3rd World Products, Book 16

by Ed Howdershelt

  Tanya snorted a laugh. “Sure you will.”

  She took out her laptop and spent some time searching, then let her hands fall to her lap and muttered, “Good Lord. Nearly a quarter of the land sales there last year show Florida permanent addresses.”

  “Think you can use this info?”

  Turning her face to me, Tanya said firmly, “Oh, I definitely think so. One way or another. This might keep me in the real estate business for a while longer.”

  “What did you do before this?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing, really. Until my husband died last year, I only ever had part time and temporary jobs. Insurance covered almost everything, but all of a sudden I had some big bills to pay. A friend in real estate suggested I go back to school for it.”

  She sipped what was left of her drink and said, “I managed to sell the house. Now I’m renting. It’s only a little cheaper, but at least I have some cash in savings. I…”

  Stopping suddenly, Tanya looked at me and asked, “Why am I telling you all this?”

  I shrugged. “You seem to need some company, that’s all. Someone smart enough to talk with who won’t look for an angle or try to talk you into bed or worry that the pretty widow lady will make her husband do something stupid.”

  Tanya blinked at me. “That’s what you think, huh?”

  “That’s pretty much why I said it, ma’am.”

  Looking very skeptical, she said, “But you — a man who was just staring at my legs a while ago… oh, excuse me, ‘admiring’, you called it… You’re saying you wouldn’t try to get me into bed? What’s wrong with that picture?”

  Meeting her gaze, I said, “Tanya, I was eyeballing your legs ‘cuz they’re very nice legs. In fact, they’re just about perfect, I’d say, but that doesn’t mean I absolutely have to try to get between them. I wouldn’t turn down a freely-offered opportunity to lick you silly, either, but sometimes people need the kind of company you don’t usually find in a bedroom. You’re well aware you’re a hottie, so I doubt you need constant male attention as validation. Seems to me you need some useful support right now a helluva lot more than a dose of flattery and a roll in the hay.”

  She just stared at me for a moment, then it became obvious she was trying to contain a grin. She struggled against it for another moment, then snickered, “Lick me silly?”

  With a slight nod and my best Texas drawl, I replied, “That’s just a handy euphemism, ma’am.”

  Tanya sort of blurted, “Hah!” and cracked up laughing. She shut down her laptop and put it in its case, zipped it shut with a flourish that almost knocked her cup off the table, and said firmly, “I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

  Looking at me, she said, “Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with it. Did you have any plans?”

  I shrugged. “Well, I was gonna figure out how to save the world this afternoon, but I guess that can wait.”

  She laughed, “Sure it can. It’ll still need saving later.”

  “Yeah, seems likely. So what’s the agenda? Want to go somewhere or do something?”

  As if expecting a punch line, her eyebrow went up again as she asked, “Do you have any suggestions?”

  “Nope. I’m a stranger in this town, too. I was just out riding around.” Gesturing generally south, I added, “Home is about forty miles that way.”

  Tanya stood up, gestured northeast, and said, “Mine’s about the same distance that way. It’s too bad we’ve already had lunch. Do you drink?”

  “I could probably manage a beer or two.”

  Grinning, she nodded, hung her purse on one shoulder and her laptop on the other, and said, “Good. Let’s go. I know a place near a lake on forty-one. Just follow me north.”

  While she got into her car and I started my bike, I linked to my orbital core and gave it her license plate number. The plate matched the car, which was registered to a Tanya Conner of Ocala.

  As we left the parking lot, I pulled up a copy of Tanya Conner’s driver’s license and the picture matched the lady in the car. DOB 11 July 1975, so I’d guessed her age almost exactly. She also had a real estate license, but it was over five years old, not the year or so she’d led me to think. Her hubby’s death checked out, though, just under a year ago.

  Athena pinged me. I answered, “Yes’m?”

  “May I ask why you felt a need to vet Miss Conner?”

  “Sure. My strong sense of familiarity. Her friendly acceptance and sharing of her personal info a bit too quickly, despite the circumstances. No comments or questions at all about my bike or its cooler. No questions about me, yet despite that info vacuum and our substantial age difference, she’s apparently leading me to a bar outside of town.”

  With a soft chuckle, Athena replied, “My, we’re feeling a little paranoid today. Couldn’t she simply have a friendly, trusting nature and no interest at all in motorcycles?”

  “Oh, sure, but she’d also need more than a passing interest in much older men. Her car has an online help package that phones home periodically. Would you care to check its records and see if it’s been in Spring Hill lately?”

  She chuckled, “Oh, of course, sir. At once, sir.”

  As she did that, I realized one of the reasons for my sense of familiarity. The name Connor had finally clicked. Tanya looked and sounded very much like Marie Conner, who’d married Air Force Sgt. Brian Baker while they were in Germany in 1972. Tanya almost had to be their daughter.

  Athena very shortly pinged me again and said, “Her car was parked at a motel in Spring Hill last night.”

  I chuckled, “So I’m just being paranoid, huh? It was chilly last night and there’s nowhere she could park in my neighborhood that wouldn’t draw attention. Seems likely she planted a camera where it wouldn’t be noticed and let her laptop monitor the house for motion.”

  “Ed, a camera capable of relaying usable data to a motion sensing program would be hard to conceal.”

  “You’re thinking of crisp, clear pictures, ma’am. All she’d need are shapes on a webcam. Capture my webpage pic of me on the bike, crop it, and use it as a template. Use one of those tiny spot cameras. Just aim it at the front yard and wait for something that fits the outline to appear. Stick the camera under the mailbox across the street for concealment. Did you catch my thought about Marie Conner?”

  “As you know, I no longer monitor your thoughts. One moment.” Athena’s ‘moment’ lasted only a split-second. She said, “I see. What are you going to do?”

  I shrugged. “Have a beer or two. See if she’ll share what’s on her mind. See how far she’ll go to establish a connection. Try to find out why she wants one at all.”

  Tanya’s car signaled and turned right ahead. I followed her to a lakefront bar and grill near some condos and a golf course. As I parked beside her, Tanya shot me a cheery grin and opened her door.

  Chapter Four

  Tanya pulled her laptop bag to the driver’s side and slung it on her shoulder, then led the way to the bar’s front doors. I noted she stood almost my height, partly the result of three-inch heels. The interior of the place was neat and clean, but unremarkable. Nothing particularly unique; it was intended to be a place for golfers to chat, and half a dozen of them were doing just that.

  At least it was quiet. The juke box was silent and the TVs weren’t blaring sports crap. We passed the bar and a waitress let us chose a table by the porch’s back wall and sit down before she visited us. Tanya ordered a Pauli Girl and I ordered a Bud draft because they didn’t have Icehouse.

  Something splashed near the small dock. No boats, no people, just a dock extending a few yards offshore. A plastic table and a few similar chairs decorated the end. There were moderately expensive houses to one side of the lake and expanses of mowed green on the other. Turning my gaze to Tanya, I found her looking back at me.

  “Yes’m?”

  She shook her head. “Oh, nothing. I just realized I’m sitting at a table with a man I know almost nothing abou
t. Your name’s Ed, you ride a motorcycle, and you fix computers.”

  Heh. Game time.

  I replied, “Ah. Yes. Well, I’m in the same boat, y’know. Your name’s Tanya, you sell real estate, and your computer needed fixed.” As an afterthought, I added, “And you’re gorgeous. And you dress well. Bet you can’t say the same about me.”

  Tanya grinned and chuckled. “No, I can’t, but I can say you look pretty comfortable without a jacket and tie.”

  Grinning back, I said, “Yes, ma’am. Very comfortable.”

  She sighed wryly, “I wish I was. On the way here I began to wonder what the hell I was doing, hooking up with a strange man this far from home.”

  With a shrug, I said, “We can drink our beers and chat a bit, then go our respective ways. Or not, if we can find some mutual interests. By the way, be careful tossing phrases like ‘hooking up‘ around. Some people use it as a euphemism for sex these days.”

  Our beers arrived. Once the waitress had poured Tanya’s and left, Tanya asked, “Are you one of those people who use it as a euphemism?”

  Taking a sip, I said, “Nah. I’m old fashioned. It still means ‘getting together‘ to me. Besides, time with a woman like you is never wasted. Maybe I can soak up enough of your presence to dream about you later.”

  She didn’t seem to have a response for that, so I sipped again and asked, “Have you given any more thought to going freelance? Are there any good reasons you shouldn’t? Legal reasons, I mean?”

  The change of topic seemed to catch her off balance. Tanya canted her head slightly as she regarded me and said, “No, I don’t think there’d be any legal reasons, but I signed a contract that I wouldn’t engage in local real estate sales for thirty days after leaving my company.”

  “Couldn’t get the job without it?”

  She shook her head. “No, and all the better companies have the same post-employment stipulations.”

  “Guess that depends on how you define ‘better’.”

  She shrugged. “How many millions in sales.”

  “Hm. I was about to ask whether you could survive a month of not working, but it doesn’t really matter. Whether you’re in somebody’s harness or not, they’d all figure out what you’re doing the first time you put a deal through. To really make this work well, you’d have to get a lock on one end or the other, and preferably both.”

  Sipping her beer, she asked, “Any ideas about how to do something like that?”

  “I’ll give it some thought. Companies have moved before, so cornering an immediate market this way probably isn’t a completely new idea.”

  Tanya chuckled, “No, probably not.”

  I tried to look thoughtful as I ticked ice off my mug and took a sip, then said, “But if you’re in a company harness when you sell, you’d have to share commissions. Got any family who could help you through a month of unemployment? Parents? Brothers? Sisters?”

  “A brother, but he wouldn’t be much help. My mom is… well, she couldn’t help, either.”

  Trying to look thoughtful again, I had my core try to find Marie Conner using Tanya’s records for reference. It didn’t take long at all; she was in a nursing home in Ocala due to brain injuries from a car accident just over a year ago.

  I suddenly wanted very much to help Tanya become as successful as possible. That she’d been stalking me for a day or so seemed almost altogether irrelevant, but only almost.

  Tanya must have seen something in my expression. Her own expression was one of mild concern as she asked, “What’s wrong, Ed?”

  “Just thinking about taking some shortcuts.”

  Somewhat warily, she asked, “What kind of shortcuts?”

  “Not sure yet.”

  I remembered the address she’d shown on her laptop in Inverness. ‘42796 Carmichael Ave‘. My core found a listing that showed me a quarter-million dollar house in Ocala, not Inverness. Sales records said it had been sold twice in the last two years, once by Tanya Connor. The guy who’d bought it had flipped it quickly. The next buyer had apparently run into a few problems; he was asking slightly less than he’d paid for it.

  Sipping my beer, I looked at the lake and said, “Let’s take a walk. Maybe go out on the dock.”

  “I don’t know if we can take our drinks outside.”

  Standing up, I held a hand out to her and said, “They’ll be here when we get back.”

  Waving the waitress to the table, I said, “We’re going outside for a few. Don’t lose our drinks, okay?”

  She nodded and returned to the bar. Tanya patted her laptop and asked, “What about this?”

  “Who’s gonna steal it in this place?”

  “I’d rather not leave it.”

  Grabbing the case’s straps, I slung it on a shoulder and said, “No problem. We can put it in your car on the way.”

  Now on her feet, Tanya said, “But I was going to…”

  I cut in, “Then you can take it out of your car later. I don’t want to carry it over the water.”

  Her gaze narrow, Tanya said, “Ed, tell me what the hell’s going on.”

  “We’re just going to talk about some things where nobody can hear us, ma’am.”

  “What things?”

  Striding for the porch door, I said, “Come find out.”

  She caught up with me as I crossed the parking lot and had to hurry a little to keep up. I stopped at her car and indicated the trunk. “Open it.” She did so. I put the case in and closed the trunk, then said, “Now we can go to the dock.”

  Tanya sounded rather irritated as she snapped, “Maybe I’d rather just leave.”

  With a glance at her, I shrugged. “Your choice.”

  I headed for the dock at an ambling pace. After a few moments, I heard her footsteps behind me. This time she didn’t hurry to catch up, so I stopped and waited, then continued on as she walked on my left.

  She asked, “Why are we going out on the dock?”

  “Because it’s time to level with me, Tanya.”

  Panfish and minnows scattered to either side of the dock at our first footsteps and shadows on the wood planks.

  As we reached the end of the dock, she asked, “Level with you about what, exactly?”

  Studying the fish below, I said, “You stayed at a motel a mile from my house last night, which means you followed me to Inverness and engineered our lunch encounter.”

  Looking up and meeting her gaze, I said, “Your mother is Marie Connor and you look and sound very much like she did back when I knew her. That’s a compliment, by the way.”

  I stopped there to see if she’d open up. Tanya had stopped by the dock’s table. Now she stared at me with a level of shock and kept a hand on that table as she rather shakily lowered herself into a chair.

  “Ed, I… How the hell did you know?!”

  “That’s my business, ma’am. Why didn’t you just call me or come to the house? Why pretend to meet me over fast food and a sick computer forty miles from home?”

  Glancing back at the faux-boat house that was the restaurant’s back porch, Tanya sighed, “We should have brought those beers. I could sure use one right now.”

  “Suffer gracefully, ma’am. Answers, please.”

  She fidgeted for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, “I didn’t call because I was trying to be careful. Very careful. And I wanted to see what I could find out about you on my own, quietly. One of Mom’s old friends told me some of the things you used to do.”

  “Who?”

  With obvious reluctance in her hesitation, she replied, “Connie Turner. She showed up with a man named Will — her husband — soon after Mom’s accident. They asked a lot of questions, made copies of all the paperwork, and even talked to the other people involved in the accident.”

  Damn. I hadn’t thought of Will or Connie since… well, since they’d gone Stateside in 1973 for new jobs in a brand new outfit called the Drug Enforcement Agency. Out of sight really can be out of mind. And they got married? Wh
o’da thunk it? They used to fight like cats and dogs sometimes.

  I said, “Depending on what your mother was doing at the time, Connie and Will might have showed up to make sure your Mom’s accident was really an accident, Tanya. But if what she told you made us seem like monsters, why did you look for me at all?”

  Still fidgety, Tanya took a breath and said, “No, not monsters, but…” She shook her head slightly and said, “During one of our talks, Connie said their old boss, a woman named Linda, went to work for 3rd World Products and pulled you out of retirement to help with something. After what she’d told me about things your teams did in Germany, I couldn’t figure out how a company like 3rd World could use people like you.”

  She stopped for a moment, then continued, “I also wondered why my mother would even have any old friends like them and you. Connie seemed pretty startled by the question, then she seemed to get offended and left.”

  I chuckled, “If you put it like that, she might really have been offended, but she probably also didn’t want to be the one to tell you what your mom used to do.”

  Tanya nodded. “I figured that out somewhere along the line, but before I did, I tried to find out by contacting the company Mom worked for back then. Just to try to figure out how she’d been involved with things like that, you know? All I got was an official denial that the company had ever employed anyone by that name.”

  “No surprise there. Government contracting agencies were often used as covers and names changed with the missions. The people you talked to probably had nothing on file and no idea who or what you were talking about.”

  Tanya paused again, then said, “Okay. Maybe so, but I think that call was what made the FBI visit me. They wouldn’t tell me anything, either, of course. It was all very frustrating. The next time Connie visited, I told her I thought they ought to stop coming to see Mom because nothing they told me added up. Will got real mad and Connie said they’d be back later, then they left. When they came back, Connie showed me some old pictures of them and Mom and Dad on vacation at a beach. I found out Mom wasn’t just one of their old friends. She was running some of the extraction teams.”