Chapter 67
67
Isat in the recliner, drank a couple of beers, and tried to keep my nervousness under control as Gunnar talked to his network. Entrusting my safety to a bunch of strangers was not in my nature – especially pothead strangers.
Plus, I really didn’t want to antagonize the man who’d gotten me out of the military two years early. If Alistair found out about my snooping, there was always the chance he could stick me right back where he’d found me – with a brand-new deployment to Afghanistan.
Or he might just have me killed.
That was a joke.
Or at least, I hoped it was a joke.
But I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to know what I was dealing with.
After 15 minutes of banging away on his keyboard, Gunnar stopped typing. “Hmm p>
“‘Hmm,’ what?” I asked, leaning forward in the recliner. “What does ‘hmm’ mean p>
“Is this your guy p>
Gunnar rolled his chair aside, revealing an official-looking picture of Alistair. Underneath were the words, ‘Assistant Director of Operations – Europe Division p>
That certainly sounded like the title of someone who could get you out of military service.
“That’s him,” I confirmed.
“That’s from internal records at MI6. My homies came through,” Gunnar said proudly.
“Why couldn’t I find anything about him online p>
“I asked about that. Apparently, you stay in the shadows at MI6 until they absolutely have to out you. Like once you start working with politicians ‘n shit p>
“Alright, at least we know he’s legit. Thanks for looking p>
“By the way, I also asked about Rachel p>
“What p>
I was alarmed – but also intensely curious.
“Yeah,” Gunnar said. “And there’s no record of her. Anywhere p>
“What does that mean p>
“According to my guy, it means that Rachel is deep in the shadows, bro,” Gunnar said in a wary voice. “Like, a ghost p>
Alistair’s words came back to me:
You would be entirely separate from the main organization – a ghost.
The fact that Rachel wasn’t in the databases made sense –
But Gunnar’s contact had gone looking for both Rachel and Alistair at the same time.
“Could looking for Rachel have triggered any sort of alarm?” I asked nervously.
“No p>
“How do you know p>
“Cuz my homie wrote the alarms. He’d know if somebody set a trap p>
“Okay,” I said, relieved. “Tell your guy thanks for me p>
“Already did,” Gunnar said cheerfully. “Sent him a nice package of Bubba Kush for his help p>
“You sent him marijuana p>
“Relax, dude – I ordered it off the dark web. He’s got a private mail drop that can’t be traced back to him. It’s cool p>
I shook my head. If international security was actually in the hands of these people…
But then I remembered everything Gunnar had just done for me. “Thanks again. I really appreciate it p>
“No problem, my brother! Happy to help p>
“So what do you want to do now p>
“Well, if you were single, I’d say we could go to the red light district and spend some time with a couple of beautiful ladies – ”
“NO. I’m not going to cheat on Rachel p>
“Yeah, I figured. How about a pot brownie in one of the cafés, then p>
“No, thank you p>
Gunnar sighed. “Alright… I guess we just go get drunk p>