The Freelancer – Chapter 55

Even for a Saturday night, Blaine’s Rain was packed.  I was grateful we met in a private room at the back of the club.  As a rule, I wasn’t a fan of large crowds.  The situation was nearly impossible to control.  Anything could happen and I wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it.

Jenna looked amazing.  Until now I only saw her conservative side in public.  The black leather pants and barely there shirt were a nice change, though I was certain she borrowed both from Trista.  On the other hand, I didn’t like that every guy in the club was eyeing her when we arrived.

Collin was driving me insane by 11 o’clock.  He kept looking for Maureen, who was strangely absent.  Trista assured him Maureen did this kind of thing all the time, but he just wouldn’t drop it.

“But she told me to meet her at nine sharp, Trista,” he complained.

“Collin, if you’re going to be involved with Maureen then you’re going to have to get used to this.  She once vanished for a week before she bothered to call and tell me she was on vacation in Bermuda.  Don’t get me wrong, I like her, but she’s possibly the least considerate person I’ve ever known.  Blow it off. There are plenty of women here right now,” Trista said.

I could tell Collin wasn’t going to accept that at all.  It was obvious the FBI agent in him was working every possible angle of this in his mind.  It was too bad that he didn’t put the level of energy into his job that he did in figuring out a woman.

As if that was possible.

I  tapped Collin on the shoulder.  “Come on.  I know you won’t shut up unless we go stand outside and wait for her.”  I turned to Jenna.  “I’ll be back in a while.”

She grabbed the collar of my shirt and playfully pulled me towards her.

“Okay, but don’t stay gone too long.”

“I won’t,” I said giving her a quick kiss.

Once Collin and I were outside I demanded, “What the hell was all of that in there?  They’re trying to celebrate.”

“And you weren’t?” Collin retorted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You didn’t answer your cell phone,” Collin answered, matter-of-fact.

I couldn’t figure out where he was going with this and it was starting to piss me off.

“And?”

“And you always answer your cell phone.”

“You could have misdialed.”

“Not twenty-seven times, I couldn’t.”

“What the fuck happened that you called me that many times? And why am I just now hearing about it?” I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. “Was he on the move?”

“No,” Collin said.  “Blackstone hasn’t left his apartment.”

“Well…what then?”

Collin smirked.  “After the first couple of times I figured you were having some fun of your own.  I thought it would be fun to piss you off.  Did it work?”

“You’re a real dick, Collin.  You know that?”

“I guess it did,” Collin said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

“Actually, Jenna threw it at the wall when she couldn’t get it to stop ringing.  I had to get it replaced this afternoon.”

Collin started laughing.  “She threw your phone at the wall?”

When Collin said it, it sounded ridiculous.  I gave in and laughed with him.

“Hey, she was trying to sleep.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.”

He was right, but I kept my mouth shut. None of his business.

“Yeah, I know what silence means. Interesting.”

“What?”

“I thought you didn’t want to complicate the case?”

“It couldn’t be helped.”  I was getting uneasy with the turn of the conversation.  “Have we got anything new out of Houston?”

“I’m going to be a nice guy and let you change the subject.  Actually, yeah, I think we did.”

“You think we did?”

I was annoyed. This was his job. Lives were at stake. He should know, not think.

“Any hard evidence was destroyed by the fire, but the woman who took over his files thought she saw something out of place on one of them.  A date was scrawled on a scrap of paper.  She said she thought it was the date of a clinical trial at first, but she couldn’t find anything to substantiate it. She tossed it.”

“Why did she mention it then?”

Collin shrugged.  “I guess the agent asked her if there was anything unusual.  I don’t know why, but I’m glad she told him.”

“Are we sure it wasn’t a date that went with a different file?”

“Yeah, it’s a week from tomorrow and I was able to confirm that they don’t do any trials on Sunday.”

I exhaled sharply.  I underestimated Collin’s dedication to the case after all.

“So, we have a date.  Have you met with Airport Security yet?”

“No.  I figured you’d want to handle it yourself since you’re such a control freak and all.  I’ve got a meeting set up for Monday morning at 10 o’clock.”

“Good thinking.  Do you think they’ll be a problem?”

“No.  Once they find out why we’re there, I think they’ll bend over backwards to help.  DFW Airport is one of the busiest in the country.  They can’t afford not to help us and end up with any sort of national security nightmare.”

“That’s good to know.  Dulles is a real pain in the ass.”

Collin yawned.  “I’m going to head out.  I don’t think Maureen’s going to show up.  Congratulate Trista and Blaine again for me.  I’ll meet you at your place Monday morning to head to the airport.”

“Okay, Collin.  Enjoy what’s left of your weekend.” It was too bad we wouldn’t get to work together after the case was over; I was starting to think of that guy as a friend.  I turned around to go back into the club and came face to face with Blackstone.

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