The men seemed to sense she needed some space, so they went back to their computer research, while she walked over to the door leading out to Mitch’s bedroom deck. She pulled back the blinds, allowing her a view of the Gulf’s slight glow from the half-moon. Mainly it was dark, though. At least she didn’t feel so trapped if she could see outside. Trapped led to panic, and she couldn’t afford to let that happen. She hadn’t had a panic attack in years, then again, she hadn’t felt trapped in years, either.
“Liz?” Mitch said quietly from across the room.
“Yeah?”
His expression said he was evaluating her, trying to see what was going on. “We were wondering if there’s anything else you can tell us about the business you were researching in Arizona?”
She wouldn’t let him see her nerves wreaking havoc on her insides, so she forced a smile. “Sure. It may not amount to much, but I can try.”
For the next few minutes, they all talked about possibilities involving CT and her assignments. The men seemed to have cemented part of the tie-in together, but the three of them had also agreed that this CT leverage case had a kink in it. Where and what seemed barely out of reach.
Mitch blew out a long sigh. “Short and sweet, tell me again the basis for your trips to Arizona.”
“My publisher kept sending me with new ideas for the article. In fact, this made the fourth time I’d been sent to the same company.” She gave her own version of an exasperated sigh. “Always on the idea of a series about growing a business in the Southwest. Always the same people to talk to. Never anything new or exciting or challenging. Nothing to make a story out of. It was as if I was covering an event, but the event wasn’t happening.”
“I’m not quite understanding you. Can you be a little more specific?” Mitch asked.
Shaking her head, she couldn’t believe how little she’d actually gotten in the three times she’d talked to the people in charge. “I don’t know. I couldn’t put my finger on what was missing. That’s why I planned to stay till the next day and talk to this woman. She might have been what I needed to break the story wide open.”
Mitch leaned back toward the computer, his jaw clenched, veins on his arms tight and raised beneath his skin. “That’s why you became a problem. They knew you were on the verge of blowing them wide open as you say.”
“Why didn’t you stay?” Reese asked.
“A couple hours later the editor called. Said what looked like a Pulitzer-winning story had been called in. Said they really thought it was my story to run with. Could I be on the first flight out the next morning?” She blinked, realizing what those words had done to her ego. “I said yes. By the time I got to the airport, my ticket to Chicago was waiting at the counter.”
Gradually, the men fell into talking among themselves, each seeming intent on their own computer search. They were communicating with jargon she’d never heard. Jargon they probably used on a lot of assignments. Ultimately, they all finished their individual searches.
“Results?” Mitch asked.
Josh keyed up two more photos. “I pulled these men’s pictures from the web. Had the same names as the editor and CFO you gave me names on, because they have disappeared from the company employee list. That’s if they ever were there in the first place.”
“Are you calling me a liar?” She pounced on his words.
Mitch waved his hands in front of her. “Calm down, Liz. That’s not what he’s saying.”
Evidently, she wasn’t thinking with an investigative mind. After all the research she’d done in her career, none of this made sense to her. Maybe she should stay quiet and let them do their own thing. Sooner or later, they’d tell her their conclusions…she hoped.
“I’ll go next,” Reese said. “The company in Arizona shut its doors the—
“Let me guess. The day I was fired!” She didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut.
“Newspaper reports that people said a couple of big trucks pulled up in the middle of the night. By the next morning, the only thing left was a pile of smashed equipment.”
Clicking away on his keyboard again, Mitch practically growled then leaned back in his chair. “Bingo. One of your publisher’s biggest, and possibly only, investor has a direct link back to Coercion Ten. The path runs through ten other companies and five other cities, but the end line is CT.”
As if a light switch had been flipped on, the men were off talking jargon once again. All she could do was try to figure out how she’d ended up in this mess. Who had given her the lead on the publishing job? Had she seen it in the paper? Online?
“Maybe this will help,” she said. “I was contacted by a recruiter. The job sounded like it fit me to a T, plus it was a lot more money. They flew me to Chicago, put me up in a five-star hotel, wined and dined me. A week later, they offered me a contract.”
Mitch glanced in her direction. “No offense to your journalistic talent, but it sounds like you were set up.”
“Meaning?”
“They needed you to do something big.”
“Like what? All they ever gave me were fluff stories in the southwest part of the United States.”
Reese leaned forward. “They were probably testing you. Needed to see if you could be trusted. See if you might be the type to convert to their side.”
