“An offer you can’t refuse?” frowned Chase.
“Oh, not like that,” he laughed. “Someone is always trying to buy this house. I bought it when real estate in the area was reasonable, and affordable. It’s anything but affordable now. But I can’t give it up. I’m still mobile and my late wife and I had a lot of memories here.”
“I’m sorry about your wife,” said Will.
“Sit. Please, take a seat. Can I get you boys coffee? I just brewed a fresh pot.”
“Always,” smiled Doug. The man returned with three steaming cups of black coffee and the men settled into the living room.
“So, what’s going on with April?” he frowned.
“She was kidnapped and taken across the country and we think it has something to do with the airline,” said Chase.
“Well, that wouldn’t surprise me.” They all raised their brows, staring at the man for further explanation. “I flew for the Navy for fifteen years, then became an instructor. When I retired from the Navy, I piloted commercial jets. Loved every damn minute of it. Then they tell me I’m too old and I need to retire.
“Hell, I wasn’t ready to retire, so when I saw the ad for Coastal, I went up to Pensacola and applied. They hired me on the spot. I was doing routes from Palm Beach to Orlando mostly. Did a few international flights from Palm Beach or Miami to Cuba, Cancun, even Mexico City.”
“April said there was a pilot from Cuba at one time,” said Doug.
“Pfft! Pilot is a stretch. I think he flew crop dusters before he came to the airline. He was dangerous and I said so. I refused to fly with him.”
“Did you suspect that he was flying dangerous or illegal cargo?” asked Chase. Triple-M raised his brows and stared at the group.
“Interesting question, young man,” he frowned. “I never saw him near the cargo or loading cargo but it wouldn’t have surprised me. He asked a lot of questions of me about military flying, timings, takeoffs, that sort of thing.”
“Did you talk to him about it?” asked Will.
“In a manner of speaking. I told him ‘stories’,” he smirked. “Nothing was real. Probably why he stopped speaking to me.”
“What ended your career with Coastal Air?” asked Doug. “It couldn’t have been your age.”
“No, it wasn’t. April’s grandfather, Colonel Tom Lewis, was a good friend of mine and he was a senior member of the board. He called me out of the blue just a few weeks before he died and said I should leave while I could. He said things were going to get rough with the airline and I should take whatever money I had and walk out.”
“And you did?” frowned Chase.
“I trusted Tom more than anyone I knew. I did. What I was surprised about was that his granddaughter stayed. When I asked Tom if she were leaving as well, he said he needed to meet with her face-to-face and she wouldn’t have a break for another week or so. I guess that was enough time for Tom to pass. I’m glad to hear she’s okay.”
“Michael, I’m going to tell you something that’s top-secret,” said Doug. The man gave him an odd smile and then noticed that the men weren’t smiling. “This is truly top-secret, Michael. Let me tell you about what we do.”
For more than an hour, Doug and the others explained to Michael who they were and what they did. He knew of REAPER and REAPER-Patriots but didn’t know about the others.
When Doug began explaining what was happening with the luggage, Michael leaned back in his chair with a terrified look on his face.
“Do you have any questions?” asked Will.
“No. No, questions but so many things are starting to click into place. They tried to get me to carry a standard issue case from the airline but I refused. I had an old one that my wife gifted me. It was my good luck charm and I wasn’t about to replace it until it fell apart.” He pointed to a black rolling bag in the corner, sitting there like some sort of major prize.
“She’s a beauty,” smiled Doug. “I had one very similar to that.”
“It boggles my mind,” said Michael. “To think that every time one of us was walking by a communications stand or another flight, all that information was being fed to someone.”
“Say that again,” said Chase.
“All that information was being fed to someone,” he said again. His eyes widened and he understood what Chase was saying. “Someone was following the pilots and flight crew and getting the information. How much could those fibers hold? Did it need to be unloaded frequently?” Doug nodded, frowning at the others.
“Now, that is a great question.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
