Chapter 8

8

L uke frantically texted Divya before he needed to shut his phone down.

Luke Contadino: Had to leave in a rush. Will you keep an eye on Agatha?

Divya's reply was graciously fast. He loved that she was always on top of her game. Not that the same could be said about him lately.

Divya Bakshi: Already on it. Just dug some juicy info on her

Of course, she did . He was dreading not being there and not being able to assist her in any way.

Luke Contadino: What info?

Divya Bakshi: We can talk when you're back

Luke Contadino: Don't make me wait! This trip wasn't my idea

Divya Bakshi: You've got to admit our stringer is looking dodgy. She's got ties to Voyeur. She flees to BCN. She was sacked…

Luke Contadino: Journalists get sacked all the time

Divya Bakshi: …

Luke wouldn't wait for Divya's answer. He wanted to be able to wrap up that conversation without his fingers hurting from all the rapid typing.

"You really can't wait…" replied Divya when she finally picked up his call.

"What's the juicy info you got on Agatha?" he asked, trying to learn what Divya knew before he was forced to surrender his mobile phone. "You know I can't wait to talk about this until I return. I don't even know how long this will take. Packing was a nightmare."

"Sorry you had to get your luggage ready in a rush and are not sure if you're carrying enough socks or the right type of shirts," teased Divya. The thing was, she was right. Luke was conflicted about what was inside his suitcase. He was sure half of it would be either too warm or not warm enough.

"It's a serious issue!" he protested, hearing how ridiculous he sounded. But for some reason unbeknownst to him, he wanted to look good during his stay.

"Divya, what have you got on Agatha?"

"She was Sara and Bryana Daniels's first agent when they started."

"What?"

"They dumped her a couple of years ago when they got hired by Meshflixx to develop The Privateers. They're at one of the big talent agencies now and share an agent with guess who?"

"No idea," said Luke, taking mental notes of everything. He knew there had to be something about Agatha.

"Emmy-winner Martha Broch," Divya announced triumphantly.

"And this is important because…"

"No idea yet. But I'll keep digging. You know I don't believe in coincidences."

"Mate, I need to go," Luke said when a flight attendant's voice started asking passengers to put their mobile devices away.

"Not so fast! Why would our Stringer be sacked if she wasn't involved in leaking the script?"

"It's my understanding that job insecurity is a common occurrence in the profession," said Luke. He'd been told so by several friends of his oldest sister, Gaia, who'd all dabbled in the field and ended up deciding on greener and better-paying, albeit much less fun, pastures. Yet he seemed the only one at T&T to know what he thought was a truth universally acknowledged about journalists.

"And you have tried telling that to our bosses?"

"Several times," he admitted.

"Any luck?"

"Why do you think I'm sandwiched in a middle seat on my way to Barcelona right now?" Luke tried not to raise his voice. But that comment got him looks from the two women sitting on either side of him.

He really was trying to make himself as small as possible and not interfere in anyone's personal space. It was not an easy task for a six-foot person flying in the smallest kind of economy seat.

"Tell me, how is it that we were supposed to start cutting back on surveillance and they decided to send you to Barcelona?" Divya sounded a bit annoyed. But he would have happily exchanged his place with hers and stayed in London. He wasn't fond of flying—or any other aspects of traveling. But Thompson hadn't given him the option of saying no.

"Well, you know how things are at the agency…"

"Nothing ever makes any sense," said Divya, voicing Luke's exact thoughts. "How did you figure out Sol had been sacked?"

"I didn't. Thompson follows her on social media, and she's written about it on Twitter apparently."

"You weren't following her socials?" Divya's tone reminded Luke about his many failings.

He'd been supposed to take the lead in all the marks' online presences. He'd found Sol's landing page as an entertainment critic, as well as her LinkedIn profile, and he'd ascertained that she was in none of the most commonly used dating apps, yet he'd managed to forget all other social media.

"A flight attendant is giving me an evil look. Talk to you when I land. Keep me posted on Agatha. Cheers."

He hung up, put his mobile on airplane mode, and attempted to read without invading any armrests.