Andrew Peterson - Forced to Kill

“I will,” Jeremy said. “Thanks for talking to us.”

Leaving offered less of a challenge. From a hover, Nathan executed a vertical takeoff, cleared the canyon walls, and headed back toward the marina. Stiegler waved from his sundeck.

“That went better than I expected,” Jeremy said. “He seemed like a pretty decent guy.”

“He told me he flew Hueys in Vietnam.”

“Professional courtesy?” Harv asked.

“Probably.” Nathan’s cell interrupted them.

Harv patched it through. “It’s Thorny,” Harv said.

“Hi, General.”

“ Where are you? ”

“We just left our rendezvous with the houseboat owner. We’re flying back to the marina.”

“ Flying? ”

“Our contact left the marina. We had to track him down by air.”

“ How did it go? ”

Nathan filled him in.

“Good work. ”

“General, we’re not alone. We have an FBI special agent with us.”

“ This is for your ears only. ”

“I’ll… ah… remove my headset,” Jeremy said.

Nathan nodded his thanks. With all the engine and slipstream noise, Jeremy wouldn’t be able to hear them, especially from the rear seats.

“Okay, it’s just Harv and me now.”

“ This isn’t easy for me to say, but I have to back off. I just finished a face-to-face with the secretary of the navy. He thought it was important enough to meet in person, and he was crystal clear. I am not to inquire into Kramer or the kidnapped Dalton family ever again or support you in any way. He asked me to forget I ever heard those names. He also let me know that certain people in high places are questioning your ability to deliver a live prisoner. I’m sorry about this, Nate, but I’m a good soldier. I follow orders even when I disagree with them. ”

“Don’t worry about it, General. We’ll handle things from here. We’ll be fine. I understand your situation. If the roles were reversed, I’d do exactly the same thing.”

“ For what it’s worth, I suggest you call your father. As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Domestic Terrorism, he’s privy to all national security issues. He’s got better intelligence resources than I do. He may even know what’s going on. ”

Thorny was right. He felt a pang of guilt for not doing it sooner. “I’ll call him.”

“ I may not be able to help you directly, but I’m staying in the loop. Keep me informed. ”

“Will do. We’ll call you later this afternoon.” Nathan ended the call.

“While Jeremy’s unplugged,” Harv said, “we should call Holly and see if she’s got anything new.”

Holly answered right away.

“ What timing. I was about to call you. We have at least one answer about Kramer, why he was in Bullfrog Bay. His brother-in-law owns a condo out there. ”

Nathan looked at Harv. “That could be our crime scene.”

“ Are you ready for the address ?”

“Yes,” Harv said, and wrote it on the edge of his chart. “We’ll check it out as soon as we land.”

“ One other thing, but I don’t know how significant it is. Kramer recently shut down his company, Energy Solutions, Incorporated. He flew home from Hungary a little over a week ago. Kramer was a loner. No wife or kids or girlfriend. As far as we can tell, his sister’s his only living relative. ”

“That sudden shutdown of his firm could be significant,” Nathan said. “We should find out all we can about Energy Solutions, Inc.”

“ We’re trying, but so far it’s what we don’t know that stands out. It’s a Delaware corporation and likely nothing more than a shell company. You know, a business-cards-only-type deal. Henning is scouring Delaware’s public records, but we’re not expecting to find much more than what’s required legally to be a legitimate corporation. Have you learned anything useful from Hawthorne’s connections ?”

“Yes and no. His boss just ordered him to back off, in person. He also told us there are people in high places who don’t think we’ll deliver Montez alive. Which tells us three things. First, it’s pretty obvious that something big is going on. Second, it virtually guarantees that the Dalton and Kramer cases are connected, meaning Nichole and her daughters were taken by Montez. And third, someone wants Montez alive. In other words, it’s all about Montez and whoever’s calling the shots doesn’t want it getting out in the open. Whatever it is.”

“ What could Montez be doing that makes defense and intelligence agency chiefs react like this ?”

“Good question. Montez is an interrogator by trade. When he interrogated me, he was working for the Sandinista holdouts. But now he could be working for anyone. One thing’s certain. Whoever hired him to take Kramer and the Daltons wants information. It could be a corporate espionage thing, maybe related to Kramer’s clean coal technology. Whatever it is, you can bet there’s serious money involved.” Nathan paused for a moment. “I’m only speculating here, but what if a scientific breakthrough has been made in clean coal technology? A breakthrough that solves the carbon dioxide problem you mentioned. It could change the global energy dynamics. The OPEC countries would be quite concerned. Oil exports would drop. How much, I couldn’t say, but I’m willing to bet we’re talking billions of dollars. Ask yourself this. What would the Saudis and other OPEC nations be willing to do to keep their oil empires healthy?”

“ That’s an interesting take on things. ”

“I could see that,” said Harv. “And it might explain why Thorny’s ‘people in high places’ want it kept under wraps and why they want Montez alive.”

“ My assistant just handed me a note. I’ve got to take a call. Will you promise me something? ”

They both waited.

“ I don’t want you guys getting killed trying to collar Montez. He’s not worth it, even if it means letting him go. ”

“That wouldn’t be my first choice.”

“ Letting him go, or getting killed ?”

“Getting killed.”

“ Good, because my world’s much more interesting with Nathan McBride and Harvey Fontana in it. ”

“First things first,” Nathan said. “I’ll call you as soon as we’ve looked at the condo.”

Holly agreed, and they said their good-byes.

Harv turned and nodded to Jeremy. The FBI agent donned his headset.

“Sorry about that,” Harv said.

“No problem.”

Nathan said, “I wish we could share everything with you, but we can’t. We can tell you we may have located the crime scene. Kramer’s brother-in-law owns a condo at the marina.”

“We going there?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to call in the cavalry until we’ve had a chance to look around.”

Ten minutes later Jeremy drove them down State Highway 276 toward the marina.

“Somebody’s screwing with us, right?” Nathan asked.

“I’m afraid not.” Jeremy turned into the same condo complex they’d stayed in last night.

Holly’s address led to a different building, but it stood uncomfortably close to their own.

Jeremy parked fifty yards shy of their destination. “Is there any chance the bad guys could still be in there?” he asked.

“It’s been three days, but let’s play it safe. I think Harv and I should be packing.”

Jeremy opened the trunk and Harv removed their gun belts from the duffel bag. He watched Harv give the Sigs a quick assessment.

“Suppressors? Subsonic rounds?” Harv asked.

Nathan said no.

Jeremy donned his Windbreaker with huge FBI letters on the back. “If anyone sees us walking around out here with guns, I don’t want them to be alarmed.”