Read Online Final Vector by Allan Leverone - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Allan Leverone
Ads: Link
been specified in any of the e-mails, but Nick guessed it would be easy for someone familiar with the area to deduce the location. He had been to Washington only a few times, none of them recently, so it was all a mystery to him.
That was it, the sum total of the binder's contents. Nick had no idea what Tucson Bliss might mean or what sort of singers (or maybe stingers or stringers) had been involved in Lisa's investigation. To the best of his knowledge, Lisa had never been to Tucson in her entire life and would not have considered it blissful even if she had. She hated extreme heat, and for that reason Nick couldn't imagine her ever using the words Tucson and bliss together in the same sentence.
All of which brought him back to his original question: Why hide the material from him? It was not like he could decipher the meaning of any of it. Besides, what difference could any cloak-and-dagger stuff going on in D.C. possibly make to an air traffic controller living and working in Merrimack? It just didn't make sense.
Was it possible Lisa had been involved in something illegal?
Instead of the material in the binder being part of an investigation she had been working on at the time of her death, could it be that she had hidden the binder in their house, away from his prying eyes and anyone else's?
Nick felt a ball of unease forming in the pit of his stomach.
His beautiful wife of five years, the only woman he had ever really loved, was dead less than a week, and he was entertaining a possibility that he would never have even considered before he had found the binder. Guilt gnawed at him for even thinking it. He knew her better than that. But still, why else would she have hidden it and in such a perfect spot? If she had not been run down by that goddamned beer truck, he would never have found the material in the first place. He wished he hadn't.
He laid a ten-dollar bill on the tiny circular table and walked out of the bar and through the terminal, paying no attention to the throngs of travelers jostling him on all sides. It was time to face the long drive back to his empty house. Nick walked slowly to Logan Airport's Central Parking garage and slid into his car, his mind hundreds of miles away at a Pentagon building he had never even set foot inside.
Chapter 16
"It's time to discuss the next step." Tony gazed into the faces of his men, using his intense dark stare to capture and maintain their full attention. "We have been training and preparing for months--
years, even decades, in the case of some of us--to ensure our readi-ness for this moment.
"No doubt you are all wondering what was inside this briefcase that was so important we spent ten thousand dollars of our valuable resources to purchase it." Tony didn't bother mentioning the obvious--that he had then murdered the seller and stolen their money back. "I am sure you are familiar with the expression 'information is power.' If that is the case, then the information inside this briefcase has increased our power exponentially."
He pulled a simple road map out of the case with a flourish and spread it out on the desk in front of them. "What do we have here, Mr. Waterhouse?"
Brian glanced at it. "It's a map of a driving route between Tucson, Arizona, and Fort Bliss, Texas."
"Exactly. Thank you. Can anyone tell me what significance Tucson has to us?"
No one answered, so Tony continued. "Tucson is the home base of the company that has been contracted to produce Stinger missiles for the United States military. These shoulder-fired missiles are manufactured at their plant in Tucson, then delivered to bases all over the country, including Fort Bliss, Texas. Currently the missiles are undergoing minor software modifications request-ed by the U.S. Army. Thursday night a small shipment of those modified Stingers will leave Tucson in a nondescript Army cargo truck, to be delivered to Fort Bliss for inspection and approval before the full-scale manufacturing process
That was it, the sum total of the binder's contents. Nick had no idea what Tucson Bliss might mean or what sort of singers (or maybe stingers or stringers) had been involved in Lisa's investigation. To the best of his knowledge, Lisa had never been to Tucson in her entire life and would not have considered it blissful even if she had. She hated extreme heat, and for that reason Nick couldn't imagine her ever using the words Tucson and bliss together in the same sentence.
All of which brought him back to his original question: Why hide the material from him? It was not like he could decipher the meaning of any of it. Besides, what difference could any cloak-and-dagger stuff going on in D.C. possibly make to an air traffic controller living and working in Merrimack? It just didn't make sense.
Was it possible Lisa had been involved in something illegal?
Instead of the material in the binder being part of an investigation she had been working on at the time of her death, could it be that she had hidden the binder in their house, away from his prying eyes and anyone else's?
Nick felt a ball of unease forming in the pit of his stomach.
His beautiful wife of five years, the only woman he had ever really loved, was dead less than a week, and he was entertaining a possibility that he would never have even considered before he had found the binder. Guilt gnawed at him for even thinking it. He knew her better than that. But still, why else would she have hidden it and in such a perfect spot? If she had not been run down by that goddamned beer truck, he would never have found the material in the first place. He wished he hadn't.
He laid a ten-dollar bill on the tiny circular table and walked out of the bar and through the terminal, paying no attention to the throngs of travelers jostling him on all sides. It was time to face the long drive back to his empty house. Nick walked slowly to Logan Airport's Central Parking garage and slid into his car, his mind hundreds of miles away at a Pentagon building he had never even set foot inside.
Chapter 16
"It's time to discuss the next step." Tony gazed into the faces of his men, using his intense dark stare to capture and maintain their full attention. "We have been training and preparing for months--
years, even decades, in the case of some of us--to ensure our readi-ness for this moment.
"No doubt you are all wondering what was inside this briefcase that was so important we spent ten thousand dollars of our valuable resources to purchase it." Tony didn't bother mentioning the obvious--that he had then murdered the seller and stolen their money back. "I am sure you are familiar with the expression 'information is power.' If that is the case, then the information inside this briefcase has increased our power exponentially."
He pulled a simple road map out of the case with a flourish and spread it out on the desk in front of them. "What do we have here, Mr. Waterhouse?"
Brian glanced at it. "It's a map of a driving route between Tucson, Arizona, and Fort Bliss, Texas."
"Exactly. Thank you. Can anyone tell me what significance Tucson has to us?"
No one answered, so Tony continued. "Tucson is the home base of the company that has been contracted to produce Stinger missiles for the United States military. These shoulder-fired missiles are manufactured at their plant in Tucson, then delivered to bases all over the country, including Fort Bliss, Texas. Currently the missiles are undergoing minor software modifications request-ed by the U.S. Army. Thursday night a small shipment of those modified Stingers will leave Tucson in a nondescript Army cargo truck, to be delivered to Fort Bliss for inspection and approval before the full-scale manufacturing process
Similar Books
