felicity secure his computer but hadn’t managed to get around to it yet. That was good news and bad news. If bad guys had access, he was in a shitload of trouble. However—if Mystery Man had access, presumably he’d gone through his hard disk for signs of other intruders.

Taking a deep breath, Joe keyboarded:

Tomorrow we’ll all be at ASI. Including FBI

After two seconds, words formed on his monitor.

Mancino?

Joe looked at Metal and Jacko. Metal gave a thumbs-up. Okay, they were going all-in with this guy.

Yes.

He checks out.

Yeah, by any measure Nick Mancino checked out.

Yes.

Give me number of encrypted satphone.

Joe sat back while Metal input a number he took from his cell. Felicity would have made the number untraceable and she would make sure the encryption was strong.

Four bells.

Four bells was 10 a.m. nautical time. A reference to the fact that he knew Joe was navy. Was this guy navy? Former navy? What the hell was he?

Four bells.

Joe confirmed and sat back in his chair.

* * *

Something happenedwhen Joe and the guys went back to his house. They’d been laughing and teasing Joe about taking all their money when they left. When they came back, they were sober and quiet.

Felicity and Lauren picked up on it right away. The three of them had been laughing over the plot of the latest lame romcom, scarfing down the squares of double chocolate fudge Isabel had pulled from the freezer, when the guys walked in. Felicity and Lauren immediately quieted, watching their guys carefully. It was amazing to see. It wasn’t as if they were watching Metal and Jacko out of fear of a mood change. No, it was more as if whatever their guys felt, they felt.

Nothing showed Isabel more than this that they were couples. Teams. Jacko walked directly up to Lauren and whispered in her ear and Metal made a beeline for Felicity and put his arms around her.

Couples.

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