by Dale Mayer
“Did you see anyone set the fire?”
She looked startled. “Are you saying it was arson?” Her hand went back up to cover her mouth as she stared wordlessly at the men. After a long moment she said, “I thought for sure it was an accident.”
“No determination has been made at this time.”
Devlin studied the man’s face, but Devlin knew the MPs obviously had seen something already. Devlin hadn’t had time to look. He’d been too busy dealing with Bristol. He also wondered how Colleen had died. She could’ve been overcome by smoke inhalation. But what was she doing that she didn’t recognize the fire in a tent that size?
Inside his gut an ugly suspicion grew. He wanted to ask her several questions himself, but the MPs were still firing them at her.
“Did you have any problem with Colleen?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Did Colleen have any problems with you?”
This time she shook her head even more. “Why are you asking me these questions?”
“Just answer them, please. This work you do with the drones, how important is it?”
At that she dropped her hand to glare at him. “It’s very important.”
“We want you to go back into the tent with us and see if there’s anything missing.”
She looked at them in bewilderment. “Missing?” Then she sat back, the color draining from her face. “As in stolen?”
The man stared at her. She bounced to her feet. “Let’s go. I have to see. I was working on some very definite prototypes. If my work was stolen …”
She shook her head and then cried out, “Oh, my God! Listen to me! I’m so worried about my data and Colleen … Dear God, poor Colleen.” She started to cry, quietly wiping her hands. “I’m so sorry. I’m trying not to break down, but just the thought of that beautiful woman dead …” She turned to look at the men. “If you tell me that she was murdered, I just don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Why would you assume she was murdered?”
She stared at them. “I’m not assuming she was, but you just asked about arson, and she’s dead inside the tent. Was it to cover for her death? Or was she overcome by smoke? Or was this just all one horrible accident?”
“Was she tired?” one of the MPs asked. “Would she take a nap in the tent?”
“No, it’s a work tent.” Bristol frowned. “It’s not very comfortable. She may have dropped her head in her hands for a moment, but I doubt she’d have slept through the fire. Surely she’d have woken up with that.” Impatiently she asked, “Can we go back to the tent and check my equipment, please?”
The two MPs at the entrance to the tent stepped out of her way. She passed Morgan on the way in for her own questioning session. But Morgan was military, on attachment to this training post. The two instructors grabbed for each other’s hands and gave a quick squeeze as they both walked on in opposite directions.
Devlin watched as she stormed ahead to her work tent. The two guard MPs looked at him. “Do you have anything to say?”
He shook his head and walked out casually behind her. But she had brought up some interesting points. Had Colleen been murdered? Had the fire been set? And if either of those answers was yes, was Bristol’s research and equipment the reason for it?
He glanced around the compound. Several people still studied the mess. But a lot of the crowd had dispersed. He reached the tent just behind her. As she was about to stumble, he reached out and grabbed her. “Take it easy. Let’s do this methodically.”
She turned, recognized him, and her shoulders sagged. “It’s the thought that she may have been murdered. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t think of anything else.”
He nodded. “Obviously that’s a huge issue. But we can’t assume that, and we don’t want to start rumors.” Devlin motioned to the men working. “Everything you do and say here will be recorded, so take it easy.”
She took several deep, controlling breaths, and then, as if a little more centered, she stepped into what remained of the tent and walked to the table. The laptop was burned beyond recognition; the cases that held the drones were as well. She froze. Under her breath she said, “Oh, shit.”
Devlin was close enough to hear her, as were several other men. In a low voice, he asked, “Oh, shit, what?”
She turned and stared at him. “Bertha is gone.”
Chapter 3
“Bertha is gone,” she cried out again in shock. “She was in a big case sitting right here.” She pointed to an empty but charred spot on the floor. “I must have that case and its contents.”
“Why?” Devlin asked.
The space filled as the other MPs joined them at the burn site. “It’s the project I’m currently working on,” she said, her tone much quieter. “And yes, it’s definitely something somebody might kill for.”
Eyebrows shot up on everyone’s faces.
“No one mentioned that to us,” one of the MPs stated.
She gave him a flat look and added, “Good, no one should have known.” She turned her attention back to the other boxes and cases. Not much was left. “What a bloody disaster.”
“Are all the other drones here?” the same MP asked.
She turned to look at him. “A couple are still in the field. I intended to bring them back and work on them after I got my coffee. I’ve had some issues with one of them. I wanted to know why. So they are still out there.” She gave a very tired sigh, hating what this would do to her progress. Sure, she had more parts and pieces back at her lab, and she could certainly put together several more drones. But she’d need Bertha to finish her contract. She had lots of equipment to rebuild Bertha, but didn’t have the time.
Because of the extended contract deadline looming, she had brought work with her to get caught up, hoping that, on the flight and while here, she could fine-tune these components. But they were all damaged. Destroyed. Burned to God-only-knew-what now. She glanced around, caught her breath, her throat closing as tears burned in her eyes. She spun and bolted outside. Holding the tears back she paced back and forth. Only to find herself standing outside the tent with their personal belongings. She and Colleen had been assigned two tents, along with Sandra, Brent’s assistant. Morgan’s was on the other side of the camp.
Devlin as always, stood at her side. Why? Not that she didn’t appreciate it. “You don’t have to stay with me, you know.”
“I know that,” he answered. “But you’re still pretty stressed out and in shock. This is not easy for anybody. And we need to find Sandra.”
At that her steps slowed. She pulled out her phone, brought up her Contacts and hit Dial. Please let her answer. When Sandra answered the call, Bristol cried out, “Oh, my God, Sandra, are you okay?”
“Yes, of course I am. What’s wrong?” Sandra’s voice was curious but not unduly alarmed.
With her sleeping tent in front of her, Bristol ran inside and sat down on the bed. She was almost shaking. “Did you hear about the fire?”
“Sure. I was sitting down to coffee and dinner. I decided to stay here, as it looked like everyone else went out to take a look,” Sandra said in a wry tone. “Enough people are around there, so I didn’t want to get lost in the crowd too.”
“It was our tent.”
Silence.
“What do you mean, our tent?”
“Our work tent. All the equipment is ruined. Even worse.” She caught her breath before she went on. But the tears were clogging her throat. “Colleen is dead.”
“What?” A shocked silence was followed by “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Are you serious? How? What happened?” A wail on the other end broke into a sob. Finally Sandra asked, “Where are you?”
“I’m in our quarters,” Bristol said quietly. “I was questioned by the MPs. I went through the burned-out tent to see what I could salvage, but everything has been destroyed.”
“You sure it’s Colleen?” Sandra cried quietly.
“I’m sure. I’m the one who
identified her.”
“Stay there. I’m coming.”
Bristol ended the call and just sat here. She wasn’t sure what to do. With a heavy weight in her heart, she looked up, startled, realizing Devlin was still here. As he’d been since the fire. A comforting presence. So far he’d asked nothing of her but was here for support. And she needed that right now. “Thank you for staying,” she said sincerely. “Sandra is on her way. I’ll be fine then.”
He nodded. “Is Bertha really that important?”
She nodded. “Bertha is my prototype for the next level of drones. I can’t really give you all the details, just that I take what is out there and make it that much better. Espionage is always an issue when it comes to this level of technology. It never occurred to me that Bertha would be in any danger while we’re here in the middle of a military compound.” She shook her head. “I told them I didn’t want to come. We’re so far behind, I didn’t have time to waste, even a few hours being here, not working, so I brought Bertha with me.”
“When you say, them, I presume you mean the company buying your drones. Did they know about Bertha?”
She nodded. “Yes, and Brent and his boss are both here.” She looked out the open tent door and said, “I should contact them.”
“Later,” Devlin said. “They will have heard the news. I’d expect them to track you down themselves.”
“Not likely,” she said bitterly. “Brent will only worry about the drones. They won’t spare the time to worry about us workers.”
“But you’re actually the design engineer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, and it’s my software. No matter what they want to do with it, it’s mine. I’m under contract with the company though.”
“Why were you having trouble with the drones?” Devlin asked.
“Because they aren’t ready to be demonstrated,” she said simply. “I’m trying to get to the bottom of a weird software glitch.” She shook her head. “We shouldn’t even be here.”
“I’m sorry for the loss of your friend. But we don’t know anything yet, so don’t go jumping to conclusions.”
“Yes, we do know a lot,” she said bitterly. “Bertha is gone. No sign of her. And she’s not some small worthless creation of mine. The woman standing guard over Bertha is dead. Those are two inescapable facts. Put them together, and that’s bad news.”
She closed her eyes, crossed her hands over her forehead and shut him out.
*
He didn’t need to be here any longer, but neither did he want to leave her alone. Not right now. Just then he heard some racing feet, and a woman—one of the women he’d seen earlier—burst into the tent, tears streaming down her face. “Bristol?”
Bristol immediately sat up and opened her arms. Sandra threw herself into them. Closer now to the two women, he could see Sandra was younger, maybe mid-to-late twenties. Whereas Bristol looked to be in her early thirties. Colleen had been a little older; he’d estimate her age to be around thirty-five.
He watched the two for a long moment, but they didn’t even recognize his presence. He stepped outside and headed back to the crime scene. Because that was what it was. With the theft of a prototype, he had no doubt Colleen had either stumbled onto something or had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She could possibly have been involved and cut out, but that wasn’t as likely as the other two scenarios.
As he walked, he heard someone call his name. He spun around to see various members of the two SEAL units, standing in a group talking. He detoured to join them.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Mason asked. He studied Devlin. “What’s this about a dead woman?”
He quickly filled in the men and added at the end, “I just escorted Bristol back to her tent. She’s pretty whacked out. Another woman just arrived, so it was safe to leave her alone.” He motioned in the direction he was headed. “I wanted to take another look at the crime scene.”
“Crime scene?” Swede asked.
Devlin realized he hadn’t told them about Bertha. He quickly explained and asked, “The question really is, was Colleen part of the theft? Was she at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was the whole thing just an ugly accident?”
“If Bertha is missing,” Mason said, “I’d rule out an accident. That tent went up pretty fast.”
“The MPs should be able to tell very quickly if she was dead before the place caught fire or not,” Swede said. “Not that they would tell us.”
“Honestly,” Devlin said, “from what I saw, it’s possible an accelerant was poured over her. I’m just hoping she was dead first.” He stared off in the distance, remembering the heavy physical damage to the body. “In fact, her body was substantially burned for the short amount of time that fire was alive.”
“It might’ve started with her.” Swede crossed his arms. “We’ve all seen way too many scenarios where somebody used fire to get rid of evidence.”
Devlin nodded. “Trouble is, we can’t do anything over here. The MPs are all over this.”
“And it has nothing to do with us either.” Mason studied him carefully.
Devlin looked back and said, “I agree. I just happened to be there and found Bristol. She’s pretty upset obviously.” He glanced around at the others. “This doesn’t affect my return stateside tomorrow, does it?”
“No, you’re good to go,” Mason said. “I’m still here for another couple days.”
Devlin wasn’t sure Bristol would be allowed to leave tomorrow, but he hoped so for her sake. Not to mention they had to transport home the body of her friend. “The company contracted for her drones has two representatives here. They are schmoozing with the brass.”
“If Bertha was so important, why is it even here?” Mason asked.
“I asked her that actually,” Devlin said, “and she said something about the company bosses didn’t want to give her any time off, and she was behind schedule, so she was forced to bring it all here to keep working through the day and evening.”
“That’s rough,” Swede commented.
“It’s also very convenient if set up ahead of time,” Mason said. “A great way to get Bertha out of the lab.”
“That may not be her only prototype,” Devlin said.
The men stared at him.
He shrugged. “If it was me, you know I’d have backups.”
Mason nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a good point. You should ask her.”
“I plan on it. I was giving her a little bit of time alone. The two women are grieving the loss of their friend. Makes it a little hard to intrude.”
“But the question needs to be asked. And they need to be asked now.” Mason turned in the direction of her tent. “I just met her briefly this morning, so I don’t know her that well, but I’d still like to get answers to these questions because the MPs won’t be sharing their information.”
As Mason strode in the direction of Bristol’s tent, Devlin jogged to join him. “I’ll go with you.”
Mason smiled. “You don’t have to.”
“It’s no problem.”
At his side, Mason chuckled.
Devlin shot him a look. “It’s not like that.”
“Of course it’s not. By the way, it wasn’t like that for any of us either.”
“I doubt the Keepers’ effect is so strong that spending a few weeks with you will turn us into one,” Devlin joked. “But just in case, you can expect Ryder and Easton to run to the far side of the compound and stay the hell away from you.”
“Like hell,” Mason said good-naturedly. “You’ll be damn lucky if you find what we have.” He stopped at the tent and saw Bristol and Sandra. “As a matter fact, if you make this happen, Devlin, you’d be a better man than I’d ever have expected. From what I’ve heard, Bristol is good people.”
Mason stepped inside, leaving Devlin standing behind, wondering what the hell Mason meant.
Chapter 4
Bristol rose, leaving Sandra seated on the bed, wiping away te
ars, to face Devlin and another man beside him. “You’re Mason, aren’t you?”
He tilted his head and studied her, then gave a short nod. “I am. You’re Bristol, I believe. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
A grin swept her face. “From Tesla. She’s one of my best friends.”
At that he relaxed. “Then you’re truly blessed.”
She laughed and nodded. “I see you are too. She’s a wonderful woman.”
“She is, indeed.” A note of heavy satisfaction hung in his tone that made Bristol warm inside. She looked at Devlin. “What can I do for you two?”
Mason said, “The military police won’t give us too much information, but we’d like to have a few questions answered, if you have a moment.”
She frowned at him. “Are you part of the investigation?”
He shook his head. “You understand how we’re on a compound full of some of the most elite fighting machines out here. And we deal with this kind of stuff on a daily basis. Maybe not exactly like this but—”
Devlin interrupted, “But like this.”
She nodded. “I do remember Tesla telling me all about who she married.” She looked over to Devlin and asked, “Are you one of Mason’s unit?”
“Same team, different unit. I’m here with three from mine, and Mason with four from his. We were all part of the drone training though.”
She’d heard from Tesla that Mason was a SEAL. She hadn’t known if the SEALs were actually here or not, but it made sense. Nobody ever mentioned that name. All very secret and hush-hush. Devlin had the same look about him—one of those men who could handle anything. He had been a big help this afternoon. She didn’t break down often, but, seeing her friend burned to a crisp … Well, that was enough to shake anybody’s composure.
She motioned at one of the other beds and said, “Have a seat.”
Mason sat down with Devlin beside him, while Bristol reseated herself next to Sandra.
“What was it you wanted to know?” Bristol asked.
“I’m confused as to why Bertha would actually be here,” Mason said. “And is it the only prototype you have?”