“Gun? What gun? Who are you, anyway?”
Tess smiled down at the source of his voice. “A friend, Austin. Just a friend.”
Chapter 42
“I’m telling you, Jack,” Travis said into his phone, “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She flipped the kid, pretty as you please, and then just sat on him. The kid calmed right down. Acted as if he didn’t know what happened. Maybe he didn’t. Could be like some form of hypnosis, and the blow when he landed after Tess flipped him woke him up. We’ll know a lot more when Derek has a chance to deconstruct the software code in that video game.”
Travis stood apart from the crowd of government suits and uniformed cops that had gathered on the spot where the dramatic standoff had taken place a short time before. Mounted police had herded the crowd back so a few of the USPP officers could string crime scene tape around an area about half the size of a football field. When the initial commotion had died down and the facts of why the Secret Service had suddenly whisked the vice president away gradually came to light, event organizers had finally thought to make it clear that he wouldn’t be giving a campaign speech after all. After that the crowd had thinned considerably.
Travis leaned against a tree and surveyed the enormous bureaucratic machine that had taken over as he listened to the general on the other end of the phone conversation.
“…ranch ownership is a dead end,” Jack was saying. “Too many shell corporations. Evans, the manager, has been in an interrogation room at the county sheriff’s office since early this morning. Says he thought you were a vagrant stealing food, which is why he sent his men after you. And he claims he had no idea the ranch hands he hired were being paid by someone else to hold you prisoner. He said that until a young couple asked him about copper mines in the area he had no clue anyone had been out at old mine on the ranch.”
“Figures,” Travis said. He sighed. “I know the problem is on my end, Jack. I still don’t want to believe it’s Marcus. His record’s always been above reproach. Every other man on my team has a blemish on his service record, something to be ashamed of, which is why I gave each a second chance. In my heart I know they’re good men. Marcus has always been best of the best.”
“Don’t move on him then until you have an ironclad case. He’ll never forgive you if you’re wrong. But in the meantime, you better stick eyes in the back of your head, son.”
“That’s about all I can do.”
Silence hung on the line between them for a moment.
“Tess is okay?” the general asked.
“Better than okay, I think,” Travis said. “This past year has been hard on her. I really think she lost her will to live during her recovery, and who could blame her? Losing Jimmy and Sally like that? I can’t say it hasn’t weighed heavily on me, too. But the past few weeks? She’s a fighter again, Jack. You should have seen her. You’d have been proud.”
“I am proud. Of both of you.”
Travis suddenly flushed with embarrassment. “Yeah, well, I had nothing to do with the warrior princess she’s becoming.”
General Turnbull chuckled. “Sure you did. You’ve been a good uncle to her, a good parent. I know what you’re going to say, No, you’re not her father, but you’re doing a good job, Travis.”
“Yoshi’s the one who’s taught her to fight, not me.”
“It takes a village, Travis. She’s learning plenty from you. Don’t worry. Speaking of which, you two have a board meeting to attend in the morning back in Seattle.”
Travis’s eyes glittered and his mouth hardened into a grim line. “I can’t wait to see who’s the most surprised to see me.”
“You want me to arrange a transport out of Andrews?”
“No, but thanks. Tom Foley, our pilot, went straight to a buddy’s to rack out and get some sleep. He should be good to go by the time we wrap up here. We’ll have to make a stop on the way home to refuel, but the little jet is fine. I think we’re all so tired we could sleep anywhere.”
“Have a good trip then. I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Jack. Oh, and thanks again for verifying my bonafides with the Treasury guys. Man, talking to those Secret Service types is like conversing with a brick wall.”
Travis heard the general chuckle softly again before hanging up. As he walked out from under the trees to rejoin Tess and Oliver he saw Hanson at the edge of the group surrounded by uniformed cops who pored over his credentials—private investigator’s license, gun permit, carry-concealed permit, etc. Travis had let them grill Hanson longer than necessary as a little extra punishment for not taking Tess more seriously earlier. A twinge of guilt pricked him, and he changed direction.
“Give the man a break, fellas,” Travis said as he approached them. “He’s legit.”
One of the cops looked up in surprise. “He’s with you?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last twenty minutes,” Hanson said.
“I hired him,” Travis told the cop.
The cop pushed his cap off his forehead and scratched his scalp. “Well, I suppose that puts things in a different light, seeing as how you have security clearance and all, Mr. Barrett.”
They handed Hanson’s papers and gun back to him and turned to look for something else to do. Hanson holstered the gun and stuffed the papers in a jacket pocket.
He glanced at Travis. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Hanson looked at his shoes for a moment then lifted his chin. “No, I mean thanks for everything. I’d serve with you anytime, captain.”
“It’s Travis. And you’re welcome. I was glad for the back-up.”
Hanson stuck out his hand, and after Travis matched his grip, he turned and walked away. Travis watched him until he melted into the groups of tourists that stood and gawked at the Capitol dome at the end of the mall. Hanson might come in handy again some day.
Travis wandered over to the spot where Tess had bravely taken on not only a crazed kid with a gun, but law enforcement of every stripe. He wondered if her inability to see the force arrayed in front of her while Austin had her in his grasp had given her greater courage, or at least lessened her fear. She and Oliver stood silently near the spot, attention on an ambulance that had pulled up onto the grass beyond them. As Travis joined them, paramedics prepared to load a gurney carrying Austin into the ambulance.
“Oh, hey, Travis,” Oliver said, glancing at him briefly before turning back to the scene unfolding in front of them.
Vice President Dunn stood next to the gurney, speaking to his son. Austin nodded and Josiah gave a signal to the paramedics. They slid the gurney into the back of the ambulance, and a Secret Service agent and a uniformed officer got in behind it. The EMTs closed the doors, and Josiah stepped forward and placed his hand on it. As the ambulance pulled away, Josiah glanced in their direction and nodded once before he was swept away with his retinue.
“What do you think they’ll do to him?” Tess said.
Her awareness startled Travis. At times, he was convinced she could still see.
“I don’t know,” Travis said.
A man approaching them from the side answered. “He’ll be treated for the broken wrist. And they’ll keep him under psychiatric observation for a day or two to get a sense of why he did this.” He held out his hand toward Travis. “Special Agent Ed Stafford.”
Travis shook his hand and introduced him to Tess and Oliver.
“That was a brave thing you did out there today, young lady,” Stafford said with a smile. “You should get a medal.”
“I think so, too,” Travis said.
Stafford held up his hand, the smile gone. “I was about to say except for the fact that we understand your uncle’s company may have been partly responsible for what happened.”
“It’s actually my company, Mr. Stafford,” Tess said.
“Special Agent Stafford,” he said quickly.
Tess shrugged. “The company had nothin
g to do with what happened. Someone sabotaged a videogame that our company developed. As soon as we discovered it we did everything possible to prevent a tragedy that might have been caused by that sabotage.”
“But it—”
Tess cut him off. “I haven’t finished, Special Agent. It’s true that a software product MondoHard was close to releasing was hacked. The company will do a thorough investigation of how this happened and correct any problems with our security to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And we’ll do everything in our power to find the people responsible. But the fact remains that the game on Austin’s phone was a beta version, not a finished product, and it may even have been hacked after he loaded it onto his phone.”
Stafford’s jaw clenched as he turned to Travis. “That was still a stupid stunt you all pulled today. With all the security it’s a wonder that your actions didn’t start a firefight and get innocent bystanders killed. You should have told us what was going on.”
“Would you have believed me?” Travis said.
Stafford’s forehead wrinkled. “Probably not.”
“In which case Austin may have actually gone through with his plan, and somebody—the vice president, Austin or even one of your people—would be dead right now. What we did, what my niece did, may not seem smart to you, but from our perspective it was the only option available. Frankly, you should give Tess a medal. Oliver, too. If it hadn’t been for these two, you’d have egg all over your face and probably blood on your hands. But I know how these things work. You’ll spin it somehow, and you guys will take credit for saving the day. That’s okay. You and I know better. And so does Josiah Dunn.”
Stafford stiffened and clenched his fists. His jaw worked, but he swallowed whatever he wanted to say and spun on his heel.
Travis watched his retreating back. “I don’t think he’s going to give you a medal, Tess.”
She shrugged again. “That’s okay. We did the right thing, Uncle Travis.”
Travis stepped between the two of them and draped his arms around their shoulders. “Yeah, we did. Now we’ve got a plane to catch. We have to get home.”
Tess groaned. “That’s right. Tomorrow’s Monday.”
“True,” Travis said. “But you’re not going to school. You have a board meeting to attend with me.”
“Really?” she said, unseeing eyes widening just the same.
“Of course. I need you. The company needs you.”
Chapter 43
Tess gratefully sank into her seat on the plane, exhausted. What a whirlwind rollercoaster ride the past few days had been. She couldn’t believe that she’d actually helped stop an assassination attempt! Well, maybe. Who knew if Austin really would have gone through with it? But he’d gone as far as taking his father’s gun to the campaign rally, and if not for her and Oliver the day might have ended in tragedy. Excitement coursed through her along with the exhaustion. And now she was on her way back home to help Uncle Travis make sure that Never Bitten wasn’t released to the public until all the bugs had been worked out and the hacked beta copies tracked down and destroyed.
Oliver had recovered her phone back on the mall, and she’d called Derek back to let him know she was okay and tell him what had happened. He had already started working on a way to turn off the AI function in the bad copies of the game just incase they couldn’t track them all down. Assuming he could do it, and she was confident he could, he’d make his fixes part of an auto update that would download to a player’s device as soon as they logged onto the game. All in all, she’d accomplished a lot in less than a week. So much that it surprised her.
Someone placed a hand on her knee, startling her out of her musings.
“I want to thank you, Tess,” her uncle said. “For everything. Of course, now I have to ground you forever.”
“Uncle Travis!”
“Just kidding. Seriously, though, I have to find a better way to keep you safe. It’s my job.”
“Get rid of Marcus,” she said. “The rest of the guys are fine.”
“I can’t do it, Tess.”
“He tried to kill me!.He kidnapped you and held you prisoner! What do you mean you can’t get rid of him?”
“I can’t prove it. Neither can you. I know how you tracked me to Montana—it’s not proof. I can’t just fire him, Tess. If he’s as bad as you think he is, then firing him will just free him to do whatever he wants to us. With proof I can send him to jail. Until then, I’d rather he was someplace I can keep an eye on him. You know what they say about enemies.”
“No, what?”
“Keep your friends close,” Oliver chimed in next to her, “and keep your enemies closer.”
She thought about it, and nodded. “If we have to. Just keep him away from me.”
“I’ll do my best,” Uncle Travis promised. “Anyway, you proved to me that you can handle yourself just fine without me or any of the team. That doesn’t mean you’ll be safe in all situations. I still have to do everything in my power to take care of you. I promised your mom and dad that I would. I’m not going to go back on that promise now.”
“Okay, fine.” Tess slouched in her seat and crossed her arms.
After a moment, her uncle spoke again, this time so softly she strained to hear.
“You proved something else, Tess. You proved me wrong about you. I should trust you more.”
She wasn’t sure she could believe her ears. Uncle Travis admitting he was wrong?
He went on. “In fact, I’ve decided that I was wrong about letting you go to the spring dance. What did you call it? Tolo?”
Tess felt her chest tighten. She bit her lip, but despite how hard she tried to stop all her emotions from overwhelming her she burst into tears.
“What?” Travis said, sounding bewildered. “What did I say?”
“Um, she asked someone to go to the dance with her a few days ago.” Oliver told him.
She was sobbing so hard she couldn’t stop him.
“What happened?” Uncle Travis asked.
“He said no. Someone else had already asked him.”
“Oh, god, Tess, I’m so sorry,” Uncle Travis said. “I didn’t mean to… I didn’t know.”
She waved her hand and took a deep breath, trying to get her tears under control.
“I’m not crying about that!” she said. “I’m crying because now you decide to tell me you trust me, after everything I’ve been through!”
“Gosh, Tess, I… I don’t know what to say.”
Silence hung in the air like wet laundry for a moment.
“I’ll take you,” Oliver said quietly. “I mean I know the girl is supposed to ask and all, but in this case… If that’s all right with you, of course, Mr. Barrett. Oh, and you, Tess. I mean, after all, you… Oh, I better shut up now.”
Her sniffles stopped almost immediately. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Was Oliver really asking her to tolo?
“I’m not a charity case,” she sniffed. “It’s not part of your job, Oliver, so you don’t have to ask.”
“I want to,” he said firmly. “I mean you wouldn’t have to pay me or anything. I’d really like to go with you, Tess. That is if it’s okay. I missed a lot of this stuff in high school because I graduated so young.”
“So what’s the problem?” Uncle Travis asked. “I don’t have any problem with the idea.”
“You’re kidding,” she said. “You’ll let me go with Oliver? But he’s, like, a graduate student.”
“Yes, and even old enough to drink legally,” her uncle said. “But you won’t, will you?”
“Heck no,” Oliver said hastily. “Don’t touch the stuff. Actually, sir, I’m not old enough. I don’t turn twenty-one for a few months.”
“Okay. Well, then, I’m not old enough to be called ‘sir.’ Call me Travis. Anyway, Tess, remember what Oliver just said about keeping your enemies closer?”
Since the accident, Tess had found it hard to trust anyone or anything, but after what h
ad happened in the past few weeks she knew that she should have a little more faith in Travis and Oliver. And blind or not, she needed to trust her own instincts.
She smiled. “I’ll do it. I’ll go.”
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Author Bio
Michael W. Sherer is the author of Blind Rage, the first in the Tess Barrett series. Night Blind, the first book in the Seattle-based Blake Sanders series, which was nominated for an ITW Thriller Award in 2013. His other books include the award-winning Emerson Ward mystery series, the stand-alone suspense novel, Island Life, and the Tess Barrett new adult thriller series. He and his family now reside in the Seattle area.
Please visit him at www.michaelwsherer.com, or follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thrillerauthor and on Twitter @MysteryNovelist.
Photo Credit: Valarie Kaye-Sherer
Blind Instinct: A Tess Barrett Thriller Page 25