“You’re not Cahill’s boss, Coop.”
Down the hall, Nova squealed with delight. He could hear Celina chasing her, ordering her to the tub. “True, but you don’t mess with the Beast. Keep an eye on him, will you? Cross your fingers our analysis is right and we get our mayor back in one piece. Soon.”
“Time is working against us.”
“All the more reason to get a fresh set of eyes on this.”
“Meet you at the office.” Thomas disconnected.
Cooper’s next call went to a private number and a man answered. “Rockstar Security. How may I help you?”
“I need to speak with Beatrice.”
A pause. “Are you in need of protection?”
“I am in need of you putting me through to your boss. Tell her the Beast is calling. Trust me, she’ll take it.”
Another pause, this more resistant, as though a wall had gone up between them. “One moment.”
The line played a classic rock song, and a minute later, a familiar voice came on. “What do I owe this unexpected call to? Is Celina okay?”
She knew him well. Celina and the kids were everything to him. He never asked for help, but for them, he’d do anything, including beg, borrow, and steal. “The family is good. Yours?”
He heard her take a small, relieved breath. “We are well, also. I take it this isn’t a social call.”
“The Taskforce has an emergency.”
“I’ve seen the news. Is this about the mayor?”
“Yes. We don’t have motivation, culprits, or any strong leads. SWAT is raiding our best guess tonight, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this whole thing. If she’s not there, we’re sunk.”
“How can I help?”
“We have too many loose ends and no clear connections. If I send you a list of names, dates, and places, can you use Petit’s program to find the piece of this puzzle that I’m missing?”
She was silent for a heartbeat. “The software is proprietary and Emit doesn’t like using it for government purposes.”
Cooper dug in his heels. “I wouldn’t ask if this woman’s life wasn’t on the line.”
Beatrice had a genius IQ and complete recall for anything she’d seen, heard, or read. The thought of all that data in one brain made his head hurt. “You know I am indebted to you, but the government has caused Cal and myself a great deal of grief. We’ve found that loaning out our software leads to conflict between us and, well, you.”
He knew she meant the collective law enforcement ‘you.’ It still rankled.
She was stubborn, but so was he. “I’ll keep it off the record. Nobody will know, even if you find a valid link that helps us. I’m desperate, B.”
A noise in the background filtered through and he heard Cal’s voice. Beatrice covered the receiver and they had a brief conversation. “Fine,” she said, reluctantly, when she returned to the line. “Send me the information at this email.” She rattled it off. “I’ll do this one time, under anonymity, and you’ll owe us.”
It was a fair deal. Celina appeared with Nova wrapped in a towel. She brought the wiggling, wet child over, and he kissed her fresh smelling head.
She patted his cheeks. “Night, Dada.”
“Night, baby girl,” he said to her, and then to Beatrice, “Thank you. I appreciate it more than you know.”
“Come for a visit.” He heard her typing. “We’d love to get Nova and Sloane together for a playdate.”
“The road goes both ways, and so does the offer. Plus, the weather’s better here,” he teased.
“Good to talk to you, Beast.” The line went dead
