40
Wednesday, June 15th
Port Townsend, Washington
The sleepy little scenic tourist town was certainly wide awake up on the hillside now: City police, firemen, deputies, and most of the neighbors all stood in the glow of headlights and emergency flashers, trying to figure out what was going on. It was noisy, bright, and hectic.
It didn’t take all that long to get it sorted out. Michaels explained who he and Toni were, and when their Net Force/FBI identification checked out valid, that made things a lot less tense.
There were two dead men in Morrison’s backyard, and their IDs indicated that they were members of some paramilitary group based in Idaho.
The shotgunner was alive, with a fractured skull, and it seemed he was the leader of that same group, a general. He had been hit twice by bullets from Ventura’s pistol, both of which had been stopped by his body armor.
Bubba the bodybuilder had a broken neck.
And Ventura? He had taken two blasts from the general’s shotgun, and unfortunately for him, he hadn’t been wearing body armor. The first shot apparently hit him in the chest, the second in the face. Either would have killed him, the fireman-paramedic said, the head shot faster than the one in the pump.
Michaels and Toni went through Ventura’s personal property. He had the gun, extra ammunition, flashlight, lock picks, car keys, and, inside what was left of his windbreaker pocket, a DVD disk inside a plastic case. Both had been shattered into tiny bits by the shotgun blast, some slivers of which had been driven into the dead man’s heart by the impact.
“Want to bet that disk is what he stopped by Morrison’s to find?” Toni said.
“No bet,” Michaels said. “You think the FBI lab could put this thing back together?” Some of the bloody pieces were the size of needles.
She shook her head. “Enough to retrieve whatever was on it? I doubt it. If the secret to the crazy ray was on that disk, it’s gone.”
Michaels nodded. “Probably just as well. I’m not sure I’d want our government getting its hands on it any more than anybody else.” He looked at her. “You’re the one who got the good car from the rental place, aren’t you? Just before I got there?”
“Yes.”
“How did you know where to find me? Was it Jay?”
“No. You left a public trail. You weren’t trying to hide. I’m not totally inept on the net.”
“Why did you come?”
She looked at him. “Are you sorry I did?”
He shook his head. “I’d have to be a fool to say that, given the circumstances. I can’t remember the last time I was so glad to see somebody as when you knocked Bubba down. Thank you.”
“I was acting in my capacity as liaison, you know.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why are you so pigheaded, Alex? You know that I love you. And you love me just as much.”
“Yeah.”
“It was going bad for us. And work was the problem, you know that, too. I’d rather lose the job than the relationship.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Me, too.”
She looked at the firemen hauling away Ventura’s body. “It’s going to be a long night before we’re done here. Do you have a place to stay?”
“No.”
“I’ve got a room at a bed-and-breakfast at the far end of town. What say we go there and take a long nap when this is done?”
He thought about it for a second. She was right. He did love her, and he would rather save their personal relationship than either of their jobs. He gave her a small grin. “Okay,” he said. “You twisted my arm.”