Lightning Lingers

by Barbara Freethy

She took the chair while Michael and Alicia sat down on the sofa together and Jake perched on the arm of another chair. As everyone settled in, she debated what she wanted to say. She'd made a promise to TJ to keep quiet. On the other hand, as Jake had said, going to Mexico without as much information as she could get wasn't smart, and she'd always prided herself on making intelligent decisions.

  "You can trust Alicia," Jake told her. "And we don't have all day, so…"

  "So," she continued, very aware of the ticking clock. "TJ called me last night. He mentioned several people he worked with at MDT had been killed. He said he was afraid he might be next—that he knew too much about whatever they were involved in. He was calling me from Mexico. He said someone was after him, and he didn't think he could get on a plane so he was going to hide. I'm on my way to find him. Jake agreed to fly me down there, but he wanted me to talk to you first. He said you know something about the recent problems at MDT."

  "I do," Alicia murmured, exchanging a pointed look with her fiancé, before adding, "I wish I could say I'm surprised that TJ is now in danger, but I had a feeling this wasn't over."

  "What is this?" Katherine asked.

  "It's a long story," Alicia said.

  "Can you give me the highlights?"

  "Let's see. Your brother worked for Professor Bryer before getting a job at MDT."

  "I know that part," she said.

  "When Professor Bryer was moonlighting as an engineering consultant at MDT, he discovered that one of the employees, Connie Randolph, was selling classified weapons information to a former MDT employee by the name of Jerry Caldwell. Jerry was also a friend of my father's. They flew together in the Navy. I thought he was a good guy. He wasn't. When Connie realized she'd been made, she turned to Jerry for help. He assured her he'd take care of the professor, but what he did was kill both Connie and Professor Bryer, framing Bryer's wife for the murders. He almost got away with it, but the wife appealed her conviction, and in unraveling that case, we discovered that Jerry was the guilty party. He went after me to shut me up, but fortunately I escaped. Unfortunately, a lot of innocent people died before Jerry did."

  Katherine's stomach turned over with Alicia's words. "That's awful. And TJ knew this Jerry?"

  "And Connie, and, of course, Professor Bryer," Alicia replied. "After Jerry's crimes were revealed, the police and several federal agencies worked with MDT to make sure that there were no other employees involved in Jerry's scheme to leak classified information. At that point, I was cut out of the investigation but told everything was being done that needed to be done. The fact that your brother is in hiding suggests they missed something."

  "And TJ might have found whatever they missed," she murmured, feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem.

  "If he calls you again, you need to ask him what he knows," Alicia said.

  "You should probably go to the authorities," Michael suggested.

  "I do have the name of an FBI agent who wasn't as dismissive as the others," Alicia added.

  "I can't do that. TJ made me promise not to tell or trust anyone," she said. "I'm already breaking my promise by talking to you."

  "You can trust us," Alicia said. "But you're probably smart not to trust anyone else." She paused. "If I were you, I'd look for TJ on my own. MDT is a huge corporation, whose board members are closely tied to the government. It's possible that the reason no one found out anything after Jerry died was to save MDT's reputation or government contracts. If TJ thought he could trust someone at MDT, he would have already called them."

  She nodded. "That's what I think, too. I need to find TJ so I can help him figure out how to get out of the mess he's in. Since he's going into hiding in Mexico, I believe he's going to try to get to your great-grandmother's village. He was always enthralled by the stories Jake told him about that part of the world."

  "You're going to Nic Té Há, Jake?" Alicia asked in surprise, referencing the town where their great-grandmother lived.

  "I'm just flying Katherine down there. Then she's on her own."

  "But if you're that close, you should go see Mamich. You should tell her what's going on."

  Jake shook his head. "She's an old woman now, and she was heartbroken after Dad's death. I don't think we need to hurt her again by telling her it wasn't an accident."

  "I already wrote to her after Jerry tried to kill me. I told her what he said."

  "Why the hell would you do that?" Jake asked in annoyance.

  "Because she's the only one who believes the way I believe. The lightning showed me what I needed to see. It led me to Jerry and to this clue about Dad. I don't believe that's a coincidence."

  "Well, what did she say?"

  "She hasn't answered my letter yet. It usually takes a few weeks to hear from her. She doesn't have a computer, and I think the mail only goes out once a week. Plus, she said her arthritis has gotten worse, and sometimes she has to wait for one of the women from the village to help her write down her thoughts. You need to go see her, Jake. She might be able to help you find TJ. She knows everyone in that part of the country."

  "Alicia is right," Katherine broke in. "Your great-grandmother could be a valuable resource. And it's been years since you saw her."

  Jake held up a hand. "Don't push it, Katherine. I said I'd fly you to the nearest airport. That's it."

  She wanted to argue, but decided to save it for later. She didn't want Jake to back out of flying her to Mexico. Once they were on their way, she'd try to convince him to go a little farther.

  "Don’t be such an ass, Jake," Alicia said. "You can help Katherine out."

  "I am helping her out, and you can stay out of it, Alicia. You and your lightning obsession are not part of this."

  "Of course I'm part of this. That's why you brought Katherine here to talk to me."

  "Well, I'm already regretting that." He got to his feet. "If we're going, we need to go."

  "All right," Katherine said, standing up. "Thanks, Alicia."

  "Keep us posted. And stay safe," Alicia said. "I'm not going to stop worrying about you until you come home."

  Alicia's words sent a chill through Katherine's body, but they were going to come home safe, and they would bring TJ back with them. Failure wasn't an option.

  Four

  They drove back to the airport in silence. When they pulled into the parking lot, Jake told her it would probably be another thirty minutes to get the plane ready to go. She could either leave and come back or wait in the lounge. Since she already had her bag in the car, she decided to stay at the airport so that they could take off as soon as possible. She was actually happy to have a little time on her own to catch her breath and regroup. Alicia's story had given her a lot to think about. She still didn't know exactly what TJ was caught up in, but she was more convinced than ever that he was in danger.

  As she entered the airport waiting room, she saw a stand filled with maps, and she was thrilled to see one of Mexico.

  She took the map over to a table and opened it up. Jake's great-grandmother, who he fondly referred to as Mamich, the Mayan nickname for great-grandmother, lived in Nic Té Há which loosely translated from Mayan dialect to Flower Lake, a small village in the Mexican state of Chiapas located in southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border. She couldn't find the village on the map, but she was able to locate the closest airport in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

  Chiapas had diverse geography with several mountain ranges as well as one of Mexico's largest areas of rainforest. There were also hundreds of cenotes, which the Mayans called sacred wells, and a multitude of ruins that paid homage to a lost civilization. Reading about the area reminded her that she and Jake had talked about going to Mexico together, exploring the ruins, boating the rivers, listening to the howler monkeys in the rain forest. But their romantic adventure had never materialized. They'd broken up and Jake had gone to Mexico on his own.

  She hoped she could convince him to go with her now. Looking at the map, she couldn't imagine ho
w TJ would find his way to a remote, unmarked village, or how she would find Nic Té Há on her own. She would have to hire a car or a guide or both, but that meant bringing some other individual into the situation, which she didn't really want to do. Maybe Jake would change his mind once they were on their way to Mexico. He would have the opportunity to see his great-grandmother again. That had to be worth something to him.

  Setting aside the map, she pulled her laptop out of her bag and got on the Internet to do some research. She wasn't used to going anywhere without a plan. She didn't like to be unprepared, and she preferred to know as much as possible about whatever she was doing before she did it, which meant she needed to do some quick cramming on not just Mexico but also her brother's company.

  She typed in Mission Defense Technology. There were hundreds of items that came up on the search. She skimmed through the first several articles, noting that MDT employed over 30,000 people around the world, that the company was run by the Packer brothers, Reid and Alan Packer, who had inherited MDT from their father, who still held a seat on the board of directors.

  In addition to weapons defense technology, the company had numerous other divisions that worked on everything from telecommunication to artificial intelligence and aviation systems. They were one of the top companies in the world and were always first in line for large government contracts.

  No wonder all the governmental agencies had gotten involved when two employees had been murdered by a former employee who had admitted to selling secrets. MDT was hugely important to national security. What she couldn't understand was how her twenty-seven-year-old brother had gotten himself into so much trouble. He was a small cog in a very big wheel.

  The only thing that made sense was that he had had a tie to Professor Bryer, and he was working in the same area where Bryer had been consulting, so it was possible there was someone else in the company doing some double-dealing. Maybe TJ had found out about it. But why couldn't TJ take his concerns up the chain or to one of those governmental agencies investigating the company?

  He obviously didn't know who to trust, but hiding away in Mexico wasn't going to be easy. He could run into a lot of other problems that were even worse than those he was running away from, like drug cartels and corrupt police officials.

  She shuddered at the thought. She needed to find TJ…and fast.

  Jake came through the door, and she jumped to her feet. "Are we ready?"

  "We are."

  "Good." Now that the actual moment had arrived, she felt a sudden and deep sense of foreboding, as if her next move was going to be a defining one in her life. Unfortunately, it was too late to turn back, so she put the map and computer into her bag and followed Jake outside and across the tarmac.

  As he put her rolling suitcase on board, she eyed the small plane with some misgiving. It looked a lot older and smaller than the sleek jets she'd seen on the other side of the airfield. "This is what we're taking?"

  "Only plane available on short notice."

  "Will it get us there?"

  "I'd be more worried about what you're going to do after we land."

  He had a point. "How long is the trip?"

  "About five hours."

  "That long? I didn't realize."

  "Yeah, we'll have lots of time together," he said dryly.

  As she got into the plane, she headed toward one of the six seats in the cabin, but Jake waved her toward the cockpit.

  "You might as well sit up front with me," he said. "I assume you did some research on MDT while you were waiting. You can fill me in."

  She wished she could tell him he was wrong, but of course he wasn't. While she would have rather taken one of the seats in the cabin and not talk to Jake at all, he was calling the shots now.

  Jake slid into the captain's seat, his attention focused on his preflight checklist.

  She got into the copilot seat and fastened her seat belt. She tried not to look at Jake, but the cockpit was not that big, and this man had always been a huge physical and emotional presence in her life.

  Her phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts. She reached for her bag.

  "You're going to need to turn that off, Katherine," Jake said.

  "I will. One second. It's a local number. It could be related to my mom." She answered the call. "Hello?"

  "Katherine Barrett, please," a woman said.

  "This is she."

  "This is Brenda Hooper, Miss Barrett. I work in human resources for MDT. Your brother missed a company flight from Mexico to Corpus Christi on Thursday and didn't report to work yesterday. His manager is concerned about his well-being. We've tried to reach Mr. Barrett on his phone, but the line appears to be dead. I'm hoping you can tell us how we can reach him."

  "No, I'm sorry. I haven't heard from him," she said, trying not to let any emotion show in her voice. "What was he doing in Mexico?" After asking the question, she saw Jake motioning for her to put the call on speaker. Since he was the only one helping her at the moment, she did as he asked.

  "Mr. Barrett was attending a business conference in Cancun. One of his coworkers tried to reach him when he didn't meet them at the plane, but she wasn't able to connect."

  Brenda was probably talking about Jasmine. She wished she could tell this woman that her brother thought he was in danger from someone in the company, but this could be a test to see how much she knew. She had to be smart.

  "Are you telling me that my brother is missing in Mexico?" she asked, thinking that would be a normal response. "Should I be concerned? Should I be calling the police?" She tried to act the way she would have if she'd gotten this call without hearing from TJ first.

  "I wouldn't say he's missing. It's quite possible he had a side trip planned, and he just didn't let us know. I did speak to the manager of the hotel where Mr. Barrett was staying, and the man said that your brother checked out on Thursday morning as he was expected to do. The valet saw him get in a cab."

  "But you're saying he didn’t go to the airport?"

  "I'm saying he didn't get on the plane. I have no idea where he went after he left the hotel. I contacted the police and local hospitals in the area, but there was no report of an accident or anyone in trouble."

  "That's a relief. You must have been really worried to do that." It seemed like the company had gone to extraordinary lengths to find someone who'd only been missing for forty-eight hours.

  "It was a company trip. MDT takes the safety and security of its employees quite seriously. TJ's supervisor, Thomas Mueller, asked me to make the calls out of concern for your brother. It's certainly possible that there is nothing to worry about, but I did want to check in with you just in case your brother told you he would be traveling somewhere else before returning to Corpus Christi."

  "He didn't tell me anything about his trip to Mexico," she said, which was in fact the truth. "How did you get my number?"

  "Your brother put you down as his emergency contact."

  "Oh, of course."

  "Would you mind calling me if you hear from him? And, of course, if you do speak to him, tell him to get in touch with Mr. Mueller as soon as he can. We just want to make sure he's all right."

  "Was Mr. Mueller on the trip?"

  "No. There were six employees who attended the conference, but he was not one of them."

  "Would it be possible for you to give me the names of the other attendees so that I can speak to them about my brother?"

  "I'm afraid I can't do that."

  "Why not?"

  "It's against corporate policy, but I have personally spoken to everyone, and no one saw or heard from Mr. Barrett since early Thursday morning."

  She wanted to argue, but the cool steel in Brenda's voice told her that would be pointless. "Well, please call me if you hear anything more. You've got me worried."

  "I will definitely be in touch," Brenda said.

  Katherine ended the call and looked at Jake. "What do you think?"

  "That some people at MDT
are concerned enough about your brother's missed flight to get human resources on the phone on a Saturday."

  "That's true. Why wouldn't she tell me who was on the trip with him?"

  "From what Alicia has told me, MDT rarely answers questions about anything and always claims national security as the reason."

  "I don't want to believe TJ's problem is tied to national security."

  "Well, I'm sure he'll tell you when you find him."

  He made it sound so easy. "I should do some more research into MDT while we're flying down there."

  "Good idea, but you'll need to do that after we take off. Are you ready?"

  She put her phone into her bag. "Sure."

  Jake gave her a speculative look as she clasped her hands tightly together in her lap. "You're not nervous, are you?"

  His question took her back to a hot summer day when they were eighteen years old. Jake had just gotten his pilot's license. He'd been flying for years but never alone, never with a passenger, and he'd asked her to be the first.

  She'd been terrified of getting into the small plane with him, but she'd been too crazy in love to think of saying no. She'd sweated buckets during takeoff and hung on for dear life as they flew through the clouds. Jake had laughed and told her to trust him, and she'd eventually managed to breathe again, to have faith in Jake and his ability to keep them in the air.

  She had to have the same faith in him now. And why shouldn't she? When it came to flying, she doubted there was anyone better than Jake Monroe. He was born to sit in the pilot's seat. Nothing had ever fit him better. And he'd always known that. He'd never had a doubt about what he wanted to do with his life.

  It was actually something they'd had in common. They'd both set their career paths at an early age. Unfortunately, those paths had taken them very far apart.

  "Katherine?"

  "I'm fine," she said, realizing Jake was still waiting for an answer.

  "You don't look fine. You always hated giving up control."

  "A lot of people do."

  "But you more than most."

  She couldn't deny she had issues with control, but today she was unwilling to admit that she was feeling anything but determined. "Just go, Jake. The sooner we get to Mexico, the sooner you can be rid of me."