Dana Mentink - Act Of Valor

Carter messaged him that they had still not located the first guy who had passed through security. He’d somehow vanished, leading Zach to believe he’d been helped out of the airport by the same crooked employee and possibly Violet’s boss.

Eddie sniffed, nose glued to the floor. Nothing. He shook his ears.

“Come on, boy. Anything?”

They moved on a few paces.

With a cheerful swish of his tail, Eddie waggled his way toward a cleaning cart. The custodian was about to empty a dustpan into the big plastic garbage bin.

An invisible shock went through the dog. Eddie tensed, tail erect, nostrils quivering. Zach could practically feel the animal’s excitement, or maybe it was his own. He tried to keep his breathing even as Eddie circled and sat, the perfect passive response signal. He looked up at Zach.

“Sir, can you hold up a minute?” Zach called.

The custodian jerked in surprise. “Huh?”

“I need you to stop what you’re doing for a moment.”

The guy nodded and stepped away from the trash can. Zach peered in. “May I?” Zach said, pointing to a box of rubber gloves on the cart.

“Knock yourself out.”

Zach pulled on rubber gloves and reached into the can, hauling out the brown leather jacket Violet had described and trying not to crow his triumph. Now he had physical evidence. There might be hair, prints, clues. Zach would bust the dirtbag who’d put his hands on Violet. It wasn’t as good as chasing him down and cuffing him, but it was enough for now.

The custodian’s mouth fell open. “Why would somebody throw away a perfectly good jacket?”

Zach put the pieces into place. Joe Brown was in a hurry, he’d heard Eddie approaching, a dog tracking the scent of the drugs, and he was desperate not to be caught. Eddie bayed long and loud. A sock peeked out of the jacket pocket, reeking with the smell of menthol rub. “He took the drugs out of his suitcase and dumped the jacket as a diversion when he ran,” Zach muttered.

The custodian whistled. “Ain’t that something. He figured your dog couldn’t track the scent of drugs because of the cold rub?”

Zach gave Eddie one of his homemade treats from a pouch at his waist. “He figured wrong.”

Zach waited impatiently for the airport officers to secure the evidence before he practically jogged with Eddie to find Violet. She looked more herself now, sitting in one corner of the employee room while Carter and the TSA supervisor interviewed her boss, Bill Oscar, in the other. He could tell by the tapping of her sleek pump on the carpeted floor that she was itching to confront the man herself. He went to her.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course. He just knocked me over, that’s all. Did you...?”

“He made it out of the terminal, but we’ve got officers looking for him, canvassing bus and subway stations, alerting the taxi cabs, et cetera. We’ll get him.”

“What about the other guy? Bill walked him to security. I don’t know if he boarded or not.”

“Looks like he ran, too. We’re going over the camera footage. Don’t worry.”

She caught her lip between her teeth in that way that meant she was thinking. Violet was smart, so much smarter than he’d ever be. She’d been working on a college business degree in the evenings before her father broke his ankle last summer. Then she’d stepped in to help at the family restaurant, putting aside her college work for a while. Though her school was on a break for the next two weeks, she’d reenrolled in classes again, determined to finish this time. Smart, steel-tough, sassy, loyal as the day was long; that was Violet Griffin.

Bill finished with the officer and walked to them. “I am glad you’re okay, Vi. I was worried.”

A shower of sparks lit her eyes from coffee to caramel. “Don’t bother with the pleasantries. You let the guy with the braid bypass security and you would have done the same with Joe Brown if I hadn’t intervened. What gives?”

He shook his head. “Absolutely not. You misunderstood what you saw. I didn’t know that TSA agent was gonna pass him through.” He looked at Zach. “The guy with a long braid, acting shifty. I walked him to security personally. I figured he’d be scanned and detained if there was cause. That’s a TSA responsibility.”

“Just ID’d him from security footage. Roger Talmadge, goes by Roach. He’s got a rap sheet—petty stuff, DUI, possession,” Zach said.

Bill nodded. “I delivered him right to screening but there must have been something shady between this Roach and the TSA guy.”

“Yeah,” Zach said. “Agent’s name is Jeb Leak. At the moment, he’s missing.”

“See?” Bill sighed. “On the take. New guy. I should have suspected, but...” He shrugged. “Well frankly, I was preoccupied. The wife’s been sick, you know, and she’s got a checkup today to see how the treatment’s been working.” His forehead was creased with deep grooves. “She’s been in the hospital more than she’s been out.”

Though it looked as if her ire dulled a fraction, Violet was not about to be appeased. “What about Joe Brown? He had drugs in his suitcase. I saw it before he moved it to his pocket, and the chest rub was extra protection against the dogs.”

“I agreed with you. He was probably smuggling something.” Bill fixed her with a look. “Vi, you’re killing me. We’ve worked together for ten years now, and I didn’t want you involved if things were gonna get ugly, which is why I walked him there myself, just like the first guy. I was trying to protect you and you’re practically accusing me of being in cahoots with a smuggler. How could you possibly think that?”

Violet didn’t reply.

“Dump the guilt trip. Your behavior was suspicious,” Zach said. “She was right about both men.”

“I was trying to do my job and keep her out of trouble. I’d think that would garner a little appreciation.” He sighed. “If you two are done interrogating me, I’ve got a mess of people at the ticket counter to sort through.”

Violet started to follow him.

“No, no,” Bill said, holding up a hand. “You go on home now. You’ve had a bad day and Liz is here to start her shift. Go get some rest.”

Vi watched him leave, a troubled crimp on her mouth.

“You believe him?” Zach asked.

“I’ve known them for a long time. His wife, Rory, has been sick—breast cancer—and she hasn’t responded well to treatments. He’s shouldered a lot of the load with his two boys. Maybe he really was preoccupied, trying to keep me out of it.” She broke off to look at Zach. “Do you trust him?”

“I’m not wired to trust people. Occupational hazard, but I do agree with him that you should go home. I’ll take you.”

She brushed back her hair with an impatient hand. “I don’t need a chaperone. I can take the bus home or call a car service.”

He braced himself for battle. “My car’s faster. I have a shiny red siren.”

“Your seats smell like a wet beagle, and you have a shift to finish. Go back to work.”

He folded his arms. “My vehicle was detailed yesterday, and Eddie has recently been bathed with special shampoo. He practically reeks with the scent of a spring meadow. I’m walking you to my car and driving you home. You don’t get to have a say in that, so grab your bag and let’s go.”

Her nostrils flared. “You’re pushy.”

“I’m right, as usual.”

Vi arched an eyebrow. “Pretty high-and-mighty for a guy who can’t ride a bike and breaks things on a regular basis.”

“I can ride a bike, I just don’t want to, and it’s been two whole days since I busted anything.”

“Uh-huh, but the last one at the diner was a doozy. You knocked over a wait stand and broke six dishes and a coffeepot.”