“If Neil thought someone was after him, I don’t think he’d lead whoever that is to his family.”
“True, but the grandmother might know where Neil would go to keep Gwen safe and capture the bad guy.”
“You think that’s what he’s done?”
“He sure as hell wouldn’t run forever.” The next drawer held files of equipment purchase dates and software updates. There were employee files in print, which Blake wondered about. Why print out any of these things? Why not keep them on a computer hard drive?
As his mind moved in that direction, he turned on the computer monitors and waited for them to power up. The wall of monitors lit the room with images throughout the Malibu house and Tarzana. Blake clicked on the main screen and shifted between images. Each one that he highlighted opened the audio of the room it was in. Inside the Malibu house, Mary was in the kitchen humming.
The phone on Neil’s desk rang, and Blake reached to pick it up. “Hello?”
“It’s Dillon, Mr. Harrison. I noticed someone on Neil’s channel watching. Is he back?”
“No. It’s just me.”
“Oh. Any word yet?”
“None. Nothing from your end?”
“Nothing. Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Harrison.”
Before Dillon hung up, Blake stopped him. “Wait, Dillon. Before Neil left…was there anything going on that struck you as odd? Something unlike him?”
“He…he was a little more edgy. Not sure that isn’t his normal, though. He always worked long days and didn’t ask me to take over much while you and Mrs. Harrison were away.”
None of that sounded out of character for Neil. “Any luck on finding the bugs he talked about?”
“I wish I did. There was definite interference at the Tarzana house. It didn’t feel right to me.”
“Like it was planted.”
“I wish I could say that for certain. It just wasn’t right.”
Everything felt odd. “Thank you, Dillon.”
“No problem.”
Blake hung up the phone and continued to search the desk. There wasn’t anything personal there. Just piles of work-related invoices and bills.
Carter walked into the room with a picture in his hand. “Found this.”
It was an 8½ by 10 photograph of what looked like Neil and some of his marine friends.
“Neil looks thicker. I didn’t think that was possible.”
Carter laughed. “You ever see this before?”
“No. He doesn’t share that part of his past. Except that one time in the bar.”
“You think these are the guys that died?”
Blake took the photograph and looked at each face. His gaze popped over to Neil’s and another one that looked familiar but he couldn’t place. “Could be. Not all of them died. Just a few.” But which ones? “Have you thought of calling in a favor and finding out what the Raven thing is all about?”
Carter leaned against the desk. “There are plenty of secret missions done every year overseas. The military doesn’t take it kindly to have their top-secret missions blabbed about to just anyone. Although I’m the governor, I’m one of those ‘just anyones’ at this point. If we’ve exhausted all our resources, and haven’t heard from Neil or Gwen, then I’ll make the call. I don’t want to stir up more trouble and have Neil on the tail end of a court martial because he’s overly paranoid. We owe him that much.”
Blake agreed.
“Knock, knock?” Dean let himself into Neil’s house.
“We’re in here.”
Dean fanned himself. “Damn tired of the heat,” he said. “You guys find anything yet?”
Blake handed the picture to Dean and shrugged. “A picture and a bunch of bills.”
“I keep forgetting how big Neil is,” Dean said.
“Not a lot riles him.”
Dean dropped the picture on the desk. “Well, we got a break.”
Blake sat taller. “What?”
“Looks like Neil broke down and used a credit card.”
“Where?”
“Colorado Springs.”
“I thought Karen said something about Canada,” Carter said in obvious confusion.
“Well unless they flew to Colorado, in which case we would have known about before now, they weren’t anywhere near the border.” Dean’s smug smile didn’t sit well with Blake.
“What are you not saying?”
“Wanna guess what Neil used his credit card on?”
“Hotel?” Carter asked.
“Car rental?” Blake suggested.
Dean shook his head.
“Ammunition?”
Dean smiled and stared at Blake. “A very large, very expensive, diamond ring.”
The blood in Blake’s head dropped once again. “What?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Before Neil left the base he confiscated, stocked, purchased, or otherwise pilfered anything he and Rick would need to catch Raven and hold out while waiting for him. The marines taught him everything he needed to know about surviving on his own and capturing a criminal. The only difference was not knowing with whom he was dealing.
Maybe Rick could shed light on that. Between the two of them, they’d work it out.
Still, as Neil made his way up the mountain, he kept an eye on his rearview mirror and worried about what he’d left behind. Chuck would take care of her. Gwen was safe. His wife was safe.