Death Echo

the same time.
    â€œFaroe. Is Emma nearby?”
    â€œYes,” Mac said.
    â€œPut your phone on speaker. It will save time.”
    â€œOn speaker…now.”
    â€œOkay. You both hear me?” Faroe asked.
    â€œYes,” they said together.
    â€œA man called Timothy Harrow—” Faroe said.
    â€œOh shit,” Emma said.
    â€œâ€”called. I guess Emma knows him,” Faroe said.
    â€œWe worked together when I was new to everything spooky,”she said. “We worked real close for a few months, but he didn’t wear well.”
    â€œIt took about thirty seconds for me,” Faroe said.
    â€œYou’re a man. If he’d been a hot woman, I wouldn’t have been in the same room with him for longer than it took to say good-bye.”
    Faroe laughed.
    Mac shook his head.
    â€œDid good old Tim tell you anything we didn’t already know?” Emma asked.
    â€œNope,” Faroe said. “According to him, we have no need to know.”
    â€œOkay. This really is an official cluster,” she said. “What little gems did he share with you?”
    â€œHarrow, who never admitted to being with the Agency—”
    Emma made a rude sound.
    â€œâ€”told us that it’s all very hush-hush, Canada isn’t in on the whisper circuit, and there could be some heavy lifting ahead. So St. Kilda is supposed to shut up, get down with the opposition, and report every little fart and burp to Harrow, who, by the way, is now running this op.”
    Emma shook her head.
    â€œBullshit,” Mac said.
    â€œHe’s high on the crap quotient,” Faroe agreed. “But he’s in charge.”
    â€œWhat?” Mac demanded.
    â€œI’ll bet Harrow made an offer St. Kilda couldn’t refuse,” Emma said. “Like Alara.”
    â€œPretty much,” Faroe said. “When Steele told her about the new player, Alara started speaking in foreign tongues, and I’m betting she wasn’t describing flowers. Steele stuck to Urdu, which means we’re well and truly in the toilet, and someone is fondling the flush lever.”
    â€œCan we trust Harrow?” Mac asked her.
    â€œDepends,” Emma said. “He’s real far up the feeding chain, not like I was. I was a regular mushroom—kept in the dark and fed horse apples. I got tired of it and left the Agency.”
    â€œIf Harrow is high on the food chain, I don’t trust him,” Mac said.
    â€œThat’s my boy,” Faroe agreed. “Steele is the only Big Man In Charge I trust, period. And some days, I wonder about even him. He’s had a rough day or two. We had a rescue operation go south. Everyone got out alive, but not without blood. Shit happens and all that.”
    â€œEmma, would you trust Harrow as a working partner?” Mac asked.
    Silence, then, “He knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and he’s buried a few on our side. If I had a choice about trusting him, I’d keep him in front of me.”
    â€œBut we don’t have a choice,” Mac said. “And we don’t trust him.”
    â€œAmen,” she said beneath her breath.
    â€œYou can be as touchy-feely as you like with him,” Faroe said, “but he’s giving the orders. He made that deadly clear.”
    â€œWhat does he want?” Emma asked.
    â€œYou and Mac at the following coordinates, and he wants it all yesterday.”
    Mac wrote while Faroe read numbers.
    â€œOh,” Faroe added. “He thinks you’re still in Campbell River.”
    â€œWe are,” Emma said instantly.
    â€œI’ve been chasing electrons,” Mac added.
    â€œAny luck?” Faroe asked. “I hear they’re quick little buggers.”
    â€œI’ve caught enough that we can be at Harrow’s coordinates between one and two this afternoon. More or less.”
    â€œDepending on weather, and we won’t know until we get there, right?” Emma added.
    â€œHarrow is going to have a litter of green lizards,” Faroe said.
    â€œSweet. I’ll make a video and put it on YouTube,” she said.
    â€œDoes Steele care how we deal with Harrow?” Mac asked.
    â€œShort of getting caught committing murder, no,” Faroe said. “What do you have in mind?”
    â€œIf I tell you,” Mac said, “St. Kilda Consulting will be responsible for my actions. If I don’t tell you, then you have a rogue agent causing you