Дэвид Балдаччи - King and Maxwell

“A what?”

“Doesn’t matter. While we were there someone stuck a pack of probably Semtex on the front wall of the unit and detonated it. If not for Sean’s quick thinking I wouldn’t be here and those guys would have kicked your ass. As it was, most of the motor court burned down. Luckily, no one was hurt.”

“A bomb?”

“Yeah, a bomb. So when did your dad contact you?”

“I saw the message right before lunch.”

“And what did it say?”

“Nothing much.” Tyler looked down at the ground as he said this.

“You really suck at lying.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Okay, if it was nothing much why can’t you tell me?”

“Why would Jean have another place to live?”

“We told you we think she and your dad might not even be married.”

“Right. You said he might have brought her home so I’d have an adult to live with while he was gone. Did you change your mind about that?”

“No. But we’ve modified our opinion somewhat. We think she was a plant.”

“A plant?”

“We think she might be working for the people who set up your dad. That’s why she’s disappeared now. She got scared and took off with us back on the case. She had this address at the motor court where mail was sent. We checked the place out but didn’t find anything except nearly a fiery death.”

“But who was she working with then? Not the Army?”

“Don’t think so, but the Army is definitely mixed up in all this. We think there’s another factor. Maybe the factor that made your dad’s mission go wrong.”

His face brightened. “So you believe my dad is a good guy?”

“I think we’re both coming around to that, yeah.”

“Well, he is a good guy.”

“Even though he lied to you? You were pretty mad at him for that.”

“I guess he had to do that. He was serving his country.”

“Come on, let’s go see Sean. He’ll want to hear this too.”

Tyler’s face screwed up. “I don’t want to go with you. How many times do I have to say it?”

“So what will you do? Hook up with your dad?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“And if it wasn’t your dad who sent you that email, you’ll be walking right into a trap.”

“It was in our code.”

“Which, like we told you, we broke in a few seconds. You don’t think other people can too? This is the big league, Tyler. They have resources you won’t even see in a Hollywood film because the movie guys can’t come close to imagining what some folks already have for real.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“You mean like you did with those idiots back there? The dudes you’ll be facing by yourself will put a hole in your head and not think twice about it.”

“You’re just trying to scare me.”

“No, I’m just trying to be straight with you.”

Tyler hesitated.

Michelle seized on this. “I tell you what. We go see Sean. Let him talk to you. If you still want to go, you go. We can’t keep you against your will. That would be a crime.”

“Are you being straight with me now or is this a trick?”

“Ever since we got hooked up with you we’ve almost been killed twice. I don’t think we’ll survive another attack. So, yeah, I’m being straight with you. And you’re the client. You want to go it alone, there’s nothing we can do about it. Except attend your funeral later. Which would have been more than Sean and I would have had after this morning.”

“What do you mean?”

She put a hand on his shoulder and guided him toward her Land Cruiser. “Semtex doesn’t usually leave enough of you behind to bury.”

THEY DROVE TO SEAN’S HOUSE and filled him in. Michelle was surprised by what he wanted to focus on.

“Why did those punks at school say your dad was AWOL and a crook?” he asked.

Tyler stared at him angrily. “My dad is not–”

Sean cut him off. “I didn’t say he was. That’s not my point. What I’m asking is where did they get that idea?”

Tyler now looked puzzled. “One of them said his dad told him. And his dad is in the Army. That I know for a fact. He’s a lieutenant colonel.”

Michelle said, “Or they might have made it all up just to harass you, Tyler.”

“No,” said Tyler. “Those jerks don’t have that much imagination.” He paused and added, “If he heard it from his dad and his dad’s in the Army, I guess it might have come from there.”

Sean shook his head. “I don’t think so. The Army has put the kibosh on this whole thing. They’re coming down like an Abrams tank on us and we’re not even in uniform. I don’t see them letting the rank and file flap their mouths. Actually, I don’t see the rank and file even being in the loop on this.”

Sean pulled out his laptop and started clicking keys. He looked at the results, clicked some more keys, and then nodded.

“I Googled your dad’s name. And this came up. There’s a leak,” he said. He spun the computer around so they could see.

He continued, “Not the mainstream media yet, but there are three articles dealing with this. They’re actually the same article just repeated in strings. Meaning other online media outlets are picking it up now.”

Tyler and Michelle read the pages on the screen.

Tyler said, “Shit, they know that Jean is missing too. How did they find that out?”

Sean replied, “Maybe because the source behind this story was the one who made her disappear.”

After they were finished Michelle sat back and summarized the articles. “So, missing money. Unauthorized money. And a missing soldier named Sam Wingo smack in the middle of it. The White House refuses to comment as does the Pentagon, which means everyone will assume they’re covering it up. So that’s obviously what the punk’s dad was referring to. He’d read this article.”

“Right. But who the hell was the source?” asked Sean.

Michelle eyed the byline of the first article. “If this was the original that the other outlets just copied, it was George Carlton. He has a blog devoted to military and political matters.” Michelle looked at Sean. “You know of him?”

“No. I’m not much into the blogging world, but I wonder if Mr. Carlton has received a visit from DoD?”

“He’s local. Bio says he lives and works in Reston, so maybe he has. But they surely wouldn’t have wanted him to write this.”

“Not saying they would. I meant after the fact, to find out his source.” He read over the article again. “The White House refuses comment. I wonder why they were even asked?”

“The White House?” said Tyler. “What does that place have to do with my dad?”

“That’s for someone else to know and for us to find out,” observed Michelle. She glanced at Sean. “You think we should check out this blogger?”

“After this story he might be lying low.”

“How low? Like in a grave low?” asked Michelle.

“Shit,” exclaimed Tyler. They both looked at him. “Are you guys being serious?” he asked.

“Serious about what? How dangerous this is?” said Sean sternly. “Then yeah, we are serious as shit.”

“What about Tyler’s dad contacting him?” asked Michelle.

“Next point on my to-discuss list,” said Sean. “Does he want to set up a meeting?”

Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“Sure he did, Tyler,” said Sean.

“What do you mean?”

“I set up the Gmail account for you. And I added a back door.”

Tyler stared at him. “So you already read the email?”

“And decoded it,” added Sean.

Michelle looked at him in amazement. “Sean, I’m seeing your Steve Jobs side and liking it. Very sexy. But I am pissed you didn’t tell me before now.”