Thera spent the day doing a lot of nothing, installing GPS trackers in the trucks at the university, poking around Park’s planes and his hangar at Gitmo, even checking on a few more trucks. It was all a waste of time. She was supposed to concentrate on finding the plutonium, not Ferguson.
On their first mission together, an attache case of jewels had gone missing. She’d become the obvious suspect. Ferguson stood by her—and checked her out at the same time, believing she was a thief and yet not wanting to believe it either.
She’d been so mad at him, so damn mad.
She wanted to take it all back.
God, he couldn’t be dead.
Fergie, you handsome son of a bitch. Come back and laugh at me, would you?
She got back to her hotel around eleven and checked in with The Cube. Lauren was on duty, shuffling time slots with Corrigan.
“What’s going on?” Thera asked.
“Nothing new.”
“Listen, I want to talk to the people who went north with Ferguson. They have to know something.”
“Slott wants you to work on the plutonium angle, Thera. He needs to know what’s going on with that.”
“We need to find Ferguson.”
“We’re working on it.”
“How? Analyzing intercepts? Looking at satellite data?”
“Well, yeah. Things like that.”
“That’s a waste.” Anger swelled inside her. “Let me talk to Slott. Better yet, give me Corrine.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You can get her.”
Thera turned on the television, checking the local news. So far, there was no word of the troop movements across the border.
A half hour later, Corrine called on the sat phone.
“You needed to talk to me?” Her voice sounded distant and hollow, more machinelike than human.
“I wanted to know what we’re doing to find Ferg.”
“We’re working on it.”
“I want to interview the people he went north with. They may have information.”
“Have you talked to Dan?”
“No. You’re the one who’s really in charge, right?”
“Dan handles the specifics of the mission,” said Corrine coldly. “You have to do what he says.”
“We have to find Ferg.”
“I realize the situation is difficult, Thera. It’s hard for everyone. We all have to do our jobs.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not easy for me, either.”
It’s a hell of a lot easier for you, Thera thought, but she didn’t say anything.
“Do you need anything else?” Corrine asked.
“I’m fine.” She turned off the phone.