Walker: Lighthouse Security Investigations

by Maryann Jordan

  She stumbled, glad that Helena was in front of her and Babs was holding on to her arm, helping to steady her. At the bottom of the steps, the three women hustled her into a large, open room, furnished as a den but large enough to hold a lot of people. She heard noises coming from behind her, but they barely registered as the room began to fill with the Keepers, led by Walker, who stalked toward her, pulling her into his arms.

  She stared, wide-eyed, into his face, repeating, “It’s him. I’ll never forget that face. It’s him.” He opened his mouth, but Babs stepped forward.

  “Drew,” Babs said, stepping up, gaining everyone’s attention, “your phone rang, and a picture ID came up from the caller. Julie saw it and freaked.”

  Drew’s gaze jerked between Babs and Julie, shaking his head, and asked, “What the fuck? Who was it?”

  Julie swallowed deeply, forcing her heartbeat to slow and her voice to steady. Her gaze shot around to the other Keepers standing in the room, faces concerned. Mace had a hard expression she imagined could freeze boiling water, but his eyes were kind as they stayed on her.

  She looked at Walker, and his penetrating gaze held her attention. “Julie? Babe?”

  “It was the man from the airport in Mexico. The one in the uniform. The one with the gun.” Swallowing again, she finished, “The one who shot the other man.”

  The room was deadly silent for a moment just before it erupted into a cacophony of cursing, filling the air with, fuckin’ hells, what the fucks, and a few holy shits!

  “Quiet!” Mace demanded, his voice not loud but carrying an air of authority that caused the occupants of the room to instantly obey.

  Drew, unable to stand still, stalked over to Babs with his hand out, growling, “Let me see.” Babs handed the phone to Drew, and with a few taps of his fingers he brought up the last call. Staring at it, he staggered back a step, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. With a clenched jaw, he looked at Julie and asked, “Joseph? It was Joseph?”

  Her head nodded in jerks, not trusting her voice in the face of Drew’s obvious anger, unsure who the emotion was directed toward.

  “You’re telling me this piece of shit that I trusted was the one who put a gun to a man’s head, blowing it off right in front of you?”

  She began to shake. Walker growled. Babs grabbed Drew’s arm, giving it a jerk as she hissed his name.

  The hard lines of Drew’s face fell as he sucked in a ragged breath, cursing, “Jesus, Christ. Oh, God, Julie, I’m so sorry.”

  Not knowing the whole story behind Drew and the man…Joseph, she remained quiet but was glad that Babs continued tugging on Drew’s arm, saying, “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Drew agonized. “When I talked to him to let them know that we’d gotten back here, he asked about the airstrip we used. I didn’t give him details, but he knew that was us. That means he knew whoever saw him was with us.”

  Walker stood with a shaking Julie in his arms, staring dumbly at Drew who was showing uncharacteristic shock. As a former SEAL, Walker had been in a million different situations, trained to know how to react—or not react—to them all, but right now, he was clueless. The one thing he did know was he wanted to wrap Julie in his arms, chase her shivers away, promise to make it better, and then go after the fuckin’ man who had terrorized her.

  Mace looked toward Drew and said softly, “Give your phone to Tate.” Shifting to look at the other men, he said, “Tate, Clay, Josh…get everything you can on this man. His contacts. His calls. Tap into his emails. And get his movements. I want to know everything about him ASAP. The rest of you…take what they give you and run with it.” He walked closer to Walker and Julie, his eyes once again warm.

  “Walker, you make the call on what you need to do.” Turning to Drew, he said, “You need to be involved, but I need your shit together. Babs, I want you working this, too.”

  The Keepers left the room, Babs’ hand resting lightly on Drew’s back as they walked away. Walker turned toward Julie, but she spoke before he had a chance.

  “Go. I’ll be fine. I was shaken up and admit the memories came flying back, but I’m fine. You go and do what you need to do.”

  Agony shot through him as he warred with wanting to go into the compound and search out everything he could about Joseph while wanting to make sure Julie was comforted.

  Helena stepped up, placing her hand on Walker, and said, “You go. Marge, Sylvie, and I will stay here with Julie.”

  He leaned forward and placed his lips over Julie’s, feeling them quiver while trying to pour all of his emotions into the kiss. Her arm slipped around his waist, pulling him tighter, and for a few seconds, he lost himself in the taste and feel of her. Reality slipped in, and he pulled back with regret but kissed the top of her head before he turned and followed Mace and the others out the door.

  As soon as they got downstairs, Tate and Josh moved directly to their computer stations while the others quickly settled around the main conference table, their tablets in front of them.

  Mace began, “Drew, first off, none of this is your fault. So get that out of your mind so you can work the mission. Tell us what you know about Joseph, and we’ll compare that to what Tate and Josh pull up.”

  Scrubbing his hand over his face, Drew took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and said, “Joseph Martinez. I met him on one of my missions about five years ago on a CIA Special Op where we were working with a Mexican task force of police and military ferreting out some of the cartels’ hideouts. Some of them are buried so fuckin’ deep in the jungles and even in caves that the Mexicans have a hard time finding them even though they know the terrain. Our planes were equipped with sensors that were able to pinpoint some of their locations. He was at the end of his career, getting ready to retire. Not overly friendly, but then nobody was there to make friends, just do our job. He was professional and never gave me any reason to think there was any duplicity at all.”

  “Did you ever have a chance to talk to him privately?” Mace asked.

  Nodding, Drew replied, “One night, some of us were at a small bar, nobody drinking heavily, just a chance to unwind. Most of the others left after a while, and it ended up being Joseph and me still at the table finishing our beer. He asked me some about how I got into flying. Nothing too invasive. I talked about growing up in the south and flying crop dusters as a teenager. The beer loosened him up some, and he talked about getting ready to retire. I remember he wasn’t too happy about it because he felt like he was being pushed out due to his age.”

  Tate, his fingers flying over the keyboard, called out, “So far, all that checks out. He did thirty years in the military and retired three years ago. Divorced years before that. Two kids, now grown. His military pension would’ve been shit, which may have been one of the reasons he hated to retire.”

  Continuing, Drew said, “We rarely stayed in contact but met up to have drinks two other times I happened to be in Mexico on Special Ops missions. He never asked about my job, and I never spoke of it. I hadn’t actually talked to him for about two years before this trip. As soon as we got the mission to go down and get Julie and the girls in Mexico, he was the first person I thought of to call to see if he could use any contacts to make sure we had a bird there.”

  Josh turned around from his computer station and faced the group. “His bank account is not one of somebody who was in the military only on a military pension. Large deposits made monthly for the past couple of years have given him quite a nest egg.”

  Walker, finally pushing thoughts of Julie’s safety to the side while he focused on the information they were gathering, asked, “And no one in the Mexican government thinks to look at this?”

  Shaking his head, Josh replied, “There’s too much drug money floating around going into the pockets of all kinds of people for the banks to care or look into. Hell, probably a lot of their high-ranking officials are on the cartels’ payrolls as well.”

  Looking at Drew, Wa
lker asked, “When we got there, he didn’t have the right size helicopter. Do you think that was on purpose to divide us up?”

  Drew shot his haunted gaze over to Walker and shook his head. “Right now, I couldn’t begin to tell you what he was doing. But I don’t think so. After the earthquake, what he said to us about the military and police seizing all resources to get in to help people was probably true.”

  Clay piped up, saying, “According to what I’ve looked at coming through all the Mexican official channels, that’s right. Even people’s private jets and helicopters were being commandeered to get supplies to the affected areas.”

  Walker asked, “What about the airstrip we landed at outside of Mérida? You cracked a joke about it being a strip for the cartels, and he said beggars can’t be choosers.”

  “At the time, I just figured he was giving us a place to land that he knew of, and we weren’t exactly picky where we landed as long as we could get to the girls.”

  “And the airstrip outside of Cancún?” Walker wondered aloud. “How the hell did he happen to be there when we were?”

  Shaking his head, Drew said, “I’ve been thinking about that, but can’t come up with anything other than that was just dumb fuckin’ luck. It was one of the airstrips that he had mentioned to me when we were first going down to Mexico and needed a place to land that wasn’t official. He said that he could get a bird to the one closest to Mérida, so that’s why I chose that one when we went in the first time. Coming back to get you the second time, I chose the one closest to Cancún since you were on that side of the Yucatán.”

  Mace asked, “You didn’t speak to him again after that first day you saw him in Mérida?”

  “No, boss, not until the mission was complete. I expected him to be there when we returned, but he was nowhere to be found. I assumed he got called up for duty, so I got the girls in my plane and headed to Cancún, leaving the bird there in the hangar. I tried calling a couple of times, and I left some messages letting him know that I had left the bird. After I got back with Julie and Walker, he’d gotten my message and got back with me.” Leaning back heavily in his seat, a dejected air about them, he looked over at Walker and said, “Fuckin’ hell, man. I told him what happened to us at the airstrip. Fuckin’ led him straight to Julie.”

  Shaking his head, he said, “That’s not on you, Drew. That’s on him, not you.”

  Josh called out, “Check the screen,” drawing everyone’s attention to the screen on the wall. “Using facial recognition, I ascertained that he only has one passport, and it’s in the name that’s on his birth certificate…Joseph Martinez, so he’s not even attempting to disguise who he is.”

  Walker stared at the photograph of the man that he had seen when he and Drew landed in Mexico. Staring at the screen, he committed that image to memory, the idea that he would be trying to harm Julie sending another wave of anger through him.

  After a few more taps on the keyboard, Josh said, “He’s here.”

  Walker jolted, leaning forward in his chair, his forearms resting on the table and his hands clenched together.

  “Here?” Walker and Mace growled at the same time.

  Josh stared first at Mace and then shifted his gaze over to Walker. “He flew into Jacksonville International three days ago.”

  “That’s the closest international Airport to where Julie lives,” Walker stated, his head feeling light from all the information coming in.

  “Get on his trail,” Mace ordered to the Keepers at their computer stations. “I want to know where the fuck he’s been every second for the past three days.”

  Walker’s body began to vibrate with anger, mixed with an unfamiliar emotion he could only label as fear. Holding Mace’s gaze, he said, “I want him. He’s mine.”

  35

  Julie hated the way the women hovered over her as though she was going to fall apart. After a hot cup of tea as they all sat at the comfortable dining table, she finally said, “You all are being so nice, but I can tell you’re walking on eggshells. Honestly, I’m not going to fall apart.” Nibbling on her bottom lip, she admitted, “I realize this means that somebody is out there, probably looking for me because of what I witnessed. But with Walker taking care of me and all of the Keepers, I feel very safe.”

  “You are,” Sylvie promised. “You’re much braver than I was when David witnessed a murder.”

  Gasping, she looked at Sylvie and sputtered, “David witnessed a murder?”

  Wincing, Sylvie said, “I’m sorry. I thought maybe Walker had told you. It was a year ago, and he was at my office where I used to work. He actually saw a man get murdered in the building across the street. I was a total basket case, but Mace came to our rescue.” Shrugging her delicate shoulders, she added, “He made sure we were safe, and they worked on the investigation. We fell in love in the meantime, and he adopted David when we got married.”

  Eyes wide, she shook her head in shock. Glancing over at Helena, she said, “I hope you’re gonna tell me that you and Rank were childhood sweethearts.”

  Helena threw her head back and laughed, then said, “Oh, no. I literally landed right on top of Rank in the middle of one of his investigations. He was furious, and I was mortified. But then, when someone came after me, Rank was right there offering his protection.”

  Sylvie smiled gently and added, “I sometimes think we’re destined to end up with men like Keepers. Maybe that’s why we see good things for you and Walker.”

  “How about a walk?” Julie suggested, finding herself wanting to get back outside to enjoy the beautiful day.

  The others quickly agreed, and Sylvie led them down the lane, giving more of a history of Mace’s ownership of the land. Just like at the top of the lighthouse, Julie lifted her face toward the sun, enjoying the warmth mixed with a gentle breeze blowing off the ocean. It reminded her of a summer day growing up in Pennsylvania, so much more temperate than Florida. She had never minded the seasons, even the cold, snowy winters. But when the job in Florida opened up, she had jumped on it, ready to try new things and go to new places. Now, the fresh air, green vista, and the ever-present roar of the waves crashing on the rocks nearby brought her a sense of peace in the middle of turmoil.

  After making a long track around the property, they ended up on the grassy knoll behind the lighthouse and settled into the Adirondack chairs facing the ocean.

  “This is glorious,” she said. “It’s like it’s magical...here I am with everything swirling around me, and I feel such calm.”

  “I can’t deny it,” Sylvie said with Helena agreeing. “This place does have its own magic.”

  “Hey! I wondered where you’d gotten to,” Babs called out as she walked from the house and joined them in the chairs.

  Leaning forward, Julie stared at Babs and asked, “How’s it going in there?”

  First shooting Sylvie a look, Babs then turned to Julie and replied, “I can’t respond to what they’re doing directly, but they’re working on it.” Shaking her head, she said, “Drew is really kicking himself for even having made contact with Joseph at all.”

  “It’s not his fault,” Julie insisted. “He shouldn’t take that on.”

  Snorting, Babs said, “Yeah, try telling that to a stubborn alpha male.”

  Julie sighed, her mind cast back to the middle of the previous night when the man was at her sliding glass door. Jeez, that wasn’t even twenty-four hours ago! Thinking about him made her heart race faster, but she tried to imagine if that could’ve been the same man she had seen in Mexico. Having not seen his face at her apartment, she closed her eyes and tried to remember his body shape. Shaking her head in frustration, she sighed once again.

  “Julie? What are you thinking about?” Helena asked

  Jerking her eyes open, she blushed and said, “I was just thinking about the man who tried to get into my house and wondered if he was the person I had seen in Mexico.”

  Patting her arm, Helena said, “Don’t worry. Walker and the other
s will take care of it.”

  Sitting up straighter, she said, “But I have to worry about it. If it was the same man, then that means he’s identified who I am as the person who saw him kill somebody else. And if it was the same man, that means he’s coming after me.” Looking toward Babs, she said, “I have no idea about police matters and laws, but just because I say I saw him kill somebody in Mexico doesn’t mean anything’s going to happen to him here. We need to be able to get him on something in this country, and that would be trying to come after me.”

  Now it was Babs who leaned forward, shaking her head so hard that her hair was flying back and forth. “Girl, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you better get yourself off that path. Whatever the Keepers are working on downstairs, you need to stay out of it.”

  “No, you’re wrong,” she insisted. “There’s nothing that ties him to the man trying to get into my apartment. And there were no fingerprints so it’s just my word that somebody was trying to get in. But if we can get him to come after me and catch him in the act, then we don’t have to worry about him heading back down to Mexico and getting lost or getting away with murder. He’d have to answer to our justice system.”

  Helena stayed quiet, but her eyes were wide as she looked around at the others. Babs opened her mouth, but Sylvie got there first. Waving her hands back and forth, Sylvie said, “I know you’re upset, Julie, and none of us blame you. But you’ve got to let Mace and Walker and the others handle this.”

  She sucked in her lips, thinking for a way to explain her thoughts so that they would make sense. Finally, she said, “I’m not trying to keep them from doing their job. I’m just saying that if this man is in the States and he’s the one that was trying to get into my place, he’s probably not going to stop. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. If there’s some way that we could lure him, then he’d be caught red-handed in a crime here in the States.” Looking at the others, she said, “I know I wouldn’t be in any danger because everyone here would be after him. But don’t you see, it would be a way to capture him.”