by Terry Spear
“Some prank.”
“Well, Dave says no more work for you.”
“That’s easy for him to say. He doesn’t write my evaluation report.”
“I’m sure if he did, you’d get all ‘A’ plusses.”
“You’re probably right. Too bad he isn’t my boss.”
“Well, he sort of is…at the moment.”
“Ha! Bossy is more like it.”
***
When Dave arrived at Deidre’s home later, he took a ragged breath. “My boss wants us to close up shop here. He feels we’ve done all we can on this case.”
Deidre nodded.
He rested his hands on her shoulders and rubbed the tension from them. “Even if the guys return to headquarters, I’m sticking around.”
“Really? Now that Red is dead, I think that’s the last trouble I’ll have with this case.” She sighed deeply. “Charlie called while you cleared up matters on post. He wants me to pack his things up and ship them to him.”
“Johnson and Bill are heading that way. They’ll drop his stuff off.”
She walked into the guest bedroom and Dave followed her.
“Did you need my help with anything, Deidre?”
“No, thanks. The guys were great and had already picked up some boxes for me. It’ll take me a little while. Maybe one of the guys can tape the boxes after I’ve finished packing them.”
“All right. Well, let us know. They’re getting kind of bored.”
“That’s probably a good thing after all we’ve been through the last few days.”
Deidre pulled the remaining shirts out of the closet and started to fold them. She turned to see Dave still watching her. He smiled and walked out of the room. He was leaving soon, she knew it. Her brother was gone. All the special moments they had shared while she was with them would be over. An overwhelming sadness returned.
Could Josh Henderson ever make her feel the way Dave’s touch did? She doubted it. But she hadn’t even given him a chance. Dave was leaving and that was that. She didn’t want to delve into it any deeper than that. She knew if she did, she’d dissolve in a waterfall of tears.
Instead, she concentrated on sorting through the rest of Charlie’s stuff and packed all of it into the boxes. Keeping busy was the only way she could keep her heart from breaking.
Later that afternoon, Johnson and Bill hauled the boxes for Charlie out to the car. Dave leaned against the doorframe. “The guys are leaving tomorrow. They’ll drop Charlie’s things off with him. If you find anything else before then, let them know. They’re running into town on a couple of errands. I’ve got to run out for a bit myself. Do you think you’ll be all right?”
“Certainly.”
Dave gave her a squeeze. “Okay, be back in a little bit. You’ve got my cell phone number if anything comes up.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to change Charlie’s sheets and do a load of wash.”
Dave left the apartment while Deidre stripped the sheets from Charlie’s bed. Her toes poked under the frame, and she frowned as she bumped into a box. Peering under the bed, she found a box of Charlie’s shoes. “Shoot, Charlie.” Before she taped it shut, a thumb drive slipped partway out of one of the loafers making her gasp in surprise.
In a panic, she hurried to the window. Both SUVs had already left.
She grabbed drive and ran to her bedroom. Shoving the switch to her computer on, she tapped her nails on the edge of the desk. “Come on, come on.”
As soon as the computer monitor blinked on, she pushed the drive into the slot. Clicking on the saved file, her mouth dropped wide open and her heart nearly stopped. A shiver ran down her spine instantly as she realized how close to home the threat to her life really was. “My God.”
She saved the information on her hard drive, then made four more thumb drive copies. She meant to send it in an email, but as soon as she tried to open up Firefox, she got the message, Can’t find the message. Glancing down at her Internet symbol, a yellow triangle sat on the little monitor icon. No Internet access.
Crap! Wind, rain, you name it, knocked her Internet out. What was wrong with it today?
If he killed her, she was going to ensure the story would get out…somehow. He wasn’t going to quit trying to have her killed. And now her protection was gone.
She called the sergeant who had teamed up with her on the training exercise. She knew she couldn’t call the military police. They’d never act quickly enough. Nobody would even believe her. “Listen, Sergeant Washington, can you get the other members of our team together? It wouldn’t have to be all of them, just enough to give us some muscle if we need. Meet me at my office in a half hour.”
“What’s this all about, Cpt. Roux?”
“The man behind the attempted killing at the training field…well, I have proof of his actions.”
“I’ll gather as many of the team as I can, but don’t you go confronting him, Ma’am, before we get there. Who is he, by the way?”
“My boss…the G-1.”
***
Deidre propped one of the flash drives on her kitchen table with a note. “This is it! Tried to get hold of you on your cell phone, but the line was busy. Meet you at my office, soonest.”
She slipped into the front seat of Charlie’s truck, and tugged at her Army green skirt. She was dying to see what her boss would say about her wearing the unauthorized Class B uniform to her office again.
She drove to the post office where she sent one of the drives to FBI headquarters, priority mail. One she sent to Charlie. The third she mailed to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. No matter what, her boss wouldn’t get away with what he’d done this time. She tried to call Dave again. Still, his line was busy.
It was time for the showdown, ready or not.
When she pulled into the parking area, her pulse quickened and her head throbbed. This was it. The final link in the up-until-now unsolved case.
The door creaked open announcing her arrival at the G-1 Headquarters. She hurried past her boss’s office and walked into her own. No one from her tactical personnel team had arrived yet.
She pulled out her cell phone and called Dave again. This time the phone was clear, but by the second ring, the colonel yelled from his office, “Cpt. Roux, report to my office at once!”
Undoubtedly, he’d seen her wearing her skirt. She grabbed up the disk and walked slowly to his office. Her two-inch pumps clicked on the floor with every step she took. Where was her team? They should have been here by now.
By the time she reached his doorway, there was still no one around. Then she heard Dave’s voice, “Hello, hello?”
“Lieutenant Colonel Ramstodt.” She spoke as loudly and clearly as she could so Dave could hear her words.
“Close the door.”
“Yes, sir.”
She didn’t like this part. Her team was to assemble in her office. They might think she hadn’t arrived yet, and they most likely wouldn’t barge into the G-1’s office without invitation. She closed the door with a click.
Her hands grew clammy and her blood chilled. Before her sat the man who’d tried to kill her and Charlie to cover up his past ill deeds. But there was something more than that. Was it that he hated her so much, he just wanted her dead, period? Even if she hadn’t known anything, had he hated having a woman work for him so much…
“Who the hell do you think you are waltzing in here like the belle of the prom in your Class B uniform? Just because the damn Feds have been keeping you out of work, doesn’t mean you can violate our uniform policy at Fort Hood. Only as an escort officer this morning were you allowed to—”
“Did you think you could get away with it, sir? How could you have a man killed just because he found out about your shenanigans selling weapons and other war materials to rebel forces?” She kept her voice elevated. Could Dave hear what a predicament she was in?
Her temple pounded. With one hand she clutched the disk, the other the phone. Neither wou
ld save her from the gun resting in her boss’s right hand drawer. In a vision, she could see him pulling it out with every intention of killing her. How was he going to explain that away?
Still, his hands rested in his lap. His steel blue eyes stared at her in disbelief. She smiled slightly. Not very much, just a hint. She had him by the balls, and he knew it. Yet she couldn’t help worry that he might get the upper hand. Her quickened breath couldn’t be stilled as her heart pumped hard.
“What I don’t understand is why you sold weapons to the enemy. I mean, a lieutenant colonel’s pay isn’t a bad income. Unless you have a spendthrift wife or something.” Her voice sounded even, unhurried and unconcerned, and yet she had a devil of a time projecting strength and power when she knew he had every intention of putting her six feet under.
He flinched slightly. She’d hit a nerve. He’d sold weapons that would kill their own men, for money. The notion sickened her all the way to the pit of her stomach. Good men, his men, died and what did the bastard feel? Anything? Not an ounce of remorse. She didn’t think she could hate him any more than she already did, but she could.
“The money couldn’t have been that good.” She tried to stall him, knowing it wouldn’t be long before he ended the game with her.
He reached for the drawer. He was going for the gun. Her stomach tightened as she gripped the phone tighter. Where were the troops? She lifted the phone to her mouth. “Go ahead and send the FBI in, Dave.”
She smiled broadly this time, though she worked out her next move in a hurry. The line to her phone had died. Dave hadn’t been listening to her conversation at all. With chills raking her body, she knew her boss was going to kill her.
***
Dave punched buttons on his cell phone. “Johnson, get Bill and head over to Deidre’s office pronto!”
“What in the world is she—”
“Her boss is the one behind all of this. She’s in his office now. I’m on my way there, but it’ll take me several minutes before I make it. Call CID, the MPs, the works. I’ll try calling the G-1 himself to distract him.” Dave mastered the fear attempting to strangle him. His instincts to handle an emergency took over. He knew now the only way he could save her, was to put his feelings on hold, as hard as it was.
“Right on it.”
Dave punched in the numbers for post information. “I need a direct line to the G-1.” He finally took a breath as the line stopped ringing.
“Private Johnson, G-1, how may I help you?”
“Put me through to the G-1. It’s an emergency.”
“He’s not taking any calls, sir. May I take a message?”
Alerting the enlisted staff could only push the lieutenant colonel into a corner. None of the office staff would be armed to protect Deidre. He couldn’t risk it. “Listen, private, this is a real emergency. I have to speak with the G-1, now!”
“Sorry, sir, when the G-1 says no calls, he means it.”
“Let me speak with your supervi—”
The phone line went dead.
Dave looked up to see the signal light had turned red, but too late. Sailing through the intersection, he could only hope none of those in the cross traffic would make a jackrabbit start. Clearing the intersection, he sighed deeply, then a siren and flashing lights satiated the air.
“Damn it!” He wasn’t stopping for anyone. He dialed new numbers.
“Miss Wimberly, Texas State Police.”
“This is Dave Caruthers with the FBI. I’m headed for the G-1’s office, 1st Cavalry Division, concerning a life-threatening federal matter. You have an officer pursuing me at the moment. Radio him and tell him to escort me, but I’m not stopping for him or a real tragedy will result at the G-1’s office. My Texas license plate number is RLO-231.”
Silence followed, then the woman said, “Officer White will escort you, sir. Another federal agent called in a few minutes ago and told us the situation.”
Dave wiped the perspiration dotting his brow. He couldn’t believe Deidre found the manuscript and would confront her boss on her own like this. What was she thinking? He guessed she was so angry her boss had tried to have her killed so many times she wanted to get him back in her own way.
Dave took a deep breath and stretched his shoulders, his temple wrinkled in anger. How could she have been so naïve? After all they’d been through, he couldn’t lose her now and yet, he couldn’t help but feel he was really close to doing just that. Being her knight in shining armor sure earned him his pay.
***
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” LTC Ramstodt said.
He was trying to distract Deidre. It wasn’t working. His fingers curled around the drawer handle.
“Are you going to shoot me, too?”
His eyes widened with surprise and he hesitated.
“How will you explain shooting a defenseless woman in your office?”
“We’re going for a little drive.”
The drawer slid open.
She dove for the desk and slid on her belly across the top, shoving his wooden actions’ trays onto his lap. He jumped back slightly in reaction, then jammed his hand into the drawer. His fingers wrapped around the handle to his weapon, but she grabbed his wrist with a fierce grip.
His muscles tightened in his wrist, and she knew his finger anchored on the trigger, squeezing as he turned the weapon toward her. A loud crack shattered the quiet. The bullet discharged through the drawer into the backside of the desk. A second shot fired as the door to the office kicked open with a bang.
She couldn’t look back to see who had come to her rescue. Her fingernails dug into her boss’s flesh. All of a sudden, the desk she leaned her body over was shoved back against the wall with her riding on top as though she were surfing on a body board. Her boss cried out in pain as the desk pinned him against the wall. Still he wouldn’t release the gun, and she wouldn’t let go of him.
“Damn it, Deidre!”
She recognized Dave’s voice at once and realized he was the one who had shoved the desk against her boss. She dug her nails deeper into her boss’s wrist. “If somebody would break the colonel’s arm, we’ll be done with this.”
“Now!” Dave shouted to Johnson.
Immediately, Johnson broke Ramstodt’s grip on the gun while Dave pulled Deidre off the desk and out of harm’s way.
Dave’s face was red with anger as he handed her to Bill. “Johnson, Bill, take Miss Roux home.”
“Captain Roux,” she corrected him, annoyed.
As Johnson and Bill led her down the hallway, she saw the sergeant and her personnel team from the exercise. “Sorry, Ma’am,” the sergeant said. “The FBI agents wouldn’t let us get near the G-1’s office.”
“It’s okay. Thanks. It was better that way. They’re armed.” She smiled at them before Bill and Johnson hauled her the rest of the way out of the building. She took a deep breath, relieved to be done with the business. But physically, her body hadn’t adjusted to the notion as her knees remained weak from panic and her body still shook from the experience.
Bill sighed deeply as he helped her into the SUV. “You sure can rile the boss. He had a hell of a time getting back here to rescue you.”
MPs swarmed into the building.
“I tried to call.” Her voice sounded defensive, though she hadn’t meant for it to be.
“Yes, well he got the call.”
“The line was dead.” She couldn’t believe he’d really heard her.
“He heard enough, then contacted us, and had us call the military police, and everybody else he could think of, who might get to you more quickly.”
The first sense of realization fluttered to her brain that they’d actually closed the case. Yet the sense of relief she felt was overshadowed by the recognition the end of the case meant the finish for Dave and her, too. The world was sure to come crashing down around her once he left.
“It’s truly all over then.”
Chapter 21
&nbs
p; For nearly two hours, Deidre paced across the floor as Johnson sat on the couch, and Bill watched her from the dining room. She’d paused to check her emails—of course, now her Internet was back up and running—but then she was back to pacing across the living room.
“He’ll be here soon,” Bill said.
“Yes, but what’s taking him so long?”
“It takes a while to wrap up a case like this,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Bill cast each other a conspiratorial smile. Neither would tell her what was truly going on and she had given up asking.
The front door handle jiggled and Johnson and Bill drew their guns. Dave threw the door open and grinned broadly at Deidre. “We’ve got some great news and some even greater news. Which do you want first?”
He closed the door.
Scowling, she folded her arms. “I can tell from that grin on your face, you’ve been up to something. But the guys wouldn’t tell me what it was.” No kiss, nothing, and she was irked beyond reason.
“I was wrapping up business.” He handed her an envelope.
It looked like official Army orders. Heart pounding, she ripped the envelope open. Her lips parted as she hurriedly read the orders. “I’ve been reassigned to Fort Meade, Maryland?”
His brown eyes were bright, his dimples showing. “Told you, you should get a reassignment. I already checked into it. You’ll be wearing skirts, if you want, the whole time you’re there. No crawling through the dirt or anything. Strictly office work. You’ll be the Chief of Personnel Actions—highly respectable job.”
“You didn’t.”
“Happy?”
She dropped the orders on her coffee table and flung her arms around his neck, not being able to contain her joy. “I just knew I was going to be stuck at Fort Hood for another three years. How in the world did you manage it?” She loved him from the bottom of her heart. Could she maybe reconsider a long-distance relationship with him now?
“Friends in low places.”
He was her knight in shining armor, beyond a doubt. She kissed him, tears in her eyes, never wanting to let go. Dave seemed to feel likewise, wrapped her up in his arms, kissing her back as if he couldn’t get enough of her.