The Con Job by Matt Forbeck & Electric Entertainment

Author:Matt Forbeck & Electric Entertainment [Forbeck, Matt & Entertainment, Electric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 042525383X
Amazon: B0095ZMLLC
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2012-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-ONE

“All right,” Nate said after Patronus excused himself to get back to his booth. “We got him.”

The man had practically pranced back into the convention center, leaving Nate and Sophie to enjoy the warm ocean breeze and bask in the contentment of a grift well run. They had him by the legal equivalent of the throat, and he’d been only too happy to put the collar around his neck. All they had to do was collect on his contractual promises on Sunday, and they were done.

“Good job, guys,” Parker said. “But what about Hardison? I’m really starting to get worried about him.”

“He’s still not on the earpieces,” Nate said. “Anyone try his cell phone?”

“It doesn’t pick up,” Eliot said. “Goes straight to voice mail. I left three messages already.”

“That means something’s wrong with his phone,” Sophie said.

“He might have just turned it off,” Parker said with a hopeful note that she couldn’t make sound entirely sincere. “He does that sometimes when he really wants to concentrate.”

“Not during a job,” Nate said. “He knows better than that.”

It was time to admit it. Something was really wrong. The only trouble was that they had no idea what.

“Parker, get back to the Hyatt and see what you can figure out. Take Eliot with you. They might still have security footage from last night. Most hotels have a camera focused on the elevators, if not actually inside them. We might be able to figure out who he left the party with.”

“Sounds good,” said Eliot. “What about you two?”

“Sophie’s going to wander the floor and see if she can find any traces of him here.” He reached out and put his hand in hers. “Maybe you can even poke around Patronus’s booth and see if there’s any connection there.”

“You think Patronus had something to do with it?”

Nate shook his head. “I doubt it. He saw Hardison in our stolen booth while he was pretending to be Warren Ellis’s handler. If he’d been involved in Hardison’s disappearance, he never would have signed that contract. He’d have called the whole deal off.”

“Unless he’s a lot sharper than we think, and he’s playing us,” said Eliot.

Sophie shook her head. “No real chance of that, I don’t think. He’s honestly not that clever, and even if he is, what’s the upside to signing a contract with a fictional publishing company?”

“Fine,” Eliot said. “Parker and I will get on it.”

“I can use my FBI badge,” Parker said, “pretend I’m investigating a kidnapping.”

“Good call,” said Nate.

“And where are you off to?” Eliot said.

“I’m going to check the hotel room and make sure he’s not just sleeping off a long night there. That would be the best possible outcome. After that, I’ll look in on the Field to make sure he isn’t waiting for us there.”

Sophie gave Nate a hard look, and he knew just what she meant.

“I will not stay there and drown my sorrows about him going missing,” he said to her. “I’ll look in and leave a message with the management that we’re looking for him.

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