Page 37 of Love at First Sighting
Even more suspicious is the presence of Howard Forte in the photo with them. Howard Forte is the recently deceased(due to “natural causes” but I think it might have been a coke bender mixed with a twenty-five-year-old girlfriend) British entrepreneur and founder of Terra, Inc. Terra blossomed out of the Fortes’ inexplicable wealth, and he developed it into a tech empire, ranging from space technology to AI advancements and high-end aviation. Terra was taken over by Howard’s son, Ian, just a year ago.
Ian is the kind of new-money asshole that fuckboys love and models want to fuck, despite being the world’s slipperiest-looking man. Like he’s gotten really into deep-sea tourism lately. But as someone who has seenThe Megand attended the premiere toThe Meg 2: The Trench, I will not be attending any of his luxury submarine ventures anytime soon.
“What the hell?” Carter says. “That’s Howard Forte. What would they have been doing with him?”
I glance up at him and register the confusion and disappointment in his eyes.
“Does Terra work with PIS at all?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Itcouldexplain the cloaked drones.”
Carter nods slowly and runs his thumb along his bottom lip. “It does. It most definitely does. I mean, a lot of departments outsource all kinds of contract work. From tech upgrades to infrastructure, vehicles, weapons, so I suppose it wouldn’t be impossible for Terra to have worked with PIS.”
“But do you take pictures with your contractors?”
“No.” As Carter flips through more case files, he pauses. “There are huge gaps of time missing from this file, El.”
“How long do jobs usually take?”
“Depends,” he explains, “but the ones left in here? These wouldn’t take long. These are one-and-done ventures. My dadwas workinga lotright up until the accident. There are thingsmissingfrom this file. Jobs and the report on his accident.”
I flip over the photo of Howard, John, and Marcus and pass it to Carter. “This might have something to do with it.”
Grateful for you two and PIS. We will do great things together. —H
Carter’s jaw twitches and the picture flutters in his shaking hand. “Dated sixteen years ago. There’s nothing about jobs with them. I imagine if PIS had my dad and Marcus working on something, they’d have record of it. So I’ve got to find out from Marcus what he was doing with Terra—”
“Do you think he’s going to tell you? You said you two aren’t close. He hasn’t let you see your dad’s file, and now the part youwantto see is missing. Carter, I’m not so sure he’s going to be down for an intel swap.”
Carter swallows hard. “What are you saying?”
“What if Marcus is hiding something?”
His eyes frantically dart around the room. “Of course it’s crossed my mind…but my dad was his best friend. You don’t—Look, Marcus can be a jerk sometimes, but there’s a big difference between jerk and criminal. What would he be trying to hide?”
That he had something to do with it.
“I don’t know,” I say. I can tell the idea will strike Carter in places he’s not ready to be hit. I’m scared that maybe he can accept the idea of aliens and UFOs easier than Marcus betraying him. “I mean, if this was happening sixteen years ago, when Howard was running Terra, and now it’s happening again…maybe Ian knows something about it.”
Carter raises his brows. “Right. Because getting an answerout of Marcus was too hard, we’ll just aim for Ian Forte instead. I’m sure that’ll be easier.”
I don’t exactly have the answer for him yet.
“What if we look—” I start.
A door handle jiggles and someone whistles in another room. Carter’s fingers wrap around my belt loop and he pulls me behind him.
“Leonard,” Carter says into his earpiece. We muted ourselves for privacy when we entered. “Is there someone else in the building with us?”
“Someone is coming from the break room. Crap.”
“Is there anything you can do for us?” Carter asks.
“Hope you aren’t afraid of the dark.”
There’s a sharp electronic hiss, and then the lights flicker off, plunging us both into darkness.
