DorkFish 4: The Ruthless Scheme

Without a Shred of Evidence

Jensen’s word proved true. Well outside the city limits of Rome, the roads become thin ribbons winding their way through the hilly Italian countryside, but Jared didn’t see any of the picturesque view flying past his window.

With the exception of their brief exchange after that incoming call, he and Jensen traveled in silence for the majority of the trip.

He stole a glance at him across the CranCabrio’s cabin. Mind on the drive, Jensen was all business, shoulders set, keen eyes intent on the chicanery of the road. One hand gripped the wheel at ten, one hand rested at the ready on the shift knob, both working on one joined force of single-minded pursuit: Get there.

‘That’s not all he’s thinking about,’ he thought.
‘Something is wrong.’
‘He knows something from that phone call and he’s not telling me what it is.’

With that tight expression on his face, though, Jared could hazard a guess.

It was either him or Misha.

Jensen had confiscated his dead phone as soon as he’d gotten it back from Murray, so he had no idea whether Misha had tried to call him. He could only assume he had.

Which begged the question – had he tried calling Jensen, too?

‘How can I ask him without getting that murderous glower from him again?’

Jared stalled on that memory from back in the store, when the mere mention of Misha’s name had nearly set him off. Matter of fact, now that he thought about it, Jensen hadn’t breathed so much as a word about Misha since their blow up in his apartment that morning.

Almost as if he were deliberately avoiding the subject.

‘But isn’t that something we should be talking about?’ he wondered. ‘Christ, how do I even broach it when things are going... well, honestly, as good as can be expected at this point?’

‘You do what you’ve always done, Mr. Journalist,’ he told himself. ‘Ask the question without asking it.’

“Do you think they’ll make the deadline?” Jared mused, breaking the thick silence.

Jensen took a long inhale after going so long without speaking, his gaze to the road.

“If you’re asking about the Shahi’s,” he replied. “Definitely.”

‘So, he doesn’t want to talk right now.’ “That was an awful lot we amassed from them,” he pressed onward.

“And certainly, no room for it in this car.”

Jared cast his first line. “With everything we scored today, we’ve got Justice covered for months. How long do you think we’re going to be here?”

Sensing the bait, Jensen’s expression went from concentrated to completely closed off.

“I don’t know.” he answered.

Undeterred by his stiff response, Jared held onto his resolve. “What do you know?” he asked with care, trying to keep it as non-confrontational as possible.

Even so, his eyes narrowed. “It’s what I don’t know right now that’s more important.”

Jared ‘s stomach twisted into a knot. “Like what?”

He pushed too hard, and the thunderous look he threw him made that knot in his gut double and tighten.

“You really want to do this now?” he stormed.