Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

facing his brother. “Has Friar
     called?”
    Machek shook his head.
    “Sandwiches and fruit okay?” Patrick asked, picking up the hotel phone.
    “That would be fine. Jasper, am I to assume you came through the ductwork to avoid
     being seen, rather than from some hope of surprising and slaughtering us?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “It’s usually a bad idea to surprise lupi,” Lily said. “It can be a bad idea to surprise
     me, too.”
    Machek glanced at her shoulder holster. She’d put her gun up when Todd didn’t find
     any weapons on him. “I didn’t have many options. I had to talk to you. The prototype
     is missing.”
    Dead silence. Rule broke it to say dryly, “Does that mean it wasn’t missing before?”
    “Yes. I mean no, it wasn’t.” He rubbed his face again. “Maybe I do need some coffee.
     I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ll start over. Most of what I told you was true, but
     even the true parts were carefully selected. I was given a script to follow. I did
     as I was told, and I’m not apologizingfor it. He has Adam. You were right about that. He…they hurt him once, while I was
     on the phone. Friar wanted me to hear.”
    Lily exchanged a glance with Rule. He nodded, meaning she could take it for now. “You’ve
     talked with Adam.”
    He nodded. “Every day. I refused to do anything unless I spoke to him every day. I
     made sure they weren’t using a recording. I asked questions they couldn’t have anticipated.”
    “When was Adam taken?”
    “Nine days ago. That’s a hellishly short time to plan and execute the kind of job
     he wanted me to do, but it’s hellishly long in every other way.”
    “How did Friar know you could do that kind of job?”
    “I’ve got an idea about that, but—look, can I just tell you what happened without
     questions for a minute?”
    “Go ahead.”
    “There was an attempt to get the prototype from me last night. That part was true.
     Three men, one armed—at least I only saw one gun. It loomed large in my sight at the
     time, but I think it was a smallish 9 mm. They were waiting for me when I got home.
     The one with the gun was on the stairs between me and the door. The other two came
     up behind me, blocking me. They demanded the prototype. I’d allowed for the possibility
     that Friar would double-cross me, so I’d stashed it elsewhere. They assured themselves
     I was telling the truth about that, then demanded I tell them where it was. I refused.
     They made the obligatory threats. I refused again. They weren’t going to kill me,
     not when I was the only person who knew where the damn thing was, and we were on a
     public street. It was late, but we were too public for them to hurt me badly. Or so
     I hoped.” He paused. “I got lucky. Mr. Peterson’s dog had gotten out again. He’s a
     Great Dane with a low boredom threshold, thinks he’s a puppy. He came racing up, all
     excited at these new playmates, and jumped up on one of the men. It was enough of
     a distraction for me to get away.”
    Lily had quietly retrieved her notebook while he was talking. “Where did you go?”
    “At first I just ran. Once I was sure I’d lost them…there’s a little coffee shop on
     Bradbury that stays open all night. I was close enough, so I went there. They’d searched
     me, but they hadn’t taken anything. I still had both phones—”
    “Both?” The door to the hall opened. A quick glance told her it was Scott; Rule asked
     him something using hand-talk, and he left again. Lily focused on Jasper.
    “My phone and the throwaway Friar sent me. I contacted Friar.”
    “You have his number.”
    “No, he calls me. To contact him, I log on to a chat board and leave a message. I
     was told what name to use. They look for posts from handydog12 and for certain key
     words. That’s how I let him know I had the prototype—I used ‘success’ in a post. To
     get him to call me I posted ‘disregard my last message.’ Thirty minutes later he called
     me. I told him about the attempt.”
    “Did you tell him the thieves weren’t successful?”
    “Yes.” He leaned forward, looking at the hands he clasped between his knees. “I thought
     about lying, but if those were his men, he’d know, wouldn’t he? I couldn’t take the
     chance. If I lie, he punishes Adam. That’s why they hurt Adam before. Friar caught
     me in a lie.”
    Drummond stirred. “I’ve got a couple questions for him.”
    In a few minutes
, she told him,
if I haven’t