Chapter 2 #2

As Tristan drove away, he kept looking in the rearview mirror. Still unsure, he drove around the block a couple times to confirm that nobody had followed him in or out. When he finally got back to the office, Jasper was sitting there. Tristan smiled at him. “You know that Masters or Gideon could show up as needed.”

“Masters was here, and I just sent him home.”

“Good enough,” Tristan replied, as he threw himself into a chair.

Jasper asked, “Did you go through the key?”

“Still looking at it. It’s pretty interesting.”

“In what way?”

“It seems to be blackmail material.”

One eyebrow slowly rising, Jasper asked, “Blackmail of whom?”

Tristan winced. “Appears to be several of our higher-ups, right here on base.”

“Okay, that’s why the key is so important. Is that also why Drew was killed? Is that why Mason was shot? What’s the connection here?”

“Ask me when we get through all this USB data,” Tristan replied. “Regardless a lot of the stuff on this key is pretty hot material right now.”

Jasper nodded. “Of course, and an awful lot of eyes have seen some of it.”

He was worried and should be. “True, but the good stuff is down farther,” Tristan murmured. “The USB itself is secured in forensics and will be something that our upper-level brass will need to look at. Damn, if he wasn’t in the hospital, that would be Mason’s priority, wouldn’t it?”

“In this case, I would definitely have thrown it in front of him first,” Jasper agreed, “but I won’t this time.”

They pondered what that would mean in terms of talking to somebody about this blackmail material.

Tristan frowned. “Doesn’t sound like a job to look forward to.”

“Never is,” Jasper muttered, “but we can’t exactly ignore this.”

“Nope, and, if the blackmail needs to stop, along with the blackmailable activities…”

“We’ll likely see a rash of, let’s say, early retirements ,” Jasper noted.

At that, Tristan nodded. “So, do we think that Drew was collecting this material, or were the bad buys just getting Drew ready to start blackmailing these people? What was happening here?”

“I don’t know,” Jasper admitted. “I have somebody coming in right now.”

“Somebody we trust?”

Jasper smiled and nodded. “Someone we trust.” At that, the door opened, and Mountain strode in.

“Good God, Mountain Bear Rode.” Tristan stared up at him. “How the hell do you even fit into uniforms?”

Mountain recognized him right away, and a huge grin flashed across his face. He smacked him hard on the shoulder. “They fit just fine. At least after I get them tailored a little bit.”

Tristan got up, gave him a big hug, and asked, “How are you? I heard you had one hell of a time up north.”

“Yeah, that I did, but we made it. Teegan, my brother, is recovering, and we’re doing well.”

“I heard you came home with a lady friend.” Tristan was absolutely amazed and thrilled inside when a flush whispered across Mountain’s face.

Then Mountain nodded, with a grin. “Yeah, I lucked out on this one.”

“Damn,” Tristan muttered. “Hell, if I’d realized that was part of the deal, I might have gone up there myself.”

Mountain burst out laughing. “You know how it is, anything to do with Mason. That guy’s just got this lovefest going on for the world.”

“Yeah, well, right now he doesn’t.”

“He’ll have at again soon enough,” Mountain stated comfortably.

“Have you talked to him?”

“Nope, I haven’t. I did stop to talk to Tesla though. Mason is doing okay, per the docs, but isn’t out of the woods yet. Although there is now eye movement, and he’s responding to fingers, hand gestures, so we have some good news, which are all excellent signs of progress.”

“I sure as hell hope so,” Jasper muttered. “A sniper shooting of Mason is well past the point of being reasonable for anybody.”

“Oh, I hear you,” Mountain agreed. “Now, what the hell is this about blackmail?”

“Good thing we have you here and now. You have a little experience with blackmail, I hear.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” he muttered. “So come on. Fess up.”

At that Jasper got up and walked over to join them. “I would normally be talking to Mason about this.”

“Mason is not here, so you talk to me,” Mountain stated, with a nod. “Come on. Spill it.”

With that, Jasper pointed to Tristan. “He’s read more of the data than I have, to date.”

With that preamble, Tristan went into the issues he had just found.

Mountain listened carefully, his jaw clenching and unclenching, as he quickly processed the information. He nodded and said, “Give me a couple names.”

When Tristan mentioned just two, Mountain’s eyebrows shot up, and he nodded. “That gives me a direction to avoid then, doesn’t it?”

Jasper nodded. “It does, indeed, but the trouble keeps going higher.” Jasper wrote down a longer list of names and handed them off to Mountain. Tristan could see most of the names, and several of them made his guts clench. A couple two-star generals were in that mix.

Mountain looked down at the list and groaned. “Yeah, we will have some trouble with this.”

“I’m worried that the actual USB might disappear,” Jasper shared. “This list of names and alleged activities are all we have to go on for now.”

“You have to keep that tight,” Mountain confirmed. “Are we thinking that Mason was attacked for this information?”

“I don’t know why Mason would even have had anything to do with it,” Jasper replied. “That’s part of the problem—unless he got wind of it. You know what he’s like. He keeps things close, gives somebody a chance, and then that chance blows up.”

“But a chance on something like this? Isn’t that pushing it, even for him?” Mountain asked.

“Hard to say,” Jasper muttered, staring down at the names thoughtfully. “I only see one four-star general listed. And one is one too many. So we need to touch base with one who is not compromised.”

“Are you on speaking terms with one?” Mountain asked.

“I’m on speaking terms with a retired one,” Jasper clarified, flashing him a grin, “and he will give us an idea of how to proceed.”

“Retired?” Tristan asked. “That won’t help.”

Mountain shook his head. “I know who Jasper is talking about. This particular one says he’s retired, but we don’t believe it. He’s the one who organized that whole operation up north, and he was one who put me and Mason in charge of that op.”

“So, he’s not op-retired?” Jasper asked.

“These guys are never retired. They just go into black ops.” Mountain snorted. “Give me”—he looked at his watch and frowned—“He could still be up. It’s not that late.”

“No, it isn’t, unless you’re in your seventies. However, he’s a battle ax.” Jasper shrugged. “So maybe we should do a conference call.”

Mountain quickly pulled out his phone and started texting somebody. When he stopped, he looked over at them and added, “I will keep you guys out of this phone call to begin with, but he’ll want to see you.”

“Okay,” Tristan said, “I’m good with that.” Jasper nodded as well.

Mountain asked Jasper, “You are part of Mason’s family too, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Tesla is my cousin.”

“Good, because, at this point in time, we’re all more than a little worried about who’s invested in Mason’s recovery and who wants to see him head to the great beyond.”

“We’re all very invested,” Tristan declared.

“Yeah, I hear you. Masters, he’s on this team now too, isn’t he?” Mountain asked, without looking up from his phone.

“Exactly,” Jasper confirmed.

Just then Mountain’s phone went off. He saw the number, stood up, and stepped out of the office. They could barely hear him.

“Yes, sir.… No, I need some help on a case.” Then the conversation went quiet on Mountain’s side. He rejoined them a few minutes later and added, “Now we’re in.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Tristan asked.

“It means that we have a meeting with him.”

“Good, bad, or indifferent?” Tristan asked.

“He’s an old warhorse and doesn’t believe anything without proof, something I’m very grateful for,” Mountain shared. “So, with this blackmail data, he will take it to the next level, as he wants proof of the people involved because a couple of them he’s not very happy about.”

“What we don’t know for sure,” Jasper pointed out, “is that the people named in this have done anything wrong.”

“No, of course not, and, even if they did, that doesn’t mean that they have succumbed to blackmail. It doesn’t mean that anybody else knows about whatever it is that they’ve been getting in trouble with,” Mountain explained. “But neither do we know for sure that they haven’t done this, so it’s got to be handled.”

“When you say we have a meeting, when?” Jasper asked.

Mountain smiled at them. “You better tell any partners you have that you won’t be home tonight.” He glanced down at his watch, and, when a buzz came, he nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Okay, and where are we going?” Tristan asked.

“His house.”

Surprised, Tristan followed, and, after an hour’s car ride, and then a trip in a helicopter, they landed at a very secure property just outside of a major town. As they descended on the helicopter pad, two men stood there waiting for them. Mountain nodded, as he got out. “Hey, James.”

“Interesting times you have here,” James replied. “I thought you had more than enough trouble up north.”

“I did, but sometimes trouble finds you when you didn’t go looking for it.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” he muttered. “He was just heading to bed.”

“He’s the one who brought us in, so you and I both know that he calls the shots, and we just all jump.”

“No kidding.” James laughed. As they proceeded to walk inside the estate, they were led into a small private office. Within seconds of their arrival, the door opened and in walked retired Navy Commander Doran Magellan.

Tristan only recognized him from the news. He stood at attention, but the older man just waved at him. “Relax, son,” he barked. “You already brought me a shitload of trouble, so anything you will say to me now,” he gave them all a stern stare but landed back on Mountain, “it better be done on a one-to-one basis.”

Tristan relaxed at that, then looked over at Mountain, who walked over and gave the older man a gentle hug. “How are you doing?”

“I would be a hell of a lot better if you hadn’t brought me this,” he grumbled. “If you want to age me, this is the shit that’ll do it.”

At that, Mountain handed over the paperwork that they had printed off for this meeting. The commander sat down, and, with the three men still standing in front of him, he slowly went from page to page to page. No emotions showed on his face. When he got to the end of the document, he slammed it down and glared at Mountain.

Mountain nodded.

“Damn it, man,” the commander muttered, equally quiet. “It’s not anything we want to deal with right now. It’s not anything I ever want to deal with, but here it is.” He looked at the other two. “Who have you told?”

“Nobody,” Tristan and Jasper replied simultaneously.

“There’s that to be thankful for.”

“However,” Tristan clarified, “this evidence was found on a USB key. Out of an abundance of caution, its contents have been emailed to the four of us, just in case it went missing. Of course the actual key is in evidence at forensics on base.”

The commander drummed his fingers on the desk, as he thought about options. He looked over at Mountain, who just nodded. “Oh, I’m glad you came to me about it,” the commander admitted, “but damn it. I wish to hell there wasn’t anything to come to me about. Why now?”

“That is one of the biggest problems, and we’re still investigating in what way this might be connected to the sniper shooting of Mason.”

The commander’s face sharpened at that comment, as he stared at the men gathered before him. “You do need to figure that out, and fast,” he stated. “We can’t have any more of this happening. I hear you’ve got a trail of bodies now as it is.” His gaze turned to Tristan. “And you’re partly responsible for the bunch of them that showed up yesterday, aren’t you?”

Tristan nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“It was a good shot, I heard.”

“It happened in the hospital, where I was in the ER, getting a head injury checked out. Then we were set upon by the assigned cleaner of the group, so I had to defend myself.”

“I don’t need the details. If it was a good shot, it was a good shot. And, in the case of these guys”—the commander tapped the blackmail paperwork with two fingers—“I’m not sure I give a damn if it’s a good shot or not. I want to ensure this thing goes away forever, and I want to ensure that Mason survives and doesn’t get put upon again,” he declared. “So bring this to a close, gentlemen.”

Jasper nodded. “We are trying, sir.”

“Don’t try. Just do it,” the commander snapped, glaring at him. Then his expression cleared. “You’re Jasper.”

“Yes, sir,” Mountain confirmed. “I did tell you who he was.”

The older man just waved his hand. “Yeah, you told me it was Jasper, but you didn’t tell me how he was Tesla’s cousin.”

“I didn’t know you knew,” Mountain replied.

“Not a whole lot I don’t know.” He smiled at Jasper. “You do know I’m the godfather to that baby she’s carrying.”

Jasper grinned. “Yeah, I heard something about that.”

“Those two, they’re quite the pair—if they could just stay out of trouble, for God’s sake.”

“I think they were attempting to do that, sir.”

“No trials, no more attempts, just get the goddamn job done.” He waved at them. “You’re dismissed. Go off and do your thing.” Lifting the blackmail material, he went on. “ This is not for anybody else’s eyes. I will send men to collect the USB key, and I want all copies, electronic and paper, deleted.”

Tristan struggled with that, but he knew it was something he wasn’t theoretically allowed to argue with.

Then the commander looked at him and barked, “Speak up.”

He hesitated but not for long. “I don’t know what you’re intending to do with this, sir, but I don’t want it to just go under a rock.”

The commander asked, “Why not?”

“Because whatever is happening has been going on for a long time. It needs to be cleaned up and cleaned out, not just put away.”

Commander Magellan stared at him and then nodded, a slow smile forming. “Takes a lot for somebody to stand up to me,” he noted, “but you’re right. I have no intention of pushing this under the table, but it does need to be handled discreetly.”

“Agreed.”

“These men may or may not be involved in something they shouldn’t be. They may or may not have done something they shouldn’t have,” the commander explained. “I won’t tar all of them just because we have something here that says they may have gotten involved in something ugly. In one case, I know perfectly well that’s not his wife. It’s his step-daughter,… so that we’ll handle separately as well.”

“Right,” Tristan replied because he knew well enough not to argue.

“She’s also very, very young and has been in his care for a long time. But again, that isn’t something that has to go through the courts. We’ll talk to the parties and see how we can come up with a solution.”

“Maybe it should go to the courts,” Tristan ventured.

“If it comes to that, then it will, but it will be our courts,” the commander declared, “not the court of public opinion.” He stared at Tristan intently and then nodded. “It’s good to have morals, son. It’s good to have ethics and to stand up for what you believe in. I promise you that I’ll make sure that, if these men deserve to be punished or in any way need to be held accountable for a wrongdoing, I will hold them accountable. Is that good enough for you?”

As the commander waited, Tristan thought about it, then nodded. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

“Then we are done here, gentlemen.” Looking up at Mountain, he added, “Now I need my beauty sleep. Go.”

Mountain laughed. “We’ll talk later.” And, with that, he led the way back outside again and into the helicopter. Mountain looked over at Tristan with amusement. “I admire you for standing up to him.”

Tristan shrugged. “The only thing he can do is fire me.”

Mountain laughed. “He admires anybody standing up for anything and everything they believe in. Even if you were wrong, if you believed in it and thought you were right, the commander would appreciate that. What he doesn’t like is a yes man. He’s had a lifetime of those.”

“Can we trust him?” Jasper asked.

Mountain nodded. “Yes, the contents of that file are no longer an issue.”

“No longer an issue, except for whoever still wants the contents,” Jasper noted.

“That is your issue,” Mountain noted, with a shrug. “The contents of the file are a completely different story,” he clarified. “Now, I have been tasked with the job of picking up the key.”

“What about deleting all the emailed copies?”

“Two men are coming, who will be given that job.” Mountain shrugged. Once they landed back at base, he asked, “Which one of you will get me into the forensics lab?”

Jasper looked over at Tristan, who groaned. “I guess I can wake her up again.”

“Or you can get Dr. Cox,” Jasper offered, with an amused look. “Which is the lesser of the evils?”

Tristan smiled. “I’m always happy to wake up a beautiful woman,” he murmured.

Mountain asked. “What? Is this Mason’s matchmaking magic at work again?”

“No, no, no,” Tristan argued, as he quickly phoned Amarylis. Meanwhile all the guys sat beside him in the vehicle, already on its way to the lab. When she answered, her voice sleepy, Tristan said, “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but we have to get back into the forensics lab.”

“When you say we ,” she asked, “who are you talking about?” When he explained, she groaned. “Damn, I was hoping that maybe I would get some sleep one of these days.”

“And you will. I promise.”

“Yeah, says you. Give me a few minutes to get dressed and to meet you down there.”

Tristan looked over at Mountain, who emphatically shook his head. “Apparently we’re picking you up,” Tristan shared, before she could hang up.

After a moment of silence, she snorted. “ Great . In that case I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Yes, and not very many of them.”

“Got it.” She struggled with a yawn. “You know how to show a girl a good time.” With that, she ended the call.

Mountain laughed. “Sounds like she’s got some spirit.”

“She’s a new coroner down at the morgue on base,” Jasper shared, by way of explanation.

“At least she has more personality than her patients,” Mountain muttered.

Tristan laughed at that. “That she does. She is quite the character,” he murmured, “but I don’t think even she’ll be all that tolerant of these midnight trips.”

“Maybe not,” Jasper pointed out, “but she is the one who found the key.”

At that, Mountain looked interested. “You mentioned it was a race car design?”

“Exactly,” Tristan replied. “Apparently her father was in sales or something and would hand out novelty items like that. So she instantly recognized what it was.”

“Interesting,” Mountain murmured. “I can’t say that I’ve seen one quite like that, but I’m not surprised. They come in all shapes and sizes these days.”

“Which was her point. When she saw it, she recognized what it was and made sure it got collected, but the forensics team hadn’t gotten that far in the lab, and it didn’t look like something that would be a priority.”

“That’s certainly changed now, I presume,” Mountain noted.

“It has, but everybody’s gone home, and nobody was worried about this case becoming top secret.”

“That classification has now changed,” Mountain replied, without looking at anybody. When the car pulled up in front of Amarylis’s apartment, Tristan got out.

She stood there, her arms crossed, as she tapped her foot impatiently.

He opened the car door and let her inside. “Sorry,” he murmured.

She got in and glared at Mountain. “How in the hell do you even fit into a vehicle like this?”

“Getting in is not so bad,” he said. “Getting out is the real bitch.”

She stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter. “Now that I will be happy to see.”