Page 7 of V-Day
Escobedo seemed to follow the quick exchange just fine. She’d read in the profile which had been included in her briefing folder that his English was fluent.
Locke touched a finger to the edge of his helmet and withdrew to where the others squatted, talking quietly. Ramirez and Jonesy stood with their backs to the group, scanning the trees ceaselessly.
Parris cocked her rifle and rested it on her hip and looked at Escobedo. She raised her brow.
“Probably just as well I wasn’t an Insurrecto,” he said, the same one-sided smile forming.
“Enjoy the moment,” Parris told him. “There won’t be another.”
“I believe you.” He paused. “I didn’t come across to Vistaria by myself. There’s a civilian, Chloe Masters. She’s heading into the mountains to find someone. Cristián Peña. Did his name surface in your briefings?”
Parris stretched for the name. “Duardo Peña’s brother? The one coordinating Loyalist communications on Vistaria?”
“That one. He went dark twenty-four hours ago. The whole town vanished,Marie Celestestyle.” Escobedo raised his brow at her, daring her to figure the rest out.
“This Chloe Masters panicked and wants to find him now? Make sure he’s still breathing?”
Escobedo nodded. “She’s smart in a dozen different ways although she has zero experience. If you come across her…” He hesitated. “This is likely the Insurrectos’ work—they’ve been striking at members of my family, using them as leverage. Adán was part of it.”
Parris nodded. “I’ve never seen extortion used as a weapon of war. It seems…unclean, somehow.”
“It’s definitely gray-hat,” Escobedo said. “It’s only possible in a war like this one, with a country as small as Vistaria. There are so few key players and we’re all connected. Leverage works in this case, as it neutralizes the key figures.”
“Unless they take themselves off the board and let someone else step into their place. That was a gutsy move, Escobedo.”
“Notthatgutsy,” Escobedo told her. “I had to be forced into it. I would have launched the Blackhawks and gone in screaming death and mayhem, if Duardo hadn’t pinned me down and talked sense into me.” His smile was wry with self-knowledge. “You’ll be doing me a favor, if you can watch out for anyone else I’ve got tangled up in this affair because of my inability to think clearly.”
“Like Chloe Masters,” Parris concluded. “We’re on squat-and-wait status,” she added. “It’s unlikely we’ll trip over her but if we do, I’ll help where I can.” She cocked her head. “Feeling guilty?”
His brow lifted. “Yes. Does it show?”
Parris pursed her lips. “No. Only, I can figure it from here. She maybe twisted your arm into bringing her over. Now she’s here, you’re wondering what you dumped her into the middle of.”
“Something like that.” Escobedo patted the brown fatigue shirt he wore over a tee shirt and a Kevlar vest. He pulled out a cellphone. “Did Adán give you the magic cloak?”
“The what?”
He lifted a brow. “He’s loyal to a fault,” he muttered. “I think you’re safe, though. What’s your number?”
Puzzled, Parris gave him her cellphone number. “Not that I bother even turning it on,” she added. “Not on mission.”
“Now you can,” Escobedo told her. “I’m sending you an app which will self-install once you agree to it. It will hide your cellphone from everything.”
“Impossible.”
He glanced at her from under his brow. “Once you’ve got to know Chloe, you’ll take that back. I figure you’re Intelligence of one stripe or another. Have your analysts mentioned the lack of electronic traffic on the Loyalist side of the war?”
Parris jaw slackened. “I’ll be damned,” she breathed. “They figured it was because no onehadphones or computers to talk with.”
Escobedo hefted his cellphone, then put it back in his pocket. His smile was warm.
“Thanks.”
“You have my number now,” he told her. “If any of my extended family or Chloe move onto your radar, tell me.”
“Still leading, Escobedo?”
“It’s a hard habit to let go,” he admitted. His brow lifted. “As you know.”
