Read Online Some Gave All by Nancy Holder - Free Book Online

block.”
    “It’s like a war zone,” Vincent said. “I went up on a rooftop but the angle was wrong. I can’t get into the abandoned warehouse across from the apartment building, either. Police presence.”
    J.T. heard the change in his voice. Vincent had repressed the guilt and remorse and was concentrating on solving the case. That was what Vincent lived for now—justice. And Catherine, of course. J.T. was glad his friend had found love, and a renewed sense of purpose, but he himself was beginning to question his own place in all of this. Tess had once urged him to be “less Robin, more Batman,” but in the meantime, Vincent had fully embraced his inner Caped Crusader and J.T. wasn’t even Robin anymore. He was the guy back at HQ doling out the information. Pretty much all the important superheroes had an IT guy: Professor X, Ron Stoppable on
Kim Possible
…
    He ate another gummy worm and stared down at the phone number. Why give someone a bogus number? Two answers came to mind: one, the number hadn’t been bogus when it had been given; two, someone was keeping track of the location of phones used to call the number.
    “Or three, it’s a code that they’re expecting someone to crack,” he said aloud. “The wrong phone number.”
    “Yeah,” Vincent said slowly. “They had to figure Mr. Riley would go to someone. The army, or the police… But which side are they really on? Are they trying to get justice for Lafferty or dangling a baited hook to see who will bite? Putting Karl Tiptree’s name in, too, and mentioning a
serum
?”
    “So they’re upping the ante? Doling out clues?” J.T. picked up another gummy worm, then went for an antacid instead. “Vincent, it sounds to me like they’re trying to draw
you
out.”
    “But no one knows about me,” Vincent began, and then he sighed. “Someone always knows.”
    “Maybe these guys are an old Muirfield cell, even.” The antacid powdered his mouth. He grabbed another. “I’m getting fond of the ‘trap’ theory. There had to be reports about Lafferty in the infirmary. Cat’s mom probably wrote them. They were observing you guys all the time. They’d know you went to visit Lafferty in the infirmary. They probably overheard her… asking…” He trailed off.
    “Asking for my help. Begging me to get her out of there. And I didn’t listen. I sentenced her to death myself.”
    “Hel-lo, Vincent, do not go there. You didn’t know.”
    “She was Delta Company. One of mine.”
    “Exactly. She was a
soldier
.” Suddenly J.T. realized something: Vincent had never left square one, when they had lived in hiding in the old warehouse and he had oozed guilt. They were both still half-in, half-out of their cocoons. Why didn’t that make him feel better?
    “I need to go,” J.T. said, more gently. “I have to do my thing here.”
    “Yeah, me too. Thanks, J.T.”
    “Don’t mention it.” He hesitated. “Wait. Thanks for what, specifically?”
    “Everything.”
    Vincent disconnected, leaving J.T. feeling warm and fuzzy, if a bit confused. He set up a protocol to dial various combinations of the phone number after accounting for known scam numbers. Once that was up and running, he started applying various decryption algorithms to attempt to break the encoded message, if such existed. He was tempted to start a Karl Tiptree investigation of his own, but he was up to his ass in variables as it was. So on that ass, he sat in his chair and listened to the phone calls his computer attempted. No service, no service, out of order…
    “Logan’s Pizzeria,” a voice said.
    “May I speak to Private X?” J.T. asked calmly.
    “Say what? We’re a pizzeria.” The man sounded genuinely puzzled.
    “Sorry, wrong number.” J.T. ended the call.
    The computer dialed another number. A phone rang.
    “Fix-You-Fast Mufflers.”
    J.T. cleared his throat. “May I speak to Private X?”
    “What?”
    “Sorry. Wrong number.”
    It was going to be a long day.
    * *