Blind Instinct: A Tess Barrett Thriller

by Michael W. Sherer

  Ignoring her sarcasm, he placed one of her hands on the tank and the other on the hose, and then guided her hands so they held the hose next to the window, arms resting on the seat back. He grabbed the spray can of deodorant and the lighter and got ready. Opening the window a crack, he twisted the valve on the propane tank wide open. Gas hissed out of the hose. Blood sang in his ears, and adrenaline bumped his heart rate up. These kids had put themselves in danger to help him, and he was putting them in even more danger by refusing to let these goons take him. But, God help him, this was what he was born to do. His brother James had been destined for the boardroom and the corner office, to fight his battles with intellect and words. Travis was a soldier through and through. He hated to admit it, but he loved the rush and the pride he took in defending his country and those he loved. He almost felt sorry for their pursuers. They didn’t stand a chance.

  “Okay, Oliver,” Travis said, “drift over to the left and let this dick-wad come up next to us. Make it convincing. On my mark, open Tess’s window.”

  “Gotcha,” Oliver acknowledged, meeting Travis’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

  “Keep it steady, Tess,” Travis said.

  Sweat broke out on his forehead as he watched the remaining Jeep creep up on their rear bumper. Oliver swerved to block them from passing on the left. The Jeep’s driver fell for the feint and went right, accelerating to get into the lane Oliver had just left. The two big SUVs roared down the highway at breakneck speed, inches away from each other, the Jeep slowly edging ahead until its nose was even with Tess’s window.

  “Just a little more,” Travis murmured. “Now, Oliver!”

  The Jeep’s windshield pillar blocked the driver’s view inside the Range Rover. Travis gave a little smile as the Jeep continued to inch forward. Extending his arm, he lit the stream of gas spewing from the hose. Just as the driver’s open window pulled abreast of Tess’s window, Travis sprayed the flammable deodorant through the jet of flame emanating from the hose Tess held. A billow of fire surged across the space between the vehicles and into the driver’s window. The driver screamed as the flames engulfed his head, and he wrenched the steering wheel to get away. The Jeep veered off the highway and careened into a copse of trees.

  Travis reached over and quickly twisted the propane tank valve closed before Tess lit the car on fire, and heaved a huge sigh.

  “Great job, you two.”

  “They’re gone?” Tess said.

  “For now,” Travis said.

  “That was close,” Oliver said. “Remind me next time to bring along an anti-tank weapon.”

  Travis looked at him sharply, then relaxed. There was no way Oliver had any knowledge of what had happened on the mountain the day of Tess’s accident. No one knew, except Travis and two members of his security team, Luis and Red, and not even Red knew everything. Despite Tess’s concerns about Marcus, Travis trusted those two. They’d never tell a soul what had happened. Oliver’s comment about the ATW was just coincidence.

  “You did fine, Oliver,” he said. “Where’d you learn to drive like that?”

  “Took a high-speed driving course a couple of years ago.”

  Tess and Oliver were silent for a moment as the adrenaline in everyone’s system started to dissipate. Travis watched the landscape speed by. The countryside was beautiful. Too bad it had been marred by an attempt on all their lives. He wondered if he could ever truly keep what was left of the Barrett family safe.

  “Airport’s coming up in about a mile,” Oliver said, interrupting Travis’s thoughts.

  “Let’s hope there are no more surprises,” Travis said as Tess climbed back into the seat next to him.

  “But they’ll keep coming, won’t they?” Tess said.

  “Until we find out who they are and what they want, yes.”

  “Let them come,” she said.

  Travis had never seen her look so fierce. He remembered how hard it was being a teen and was glad that she was so strong. She had James’s tenacity and stubbornness and Sally’s gentleness, but she’d gotten some of the warrior gene, too, from somewhere. Travis had been checking in with Yoshi on her progress, and had been pleased by the reports.

  “Oh, they will,” Travis murmured. “Count on it.”

  Chapter 35

  About twenty minutes after we took off, my pulse returned to something approximating normal and my heart stopped banging against my ribs to get out. The mountains, rivers and forests below were beautiful, but I was more than happy to leave Montana behind as we climbed up to altitude. Tess had found herself a pillow and blanket, and had stuffed earbuds into her ears, plugged into the music stored on her phone, and curled up in one of the deep leather seats with her eyes closed.

  Travis had gotten up as soon as we’d climbed out of the airfield takeoff pattern and had gone forward to talk to Tom, the pilot. Now he returned to his seat, on a diagonal with mine, and pulled a satellite phone from a cradle in the bulkhead next to him. I turned my head and looked out. The mountains had given way to a checkerboard pattern of fields that now started to darken as the sun fell toward the horizon behind us. Though I pretended to be uninterested, Travis’s conversation was impossible not to overhear in the tiny cabin, even with the jet engines trying to drown him out.

  “Jack, it’s Travis. …Yeah, the kids found me. …Tess and Oliver. …A bit of a mess, but nothing that local law enforcement can’t deal with. You might want to look into the ranch where I was held hostage—the ‘Flying Eagle.’ Manager’s name is Buck Evans. …Tess and Oliver did a good job, sir. I can’t say I was happy they showed up, but they didn’t trust anyone else. …I know, sir. But you and I both know that if there’s a mole, we have to find out where his tunnel leads. …No, I’m not headed back yet. We’re going to D.C. I did something stupid, and now someone’s trying to leverage it …No, I was trying to curry favor with Josiah Dunn. I gave his son, Austin, a game app we’ve been working on. …Yes, that’s the one. …I know. Tess and Oliver say it’s more than a threat, it’s a certainty. Derek confirms it. He’s been working on a software antidote, but he doesn’t have time— …What? …A political rally? Tomorrow? It’s a good thing we’re on our way. …Yes, Tess and Oliver, too. They didn’t give me much choice, and they might be able to help. I’ll try to get hold of the vice president, but in case I don’t I could use some support on that end. Any chance that you— All right, I understand. I’ll check with Tom …Tom Foley, our pilot. He’s ex-Navy, might know some guys. …I just figured we’d go into DCA. …Andrews? The base would be great. Thanks, Jack. I’ll have Tom give you a heads-up when we’re thirty minutes out.”

  He looked out the window on his side of the plane for a moment after disconnecting. When he turned back he caught me looking at him.

  “You heard what’s going on?”

  I nodded. “Most of it.”

  “Vice President Dunn scheduled a campaign rally tomorrow on the National Mall. I’m having a hard time believing it, but if you guys are right, Austin might try something there.”

  “If he goes nuts like Matt did and does something like shoot into the crowd, someone could get hurt or killed,” I said. “Not to mention what the embarrassment might do to his father’s campaign.”

  “We have to stop him.”

  “We’ll do whatever we can to help.”

  He stared at me as if trying to diagnose something in me, and suddenly broke into a wide grin. “I’ll bet most of what you did today was not in the job description Alice gave you.”

  I glanced at Tess, but she seemed to have tuned us out completely. She might even have been asleep.

  “That’s a pretty accurate assessment.” I managed a wry smile.

  His smile faded and he heaved a sigh. He lifted the phone and dialed another number. “Yes, I’d like to speak with him, please. Travis Barrett calling …Yes, I know what day it is and what time it is. It’s urgent that I speak with him. When do you expect him back? …Would you please get a message to him and let him
know that I called? …Have him call me immediately. I’ll be at this number.”

  He rattled off ten digits, listened for a moment and hung up.

  Movement caught my eye, and I craned my neck to see Tom clamber out of the cockpit and step into the cabin. He stopped and crouched in the aisle next to my seat.

  “Everything okay out here?”

  “Okay by me,” I said, and glanced at the empty cockpit nervously. “Autopilot?”

  He smiled and turned to Travis. “Mr. Barrett, Alice sent along an overnight bag for you with a change of clothes and some toiletries. I left it back in the lavatory if you want to clean up. I also took the liberty of getting provisions during the layover in Libby. Nothing fancy. Just sandwiches, some deli salads and beverages, but at least you won’t go hungry.”

  “Thanks, Tom.”

  “Did the general offer any support?”

  Travis shook his head. “Not really. Looks like we’re on our own. I have a feeling that I won’t convince either the vice president or his Secret Service detail of the potential threat. That is if I reach Dunn at all. And the three of us are going to have one heck of a time trying to find Austin in the crowd.”

  “Let me put out some feelers,” Tom said. “I might be able to find someone.”

  “They’d be taking a huge risk, and it might all be for nothing.”

  He shrugged. “That pretty much holds true for anyone who puts on a uniform. Be nice to improve your odds, though, so I’ll see what I can do. On another subject, our flight path will take us down through Pennsylvania on the way into D.C. This bird doesn’t have the range to get us there non-stop, so we’ll put down in Latrobe and refuel there. The Latrobe airport’s fixed base operator is open twenty-four/seven, and the airfield is small, so it shouldn’t be too busy. Also, the FBO has a pilot’s lounge with showers, which might feel good by the time we get there.”

  “Sounds great, Tom. I appreciate the thought.”

  “One last thing before I get myself some coffee. You might want to call your office and let them know you’re okay.”

  Travis looked startled. “It’s Saturday night. No one will be there.”

  “You don’t know that. Even so, you should leave a message. The staff worries about you.”

  “I suppose I don’t need to ask how you know this.”

  “No, sir, you don’t. If you haven’t figured it out by now, you’re probably beyond help.” Tom flashed a sly grin. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a plane to fly.”

  He turned and poured himself coffee from the tiny galley behind the seat across from me, and ducked into the cockpit. I stared at Travis, curious. To my surprise, he reddened.

  “My brother liked to think of everyone—staff, employees—as family,” he said. “He always wanted to see the good in people, never the bad. Which is why we have the kinds of problems you two faced today.”

  I considered him and his words. “I never met your brother, but if this guy who’s been messaging Tess is him, he’s very aware of all the bad guys in the world. Treating each other a little more like family and a little less like characters in a video game might not be a bad thing.”

  He blinked several times before responding. “You’re pretty smart for someone your age.” Waving a hand before I could say anything, he went on. “I’m not talking about book smart. You wouldn’t be working on a PhD. if you weren’t intelligent. You have some street smarts, too.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  “Don’t let it go to your head. Anyway, what Tom was trying to say was that some people actually care about me as more than someone who signs their paychecks.”

  I glanced at Tess again, but she hadn’t moved.

  “She cares,” I said. “This is just a tough age.”

  Travis’s gaze followed mine, and he laughed, a short bark without much mirth in it. “I wasn’t talking about her, but I’m sure you’re right.”

  I frowned. “Sorry. Someone else?”

  The smile on Travis’s lips was tight. “Tom was diplomatically referring to my executive assistant, Robyn.”

  It made sense that she would be concerned, since she probably acted as a firewall to keep distractions and minor issues away from her boss and maintain his schedule. Tom’s comments replayed in my head and my eyes widened.

  “You like her,” I blurted. “And she likes you.”

  He rose abruptly and made his way back to the lavatory, hunched over under the low headroom. I’d overstepped my bounds. James Barrett and his wife had died in a tragic car accident, and I was definitely not family. I was a hired hand that Tess tolerated because she had no choice.

  * * * * *

  I woke with a start when the wheels bumped the tarmac. The plane’s interior was dark except for a pool of bright light shining on some papers in Travis’s lap, and a dim blue glow that spilled from the cockpit into the cabin. The windows were black except for a few bright spots that flashed by as we rolled down the runway and gradually slowed until we turned onto a taxiway and bumped along at ten or fifteen miles per hour. I hadn’t slept long. The day’s events had kept playing through my mind. Something nagged at me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Not memories or conversations, obviously. Something was off about the whole situation, and no matter how many times I went over the past few days I couldn’t figure out what.

  We rolled past the terminal building. Tom pulled the plane up in front of a large building not far away and shut down the engines. Travis looked up with a start and glanced out the window. He noticed me watching him and nodded, then looked over at Tess. She was curled up asleep. Tom opened the hatch, lowered the stairs and climbed down to find a service rep at the FBO. Travis put the papers on the empty seat facing his and stretched with a soft groan.

  “This plane isn’t meant for trips this long,” he whispered. “I’m going inside to clean up. You’re welcome to get out and stretch your legs for a bit. It will take us a while to refuel.”

  I nodded. “What time is it?” I whispered.

  Travis looked at his watch and shrugged. “I keep forgetting the battery is dead. Late. Or early, take your pick.”

  I tipped my head toward the papers in the seat across the aisle. “Already back at work?”

  He shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep and I had some catching up to do if I’m going to save the company. I also pulled a photo of Austin down off the Web so you’d know what he looks like.”

  He shuffled through the papers and handed me a sheet of paper with a photo printed on it. I leaned forward to look at it in the light from Travis’s reading lamp. Travis eased past me and disappeared through the hatch. I fished in my pocket for my phone and turned it on. It found the network and displayed the local time, 2:57 a.m. Not quite midnight our time. I stifled a yawn, wondering why I was so tired. Soft thumps sounded in the cabin as service crew prepared to refuel the plane.

  Tess stirred and stretched. “Oliver?”

  “I’m here,” I said.

  Where are we?” she said sleepily.

  “Pennsylvania.”

  “We’re not moving. Is it morning?”

  “We stopped for fuel. And, yes, it’s morning, sort of. It’s early here. Go back to sleep.”

  “Okay.” She yawned, faced the window, plumped the pillow under her cheek and promptly fell asleep.

  I went inside the FBO facility and used the restroom, then walked down the tarmac in the dark, the little taxiway lights guiding me. The chill night air braced me, and after ten minutes I felt refreshed. I went back inside to get a soda from a vending machine and boarded the plane to think. About half an hour later, we were wheels up and headed for Washington, D.C.

  Due to an air traffic control delay the flight took about ninety minutes, and when we touched down at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland dawn tinged the eastern horizon in shades of peach. I pressed my forehead against the window as we descended, hoping for a glimpse of Air Force One. Tess was awake, but tuned into her music again. As soon as we landed with a ge
ntle bump, though, she pulled the earphones out and stowed them in her bag. Travis had been napping ever since we left Latrobe, and now he, too, sat upright, alert and focused. As we rolled down the runway, to my surprise I saw not one but two 747 jets painted in the blue and white livery of Air Force One, with the US flag on the tail and Presidential Seal near the nose.

  When we deplaned, a black SUV sat on the tarmac waiting for us, a tall man with blond hair dressed all in black standing next to the driver’s door. Ten yards away, another man in slacks and a windbreaker over a sport shirt leaned against the hood of an older model Mustang, ankles crossed in front of him, arms folded. His manner was casual as he watched us, but his eyes missed nothing. I came down the stairs behind Travis, with Tess’s hand touching my shoulder. Tom, the pilot, descended last, and walked over to the man lounging against the car. They greeted each other like old friends.

  The SUV driver came forward to meet Travis as he stepped off the stairs and stuck out his hand. “Mr. Barrett, I’m Rob Bergstrom,” he said. “General Turnbull asked me to drive you.”

  Travis’s eyebrows rose a fraction. “He asked, not ordered? Nice of you to volunteer.”

  “My pleasure, sir. The general helped find me a job when my tour was over. Anything I can do to repay him…”

  As Travis and the driver exchanged pleasantries, Tom spoke with the other man in low tones.

  After a moment, Tom brought the man over and introduced him. “This is Lee Hanson, an old Navy buddy. Lee, meet Travis Barrett. And this is his niece Tess and her assistant Oliver.”

  Hanson shook hands all around, and when he got to me, his grip was so strong I thought he might crack a bone or two in my hand. I managed to keep a smile on my face, though.

  Travis’s expression turned serious. “Gentlemen, I don’t know what you’ve been told, but we have a situation. Vice President Dunn is holding a campaign rally this morning on the Mall, and we have reason to believe that his son Austin may try some stunt to disrupt it and discredit his father. Tess, do you want to explain?”