Read Online Final Vector by Allan Leverone - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Allan Leverone
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depart on time. He knew he should be sorry to see them go, but he was still emotionally raw and wrung out.
After watching his mother and father disappear into the board-ing area, Nick made his way to one of the airport lounges and ordered a scotch and soda. He knew having a drink before hitting the road for the hour-long drive back to his depressingly empty home wasn't the best idea, but there really wasn't any point in being careful anymore, was there? There was nobody left to worry about him.
He was alone. Totally alone, in fact, and that knowledge shook him more than he had realized until just now.
In a couple of hours, Nick was going to walk through the front door of their little Cape-style home, and Lisa would not be there to carp at him when he tossed his jacket over the kitchen chair or when he kicked off his sneakers and left them lying on the living room floor in front of the television for her to trip on. Sure, she had been gone four days every week during most of their marriage, but that absence had only served to make them appreciate each other that much more when they were actually together. Now they never would be again. Nick didn't know how he would be able to stand it.
He took a sip of his drink, savoring the warm bite of the scotch as it burned down his throat and splashed into his stomach, letting his mind wander to the strange discovery he had made in their walk-in closet a few hours ago. In his walk-in closet, he reminded himself. It was his now, not his and Lisa's.
The blue binder had to have been stuffed behind the wedding gown in the back of the closet intentionally; it wasn't the sort of place the thing could have fallen by accident. Clearly it contained information Lisa had not wanted Nick to see.
But what? Nick knew the binder had to be somehow related to Lisa's job at the Pentagon as a civilian auditor, as it contained names and dates and places, which meant nothing to Nick. But Lisa had always been forthcoming about her work; as far as he knew, she had never kept anything hidden from him. Most of the time--hell, just about all the time--the investigations she got involved in at the Pentagon were pretty straightforward. Boring even.
He remembered one instance she related to him last year where a very well-compensated high-level bureaucrat had been caught stealing toilet paper from a Pentagon men's room. For years the man had been taking a roll every couple of days, stuffing it inside his briefcase and bringing it home with him. The guy had nearly been fired--over toilet paper! As it was, he had earned a three-day suspension without pay and been put on probation. The United States government apparently took their toilet paper responsibilities very seriously, Lisa had told him with a straight face, before breaking into hysterical laughter.
The recollection made Nick smile briefly; then it occurred to him that he would never again share in Lisa's infectious sense of humor. He finished his drink with one gigantic swallow and chewed on an ice cube. So why would she hide the blue binder?
And why hide it from him , of all people? It made no sense.
After finding the binder so cleverly hidden, Nick had expected to find something earth shattering in its contents, perhaps somehow involving him, but in reality there hadn't been that much inside. There were a list of names and a notation written in block letters that said Tucson Bliss? Written below that, also in block letters that were barely readable because they had been smudged before the ink had dried, was another notation that might have said Stringers or Stingers or maybe even Singers .
The binder contained copies of e-mails that had obviously been taken off someone's hard drive, presumably someone who worked at the Pentagon. The e-mails went back and forth between a guy name Michaels and an unnamed person in a coy, roundabout manner, eventually culminating in an agreement to meet last week at a park in Washington. The name of the park hadn't
After watching his mother and father disappear into the board-ing area, Nick made his way to one of the airport lounges and ordered a scotch and soda. He knew having a drink before hitting the road for the hour-long drive back to his depressingly empty home wasn't the best idea, but there really wasn't any point in being careful anymore, was there? There was nobody left to worry about him.
He was alone. Totally alone, in fact, and that knowledge shook him more than he had realized until just now.
In a couple of hours, Nick was going to walk through the front door of their little Cape-style home, and Lisa would not be there to carp at him when he tossed his jacket over the kitchen chair or when he kicked off his sneakers and left them lying on the living room floor in front of the television for her to trip on. Sure, she had been gone four days every week during most of their marriage, but that absence had only served to make them appreciate each other that much more when they were actually together. Now they never would be again. Nick didn't know how he would be able to stand it.
He took a sip of his drink, savoring the warm bite of the scotch as it burned down his throat and splashed into his stomach, letting his mind wander to the strange discovery he had made in their walk-in closet a few hours ago. In his walk-in closet, he reminded himself. It was his now, not his and Lisa's.
The blue binder had to have been stuffed behind the wedding gown in the back of the closet intentionally; it wasn't the sort of place the thing could have fallen by accident. Clearly it contained information Lisa had not wanted Nick to see.
But what? Nick knew the binder had to be somehow related to Lisa's job at the Pentagon as a civilian auditor, as it contained names and dates and places, which meant nothing to Nick. But Lisa had always been forthcoming about her work; as far as he knew, she had never kept anything hidden from him. Most of the time--hell, just about all the time--the investigations she got involved in at the Pentagon were pretty straightforward. Boring even.
He remembered one instance she related to him last year where a very well-compensated high-level bureaucrat had been caught stealing toilet paper from a Pentagon men's room. For years the man had been taking a roll every couple of days, stuffing it inside his briefcase and bringing it home with him. The guy had nearly been fired--over toilet paper! As it was, he had earned a three-day suspension without pay and been put on probation. The United States government apparently took their toilet paper responsibilities very seriously, Lisa had told him with a straight face, before breaking into hysterical laughter.
The recollection made Nick smile briefly; then it occurred to him that he would never again share in Lisa's infectious sense of humor. He finished his drink with one gigantic swallow and chewed on an ice cube. So why would she hide the blue binder?
And why hide it from him , of all people? It made no sense.
After finding the binder so cleverly hidden, Nick had expected to find something earth shattering in its contents, perhaps somehow involving him, but in reality there hadn't been that much inside. There were a list of names and a notation written in block letters that said Tucson Bliss? Written below that, also in block letters that were barely readable because they had been smudged before the ink had dried, was another notation that might have said Stringers or Stingers or maybe even Singers .
The binder contained copies of e-mails that had obviously been taken off someone's hard drive, presumably someone who worked at the Pentagon. The e-mails went back and forth between a guy name Michaels and an unnamed person in a coy, roundabout manner, eventually culminating in an agreement to meet last week at a park in Washington. The name of the park hadn't
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