Grady stared at the empty sky, a deep frown furrowing his brow. It had cleared up hours ago and still no word from Larry. News of Knight’s death had rated a short mention on the morning news out of Denver. Leslie’s dad must be freaking about now, he thought with a grin. His top scientist dead, the research assistant missing. Unless she wasn’t? She hadn’t been mentioned on the news, either as the grieving or missing daughter. No way to tell what that meant. No mention of the robbery yet either, though that wasn’t too surprising. They’d counted on the confusion of Knight’s death to disguise the theft of the Shield prototype for a few days. He planned to have the information out of Prudence and be out of the country before Merryweather, and Les, knew what had hit them.

He looked at the empty sky. Maybe radio silence had been a bad idea. Of course, there was another way to find out if Prudence Knight was missing. Donovan Kincaid would know. Maybe some judicious bluffing was a good idea right now. If his guys hadn’t picked her up last night, then his call would tip Kincaid off that she was a target.

It wasn’t like Larry to botch a job. Grady had sent his best man. Larry could have had engine trouble, or it might not have cleared where they were. Except his gut was telling him that something had gone wrong. But how wrong?

He turned. If Larry had mucked it, it would be a major heads up to Kincaid and he’d already be on the alert. This wasn’t the time to hesitate. He grabbed the phone, activated an anti-trace device, put an apparatus over the mouthpiece to disguise his voice and dialed Kincaid’s number. It was answered on the first ring.

A good sign. So was the worry in his barked, “Kincaid.”

“Lose something?”

“Where is she you bastard? You hurt one hair on her head —”

Bingo. Or, as Leslie liked to put it, check and possibly a mate. Now he needed to find out where Larry was. Unless—

A sudden thought put a cold chill down his back. Had Leslie found out his real plans and bought his guy? Leslie, who didn’t need the money, wanted her dead, all traces of the technology destroyed. He’d only agreed to keep her alive to put pressure on Kincaid. Could he have diverted delivery somewhere else?

No, there’d been no sign of it in Les’s voice the other night. Les couldn't hide his dark side from his good buddy, Grady. He’d have turned bi if Grady had asked him to. The hero worship was sickening but useful. It would be a relief when he could end it.