Badger Read online

  Badger glared at her. But he was relieved to see she wasn’t upset. If anything, she looked energized at this turn of events.

  She walked over and stared at the man and shrugged. “I don’t know who he is. Do you guys?”

  Badger shook his head.

  Erick checked the man’s pockets. He pulled out a wallet and flipped it open. “Well, look at this.” He held up an MI6 ID card. “Jonas Halpern.”

  Badger whistled a low-key sharp sound that filled the room. He slowly eased back, checking for weapons, and found two, one in a shoulder holster and one in Jonas’s boot. With both of those removed, Badger sat back and let the man sit up. “So what the hell does MI6 have to do with searching my room illegally?”

  “What the hell are you doing over here in the first place with your cohorts?” Jonas snapped. “And I’ll have my ID back please.”

  Erick was busy taking a photo of it. Once he was happy with that, he returned it. “We’d like an explanation, Jonas.”

  Jonas shrugged. “You guys arrive. Some guy is dead. Calls are made. Your name never quite gets mentioned, and then I start getting phone calls from friends on the US side. It’s enough to peak my interest. So I came calling.”

  Badger laughed. “Close but not close enough. MI6 should never have been alerted. This was a simple police case. And your friends from the USA don’t have any reason to suspect any of us in any wrongdoing.”

  “No, but I did receive a call from an informant, saying you were asking questions that would get some people shot.” Jonas gave Badger a hard grin and said, “And look at that. Somebody got shot.”

  Badger stared at him for a long moment. His heart sank. “What the hell does MI6 have to do with this?”

  “Maybe nothing. But I have informants all around the world. And, when something goes down in my backyard, I’d like to know what it’s about.” His gaze went from the two men to Kat. “Particularly when I run her name and find out several suspicious deaths and multiple shootings surround her.”

  Kat glared. “I don’t know who you think you are,” she snapped, “but none of those cases had anything to do with me.”

  Jonas snickered. “And yet you were kidnapped and shot at?”

  She shoved her hands in her pockets. “I don’t like you.”

  His response came quickly. “I don’t give a shit if you do or if you don’t. I want an explanation as to why you’re over here.”

  “Not until we find out who it is you talked to in the US,” Badger said quietly. “And just in case you think I don’t have anything on you, you’re wrong. I have lots of connections in MI6 myself. You entered our room illegally and were doing a full-bore search illegally. Without suspicion, without cause.”

  “It depends if I find any of your DNA in a room where a man was shot last night,” the agent said coolly. “But let’s cut the crap. You’re over here to do a job. I don’t know what the job is. But, so far, one man is dead. I don’t want any more dead.”

  “Agreed. Sorry about the dead man,” Badger said in a cool tone.

  “Now you see? That apology would work better if I didn’t believe you were there or at least somewhere around there.”

  “As we already gave a statement that we were at the pub around the corner, obviously we were there,” Erick said in exasperation. “There’s an easy answer for all of us. But it means the two of you need to stop bristling at each other so we can talk.”

  Jonas gave a quick nod. “You first. Tell me what the hell is going on.”

  Erick and Badger exchanged hard glances, then Badger said, “We had reason to believe an informant had intel regarding a directive that was changed when we were on an active mission. That change in orders ended up with seven men blown to hell and one man killed.”

  Jonas’s gaze sharpened as he digested that information. “And what information did you find here?”

  “The information that caused the change in orders came from somebody who doesn’t exist,” Badger said quietly. “And I received an audio file of that conversation last night.”

  “Did you shoot the informant?”

  Badger shook his head. “No. But he was shot in front of me from across the road. Another apartment building.”

  “Damn.” Jonas scratched the back of his head. “I really wish you’d keep your shit on your side of the ocean.”

  “It would have saved us time and money if our informant wasn’t over here.”

  “Was the information good?”

  “He’s the one who took down the new intel and supplied it to our superiors without checking and confirming it.” Badger sighed. “To give him a little bit of leeway on that lack of diligence—don’t forget we weren’t expecting a particular problem, and we were all out in the field—when he got the information, he told his superiors the orders were changed, our route was changed, and we were blown up by an antitank land mine.”

  Jonas’s gaze narrowed as he studied Badger and then Erick. “You were in the truck that was blown up?”

  Badger nodded. “There were eight of us, and one died in the accident.”

  “Did the audio file have anything worthwhile on it?”

  “We’re waiting for somebody to get back to us on that.”

  “How did you find the informant?”

  Badger gave him a steely smile. “The usual way. Another informant. And money. Lots of money.”

  They all sat in silence for a long moment.

  “I’m sorry for your friend,” Jonas said. “And particularly if you think this was done on purpose.”

  “I always believed it was done on purpose,” Badger said. “But I could never find any proof. How does one accept intel from somebody who doesn’t exist?”

  “Yeah. It means the intel is something you don’t want to be traced back to you.” Jonas nodded. “I would have preferred that you brought this to me in the first place, but I can understand why you didn’t. The thing is, I can’t have you shooting up any more of our citizens.” He held up a hand, stopping Badger from protesting once again. “You may not have done the shooting, but, because of your arrival, the man is dead.”

  “Agreed.” Erick stepped forward. “Did you guys find any forensic evidence from the shooter?”

  Jonas shook his head. “No, not yet. And I highly doubt there will be any. It was a sniper rifle. Barely caused any damage to the glass. No shell casings. No forensics that we could find at this time. Testing is still ongoing with carpet strands and a few hairs. But it’s a rent-by-the-week flophouse, so there’ll be hair and other forensics. None of it’ll necessarily pinpoint who our shooter was. In fact, I’m sure he went in completely gloved and suited up in order to not leave anything in the room itself.”

  Badger felt a hand slide into his. He glanced down to see Kat standing beside him, her fingers laced with his. “Do you have any cameras on the area?”

  Jonas glanced at her, but, instead of answering her question, he asked her one of his own. “What is this going on in your world?”

  She winced. “It looks like my brother met somebody in jail and made a pact to kill my uncle for some rare coins. Only I inherited them, so they decided to kill me.”

  He stared at her for a long moment and then shook his head, pointing from Badger to Kat. “Wow, you two deserve each other.”

  Badger squeezed her fingers and chuckled. “You might think so, based on that,” he said, but his tone didn’t show the same lightheartedness as his laughter. “But know this, neither one of us would choose these circumstances. We just want to have a decent life again.”

  “You’re obviously not too badly hurt …” Jonas studied him and then Erick. “Although I imagine antitank land mines means you didn’t get off lightly.”

  “We all lost limbs, muscle function, incurred some major internal damage. We’re all wearing steel plates we weren’t born with,” Erick said in a dark tone. “We all spent months, some of us longer, in hospitals. For the last two years we’ve done nothing but recover and work toward getti
ng back to normal since it happened.”

  Jonas sighed and stood. He held out his hands for his weapons.

  Badger handed them over without hesitation.

  Jonas slipped them back into his holster and his boot. “I took a bullet, just missed my heart by a hair, and I was out for months. I can’t imagine the damage done by a land mine. But vengeance, although it might have gotten you through the recovery process, is a pretty sick pill to be swallowing every day of your life. Answers are hard to come by with something like this.”

  “Which is why you can understand our trip here to gain even the smallest of leads to help get to the bottom of this.”

  “Now what?”

  “Well, if you could find the shooter, we would much appreciate it,” Kat said in a steely tone. “And then, given the fact that maybe the police have things calmed at my home and have picked up everyone responsible for the shootings and the murder of my uncle and God only knows what else, we’ll be happy to go back to our normal lives.”

  “What is that normal life for you, Doc?”

  “I’m a prosthetic designer. I work with all these men to try to give them full mobility again.”

  Jonas walked toward the door. “There’s not a whole lot I can tell you. But, if I get any leads, I’ll pass them on.”

  Erick handed him a card as he stepped out the door. “Stay in touch.”

  Jonas smiled. “I’d like to say it was nice meeting you, but …”

  Erick gave him a half grin and added, “Likewise.”

  Chapter 12

  Kat slowly let out her breath. “How did he know you were here?”

  “I came on my personal passport,” Badger said quietly, and a lopsided grin slipped out. “I was hoping it wouldn’t trigger an official investigation. The last time I was here, I might have had a problem.”

  She turned to stare at him. “Might? Enough that MI6 comes personally to see what you’re doing?”

  He shrugged. “I cleared it with them last time. I do have some connections in MI6. But Jonas isn’t anyone I know personally.” He glanced at Erick. “I guess the ranks have changed.”

  Erick nodded. “They always do. They always do.”

  Kat sank down on her bed and grabbed her laptop. “Well, that ate up a ton of time. We have to leave in the next half hour.”

  “So do what you need to do, and we’ll leave.”

  The two men walked toward the door, engaged in conversation. She knew exactly what they were doing. And partly she was happy to let them. This was a tough-enough day already. She had no reason for MI6 to look into her. But just being associated with Badger apparently had been enough for them to find out all kinds of shit going on in her world. It just made the globe seem that much smaller too.

  She checked her emails, sent off a couple to Jim, answered a few herself, and then found one from the detective. His phone number was on the email. She dialed it on the hotel landline and quickly called him. “Hey, it’s Kat. Sorry for the late call. This time change is brutal. Do you have an update?”

  “We haven’t been able to find Paul’s brother yet. He was released from jail two months ago, and he’s not known at his listed address. By the way, you can return to your house while we tie up some loose ends. You’ll obviously have to do some work and get the insurance moving.”

  “I called them,” she said. “I’m waiting on a report. They should have been there yesterday.”

  “Good.”

  She heard papers rustling in the background.

  “It’s a case of stay low and let us work.”

  There wasn’t a whole lot she could say to that. She ended the call, answered a few more emails, then realized it really was time to go. She shut down her laptop, put it in her bag, grabbed her sweater and walked to where the men were still discussing plans.

  “It’s time to go,” she said abruptly. “I know there’s all kind of shit still happening. I’m totally okay to go alone, but I need to go either way, right now.”

  The men stood glaring at her, then turned to look at each other, stepping back from the door. Erick opened it for her and said, “Get it in your head you won’t be alone the entire time we’re here.”

  “Good, that works for me. It means you get to drive because I wouldn’t have a clue how to get where we’re going.” She grinned, smacked Badger on the shoulder lightly and added, “It also means you get to see the animals and look at some of the new advanced technology they’re using.”

  “Do you really think it’ll work for humans?”

  “Not widely today, not tomorrow. But it needs to happen soon. What we have in place works for many, but some need more.”

  They discussed some of the alterations that could be made as they drove to the vet’s hospital.

  At the hospital, the girl sitting behind the desk smiled and told Kat, Badger and Erick to wait in the reception area. Ten minutes later she was surprised to find Dr. Ron Macintosh standing in front of her. He held out his hand. “Delighted to see you. I’ve got an hour.” He glanced at his watch and winced. “Not quite an hour.”

  “I appreciate you taking what time you do have.”

  There followed an hour that was as fascinating to her as it was to the men with her. Not only did they discuss what Dr. Macintosh was doing for various animals but he also showed her some of the prototypes they were working on, explained how the 3-D printing designs were sent away, and, when they came back, they actually did the implants. Then he took them for a tour in the back so they could see a couple of the latest animals he had worked on.

  By the time she stepped outside the vet clinic, she wished she could have worked at his side for a couple weeks. She lifted her head and took a deep breath of the fresh country air. The men beside her stood quietly. She understood the feeling. What they’d just seen was both awe-inspiring and comforting.

  “Do you think anybody is doing work like that in the US?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but certainly several vets are looking at it.”

  Badger looked at Erick. “Do we know any?”

  Erick frowned. “Maybe Louise? Levi does security for her clinic. They had a big shoot-out there a couple months back. She’s got a high-end HVAC system because of the bone-dust problems associated with her future prosthetics work.”

  “Amazing. Absolutely amazing.”

  As they walked back to the car, Kat felt a sense of wonder and potential soar through her. She knew transferring cutting-edge technology for the animals over to humans was a long way away. But there was just so much hope. Dr. Macintosh had achieved so much for those animals that it really made her heart smile.

  As they reached the vehicle, Badger’s phone rang. She came back to reality with a hard bump and turned to look at him. And waited.

  “Talon, what did you find out?”

  “Just like the MI6 guy said, nothing is here. However, I did track down a neighbor. He saw some man go into the apartment. He thought it was unusual because nobody had been living here. He was also carrying a large black case.”

  Badger’s gaze flew toward Erick. “Did you get a description?”

  Talon’s voice filled the air so clearly she could hear too.

  “He did get a glimpse. But not enough to ID him. He had on a black hoodie and a winter cap. He only saw him from the back. But we’ll estimate six-two and lean. Didn’t fill out the jeans and walked with a lanky kind of long loose step.”

  “Long arms?”

  “Presumably. Goes along with long legs,” Talon said in a dry tone.

  Kat had to laugh because, of course, he was right. Most people were proportional.

  The two men talked again for a few moments, then Badger said, “We’re on our way back into London. I’m not sure there’s any point in staying any longer.”

  “Have you heard from Mason?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “Good enough. We’ll meet you at the hotel.”

  Badger put away his phone, hopped into the driver’s seat and
said, “I’ll drive.”

  Erick shrugged and got in the back seat.

  With Badger driving, Kat got into the front. “This works for me.”

  He gave her a smile, reached over, squeezed her fingers and turned on the engine.

  The drive back was pleasant. She studied the surroundings, realizing the sky was clear, and it might be sunny all day. “Can we play tourist today?”

  “Sure. Is there any particular place you want to go?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know the usual tourist places.”

  That started the discussion all the way back to the hotel about the merits of each tourist attraction.

  Erick said, “We definitely have to go to a few places. We’re booked to fly home on Monday. Today is Saturday. We might as well stay the extra day and a half. If nothing else, it will help us return to some normality in our lives.”

  Privately she agreed. “I want to see Big Ben,” she announced. “And the wax museum.”

  “It’ll be a long day tomorrow then,” Badger announced. “You better hope the world lets us have the day.”

  She turned to stare at him. “Do you think we’re in danger playing tourist for a day?”

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting MI6 to spot us. So, outside of a shooter killing my informant, it’s hard to say if we’re in danger.”

  “We have to assume he saw you,” Erick said. “You can try to minimize the danger all you want, but here’s a thought. If he shot one person and left you alive, it was for a reason.”

  “Yeah, lack of opportunity,” Badger snapped.

  Back at the hotel they parked in the underground lot and made their way up to their rooms. Kat collapsed on the bed. “You know? I might just need a nap.”

  “I was going to suggest that. I have some work to do. The guys are all back at their rooms. We’ll arrange to have lunch in, … let’s say, half an hour or forty-five minutes.”

  She thought about it. “That’ll be good.” So saying, she rolled over, pulled a blanket over her shoulders and fell asleep.