“Hey, brother, you ready to leave?” smirked Benji.
Tanner didn’t move, still staring down the man in front of him. It was a game of chicken that he wasn’t willing to lose. Bogey nudged Benji, grinning at their friend.
“Look, I don’t know who you assholes are but you need to leave,” said the man finally looking away from Tanner. Tanner raised his hands in the air screaming loudly.
“I win! I win! You blinked first!”
“What the fuck is his problem?” growled the second man.
“He’s off his meds,” said Bogey. The three men left the hangar area, climbing into their SUV.
“Good job, brother. Surely that was long enough to get facial recognition on those assholes.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Hiro and AJ are working on downloading all the information I got from the computer,” said Bogey. “I gave the cables to Victoria. She acted like I’d given her jewelry.”
“To her it is jewelry,” smirked Ham. “She’ll figure it out.”
“April, were you aware that your grandfather had gone to see Daniel Harvey and had an argument with him?” asked Tanner.
“No,” she frowned, shaking her head. “He knew how I felt about him interfering in any way with my career. Daniel liked to say that my grandfather was protecting me but he promised me that he did nothing for me to get that job or keep it.”
“I think he was telling you the truth but I do think your grandfather might have been protecting you from something with the airline,” said Gator. “Honey, the official cause of death on the colonel’s death certificate was simply complications from old age, not his heart. Are you certain of that?”
“I didn’t have a reason to question it. Not really. I mean, he was in good physical condition from what I knew but he kept saying that he wasn’t feeling well when I would speak to him on the phone. It was always something simple. Headaches, cold-like symptoms, something generic. I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Did they do an autopsy?” asked Gator.
“No. There didn’t seem to be a reason for it. He went to bed and didn’t wake up.”
“Would you give us permission to exhume the body and perform one?” he asked quietly. Quinn stared at the group of men, knowing that if they were asking for something so severe, there was a reason.
“I-I suppose but it’s been almost two years. You won’t find anything, will you?” she asked.
“We could find out if there were drugs used in his demise or if there was something suspicious that the coroner didn’t see or ignored.”
“You’re suggesting that the coroner, maybe even the police had something to do with his death?” she asked.
“I’m saying we want to explore all avenues to figure this out. I don’t believe that your grandfather would ever help these people,” said Ham. But April noticed that there seemed to be an unspoken ‘but’ at the end of his statement.
“But,” she started, “he might have if they were threatening me.”
“We just want to be sure, honey, that’s all.” April nodded at them.
“You have my permission. I want to be certain of what happened to him. If he was murdered, I want whoever was responsible to pay for it. I know my grandfather, I know the kind of man he was. He would never do anything to endanger U.S. troops. Even if it would protect me.”
“I think he loved you enough to do anything,” said Gator, “but he knew about us. He’d even told you to call us if you ever needed anything which indicates to me that he suspected you might need us. I just wonder why he wouldn’t call us if he was in trouble.”
“He was proud,” said April. “Very proud. If he were somehow caught up in all this he might have been embarrassed.”
“That’s fair,” nodded Ham. “I think we review all of the information from Daniel’s computer and then see what Victoria and the team come up with on the cables.”
“I think we might know that sooner, rather than later,” said Gator looking down at his phone. “Victoria, Montana, and Hayes have found something.”
Just when April thought she’d seen it all, a medieval castle-like structure sitting in the middle of a swamp popped into view. The huge parapets cast shadows over the cypress trees, their hanging moss dangling like ghosts of the bayou. April could see men inside each one, guarding it as if they were guarding the crown jewels.
Massive concrete barriers lowered into the swamp, allowing the boat to ease through and park along the dock. As each person stepped off, a system scanned their bodies and faces, announcing their arrival.
