“Is this all a part of the new employee plan?”
“Something like that. It’s only a short walk from my place and will be easy for us to meet there until I find a new office building. I’ve got a complete list of all the higher-up guys in the organization for you there. Jonathan’s gone through them all recently.”
“Sounds like the problem people are already out of the picture.”
“They are.”
“Locating this Taylor guy is proving difficult.”
“We’ve searched everywhere.” I say as I pull onto the highway. “He’s good, that’s for sure.”
“He was special ops.”
“No shit?”
“He was army but worked with Landon Stark when he was with the navy. Honorable discharge.”
“What did he do there?”
“Classified.”
“Please.” I don’t hide the sarcasm as I glance over to him with a raised brow. Eddie-boy had access to everything.
“You really want to know?”
“Yeah.”
“He was part of the team that pulled you out of Afghanistan.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. Working in the background, but he was part of it.”
“Have you met him?”
“Not as far as I know. Doesn’t seem familiar, and I couldn’t find any record wher
e we were in the same place at the same time.”
“Small world.”
“It does mean he shouldn’t be underestimated.”
“Hard to make any kind of estimation when I can’t find the guy.”
“No argument there, LT.”
We meet Jonathan in the back room of Quay, a little restaurant-bar I discovered when I was working with the Russians. It’s very private, and the staff has already figured out not to mess with me.
After the introductions, we get down to business.
“Any word about Taylor?” I ask Jonathan.
“None,” he replies. He lights a cigarette as the bartender wrinkles her nose but doesn’t say anything. He leans forward and speaks softly. “Would’ve thought with Beni’s demise, he might have come out of the woodwork, but there’s nothing.”
“You sure Paulie and Cody were in on it?” Eddie-boy asks.
“Cody, yes,” I say. “I just didn’t like Paulie.”