The Puppeteer

CHAPTER 10



“I MADE BLUEBERRY SCONES,” Dani announced as Marmie walked into the kitchen the next morning. “Want one?” she asked. Dani saw Marmie glance at the clock and didn't miss the look of concern that passed over her colleague's face.

“Everything okay?” Marmie asked, reaching for a pastry.

“Fine. Did Adam find anything on Smythe's daughter?” Dani poured a cup of coffee, offered it to Marmie, then poured another cup for herself.

“He did. We have some evidence she might have met with Keogh a few months ago in Morocco.”

“Some evidence? Might have met? How close are we to getting anything more definite?”

“Close,” Adam said, entering the kitchen followed by Spanky.

“God, that smells good.” Spanky sidestepped Adam and went straight for the scones.

“How close?” Dani asked, leaning back in her chair. The two men joined her at the table after filling their own mugs and loading up on scones. If she didn't know better, she'd think they looked like a group of old friends enjoying breakfast together.

“I know they were in Morocco together.” Adam said, catching a falling blueberry. “I even know they attended the same party. But I'm waiting for a contact to send me his surveillance data to see if I can get a photo of the two of them together.”

“Can we sketch this whole thing out?” Dani asked Spanky, their resident artist. “We have a lot of players and having to divide up the board and keep our investigation into the drugs separate from the investigation into the weapons is making me crazy.”

“Sure.” Spanky rose from his chair, grabbed a pen and paper from the counter, snagged another scone, then sat down again. Flipping over a clean sheet of paper, he wrote ‘Drugs’ on the left-hand side. Under it he wrote ‘Savendra’ and ‘Sonny.’ On the right-hand side he wrote ‘Weapons’ with Smythe's name under it.

“We need Getz's name on there somewhere,” Dani pointed out. “He's a key player in all this.”

“More than the others?” Marmie prompted, even as Spanky added the name in the middle of the sheet.

“He's the place where everyone meets.” Dani paused and took a sip of coffee. “I can understand how Smythe might come in contact with Keogh, given their similar circles. And since Sonny has lived in most of the major drug producing countries and Savendra has family connections to the Colombian cartel, I can understand how Sonny and Savendra might be the drug contacts. But what I can't figure out is how Sonny and Savendra got hooked up with Eagle's Wing and how both Eagle's Wing and Smythe got hooked up with Getz.”

Dani took a sip as she leaned forward to study the paper. Next to her, Adam did the same, while Spanky tapped the pen on the table.

“Something smells good.” Drew walked into the kitchen. Dani glanced up. He caught and held her eye for a moment.

“Blueberry scones,” she said, turning back to the paper.

“Did you make them?”

“If you consider ‘making’ adding water and an egg,” she replied without raising her eyes.

“Good enough.” Scone and coffee in hand, Drew dropped into a seat beside Marmie. “What are we doing?”

“We're trying to figure out the connection each of these parties has to Getz,” Adam answered.

“What more did you find out last night?” Dani asked Marmie.

“I spent my time on the weapons piece of this case. I figured we can do the other part, researching Sonny and Savendra, anytime,” Marmie said.

Across from her, Drew gave a tight nod. No one on the team liked operating this way—breaking the investigation up into several parts. It obscured connections and relationships and made it harder to find patterns or links between parties. But, given the sensitivity of the possible Smythe connection, they didn't have a choice. They couldn't lay everything on the table at the same time.

“We did receive confirmation that Keogh and Smythe did not meet in Jordan a few months ago. Yes, they were both there, but they didn't meet. Smythe's two unaccounted for days are now accounted for. He was staying at a resort with a very married woman,” Spanky added.

“How reliable is the confirmation?” Dani asked.

“I have photos if you'd like to see,” Spanky said, offering her his cell with a mischievous smile.

Dani shook her head. “No thanks. If Smythe looked like David Beckham, maybe, but since he doesn't, I think I'll skip confirming the gross visual I already have.”

“So what about the daughter?” Drew asked.

“Cornelia Elizabeth Smythe. Goes by Nelly.” Adam proceeded to tell Drew the information he'd already shared with the rest of the group. As if on cue, Adam's cell buzzed.

“And we have confirmation they met.” Adam held up the phone that revealed a picture of Nelly and Keogh dancing much closer than the couples around them. Adam scrolled to the next picture. Nelly and Keogh slipping out a door, holding hands.

“Okay, let's assume Keogh is involved and he uses Nelly to get the weapons into the country. But do either Smythe or Nelly know? Does he ask either, or both, to help? Or does he use his connections to broker the deal on his own, using info he learned from pillow talk with the daughter?” Spanky posited.

Dani rose from her seat, mulling over the possibilities, as she headed to the coffee pot.

“It's empty,” Drew said.

“Thanks, Drew. I figured that one out.” She held up the empty pot and made a face at him.

“You do make good coffee. Better than mine.” He smiled. Things were righting themselves between the two of them.

“Glad I can be of service.” She filled the water and added the grounds and soon the kitchen was filled, again, with the smell of fresh coffee. When enough was in the pot, she dumped it into her cup and leaned against the counter.

“Can we take another look at the paperwork on Smythe's shipment that contained the crate of weapons? Maybe cross-check the names on the forms with any known persons of interest? If we have any footage of the crates being loaded, we might want to run some facial recognition on those folks, too.”

“Smythe doesn't have any cameras at his house,” Spanky interjected.

Adam stood as he spoke. “No, but London is filled with CCTV cameras. We can get an idea of when the goods were packed and see what we can find in the surrounding area.”

“It might be a needle in a haystack,” Drew said. Sighing, he added, “Then again, we don't have anything else. Adam and Marmie, why don't you coordinate that with your team.” Both nodded in response.

“Even if Smythe is involved as only a mule, we still have no idea how Keogh, assuming he is involved, and Eagle's Wing got connected with Getz,” Dani pointed out.

“Then take a closer look at Keogh,” Drew directed. “We have more files than we know what to do with on the man, we just didn't suspect he was involved until that photo of him and Smythe came through yesterday.”

Dani opened her mouth to say something then snapped it shut. She wanted to focus on the drug connection, on Sonny Carlyle. But she'd opened her big mouth and given Drew a perfect opening to redirect her. With their fight the night before still fresh in her mind, she decided not to push. Nodding, she followed Adam and Marmie to the study.

* * *



The sun was hanging high in the sky when Dani sat back from her review of Keogh's files. The man had been to every country any self-respecting arms dealer traveled to. And judging by the photos and information, he liked his women young, his cars fast, and his parties lavish. A lot like Nelly Smythe. Not a thing like Ramon Getz.

“I was talking with Ty last night and he said that, as far as he knows, Getz doesn't leave his compound very often.” Marmie and Adam raised their eyes as Dani spoke.

“As far as we know, he's only left the country a few times. At least under his own name,” Marmie confirmed.

“And our surveillance hasn't been set up long enough to know who comes to visit him,” Dani thought out loud. “He's so different from Keogh. How would they have connected?”

“We probably won't know until we get into Getz's place and see what else he has there. Assuming he has more than the one crate of weapons, once we can get some forensics, we should be able to trace where they came from and then do a geographic profile to confirm Keogh's involvement and figure out where they might have met,” Adam said.

Dani frowned. The wait-and-see approach wasn't one of her favorite options. Unfortunately, sometimes it was their only option.

“So what about the drugs? Do you think it's Sonny or Savendra supplying them to Eagle's Wing?” Dani changed the subject, taking a little break from Michael Keogh. Her team was more interested in Getz and how he was involved with Smythe, if at all, than either Sonny or Savendra. But, they'd promised the DEA they'd give them not just Getz but the drug channels, including the two boys. Which also happened to align with Dani's personal interest in the case.

“Well, they both joined the group within the past year and both have connections to drug producing countries. But if you were to push, I'd put my money on Savendra,” Marmie offered.

“Why?”

Marmie took off her glasses and sat back. “Don't get me wrong, I'm still keeping my eye on Sonny, but Savendra has the most direct connection, the most stable connection, to a known middleman.”

Dani acknowledged this with a small nod. “Yeah, that's true, but other than that one summer, do we have any other intelligence showing that Savendra spent time with his uncle in Colombia?”

Adam rose from his seat and adjusted the shades as he joined the conversation. “He's an interesting guy. Born in the US to an immigrant mother and US-born father—his life is solid middle class.”

“Until he went to spend a few months with his uncle in Colombia,” Dani pointed out.

“Yeah, that does raise a few red flags,” Adam grinned as he handed her a file.

She glanced at the file then tossed it on the table, more information on Savendra. “Especially when he returned to the US and joined the Eagle's Wing.” Pausing, she drummed her fingers on her thighs. “But that's what we need to figure out. Militias don't typically form alliances, of any sort, with foreign groups. So why would Savendra join one after leaving his uncle? And it makes even less sense to think about his uncle supplying drugs to the militia.”

Marmie lifted a shoulder and replaced her glasses on the tip of her nose. “Which is why we're still watching Sonny. You seem to have an opinion, Dani. What's your take?”

Dani stood and paced toward the window. “I'm not getting a good feel on this. I'm hung up on how everyone is connected to Getz. But, boiling it down to just the drugs, I want it to be Sonny. But wanting it doesn't make it so.”

“Why Sonny?” Marmie asked.

Dani paused, debating whether or not to move forward. She pushed the shades aside and stared down the long lawn and out toward the sea. Like the previous day, the weather was clear and the sky an intense blue. But all was not as calm as the sky would have her believe, as waves from another off-shore storm crashed along the rocky coast with spray high enough to be visible from the house. Without turning, she spoke.

“The murder of Sonny's father is similar to another murder I've looked into—a couple of murders I've looked into,” she corrected herself. “I'd like there to be a connection. I'd like for Sonny to lead us to the man who killed his father so we can figure out if he was responsible for the other murders as well.”

A moment of silence followed her pronouncement. Then Adam spoke. “What is the connection, Dani?”

Dani shrugged. “Maybe there isn't one,” she admitted. “But Sonny's father was in the same line of business as the victims in the other case, and he was killed in the same way. Maybe it has nothing to do with why Sonny joined the Eagle's Wing, or maybe it does. But either way, I'd like to talk to him. See if he can point us toward the murderer.”

“What murderer?” Ty's voice echoed through the room. Dani spared a quick look at her teammates, who had both gone back to whatever it was they were looking at before she had interrupted them.

“Just talking about an old case. What have you been up to today?”

He studied her face for a long moment before answering.

“Paperwork. A little bit of this. A little bit of that. Can I see you for a minute?” He motioned toward the hallway with his head.

She thought about telling him she was busy. But, with his arms crossed over his chest and his feet planted apart, he wasn't a man who was going to go away. And looking at him standing there, looking back at her, she wasn't sure she wanted him to. She wasn't about to go running into his arms. But she could do with a little bit of the calm he'd brought her when they were out on the ledge the night before.

She inclined her head and he followed her out.

When they were alone, he spoke. “I'd like to get a better idea of how you think the drugs are going to be coming in. Not the physical way they'll be arriving, but who the players are. You've mentioned a couple of names and I want to get a better sense of who they are, maybe see if we've seen them up here before.”

Dani found it a bit ironic that, as she looked to him to satisfy a personal need, he was all business. A hundred thoughts tumbled through her head as her eyes searched his. Like her, he had a job to do and, like her, he was going to do it. He took his responsibilities and position seriously and, despite any awkwardness between them, he wasn't going to let things slip. He wasn't going to back away to make things easier.

The same sense of calm from the night before washed over her. Ty was the man he portrayed himself to be. And to Dani, a woman used to living lies and half-truths, there was a measure of comfort in that—a measure she found herself taking. Again.

She recognized her own desire to trust him, as a man and a teammate. She wasn't going to spill her heart out to him in the hallway—if she was even capable of that—but she did want to treat him as a colleague, as a partner. Because he was who he was and he wasn't going to change on her, or for her.

Accepting more than his request for information, she spoke. “Of course. Come with me, I'll show you what we have.”

They grabbed a couple of boxes and extra files from the study and headed to the front sitting room.

“There's not much of a table in here.” She flicked on the lights and surveyed the room. “We weren't intending on using this room, but I think it's the best place for us spread out for a few hours.”

Ty placed his box on the coffee table and went to the windows. “Mind if I open things up a bit?”

Dani shook her head and, as she began to sort through her box, Ty pulled the drapes and opened some windows. The cool, May air flowed into the room, bringing with it the smell of the ocean and fresh cut grass. Dani inhaled. Those scents reminded her of her childhood—the good parts.

“It's beautiful here,” Ty said

“We used to spend our summers in the Hamptons. This place is a lot like it but more relaxed and less, well, Hampton-y.”

Ty turned from his position at the window even as she wondered why she had shared that bit of information. Only certain kinds of families spent their summers in the Hamptons. She was one of those families, as were the Carmichaels, but it wasn't anything either she or Drew talked about. It was helpful in that their official CIA covers were that they both ran family businesses and their wealth wasn't exactly a secret. Still, it felt awkward at times like this. She sank to the floor beside the coffee table that held the boxes and began laying files out.

“So tell me what we have.” Ty left the window and came to sit across from her.

She handed him a couple of files. “Sonny Carlyle and Joe Savendra are our primary leads for the drugs. These files will give you some good background.”

“How did they show up on your radar to begin with?” He opened the top file and began to scan the contents.

“Like I said in the briefing, Getz's name started to crop up here and there. We had a warrant to monitor his communications, but not tap them. Pretty easy work since he doesn't get many calls. But, about a month ago, he made four phone calls to this number.” She handed him another open file showing a list of numbers and pointed to one.

“It's the number for the Eagle's Wing compound,” she continued. “Once we had that, we started looking at them and, once we started to find things, we were able to get authorization for this operation.”

“And Getz?”

“We have a number of files on him, but these will have most of what we know,” she said patting one of the boxes. It wouldn't have any of the information on the weapons, but Ty wasn't asking for it. Yet.

Dani rose. “I haven't had lunch yet. Have you eaten?”

Ty looked up, “No.” He started to rise but Dani held up her hand to stop him.

“Stay here, look through the files. I've been reading for hours already and could use the break. Turkey and Swiss okay?” Again his gaze held steady, a question lingering there. After a moment, he nodded.

“Sounds great, thanks.”

Dani made her way to the kitchen and started pulling out the sandwich fixings. It was such a mundane chore, it felt nice.

“Make me one?” Drew said, entering the room.

“After you disparaged my cooking this morning?”

“Your cooking is awful. But putting sandwiches together doesn't constitute ‘cooking.’”

Dani made a face at him, but pulled out enough bread for three. “Ty's here.”

“I heard. I heard you set him up in the front room with some of the files. Any updates on Keogh from your research this morning?” Dani tuned her ear to listen for any hint of disapproval. She didn't hear any.

“Keogh has done some business in Nicaragua.” She laid out the bread and started making the sandwiches as she spoke.

“Same country as Getz's supplier.”

“It's possible they met that way. Adam is seeing what he can find. We're cross-checking Keogh's visits to the region with Getz's, to see if they were ever there at the same time.”

“But even if they weren't, it's still possible that's the connection,” Drew said, handing her a jar of mustard.

“Yeah, it's possible. Probable, even.” Dani finished off the sandwiches and grabbed some glasses from the cupboard.

“But you're still hung up on the Sonny/Savendra/Eagle's Wing connection aren't you?”

Dani could take exception to the ‘hung up’ phrase, but didn't. Filling two glasses with water, she spoke. “I am. I want to know how Sonny and Savendra got hooked up with Eagle's Wing, why the group is selling drugs, and how they got connected to Getz.”

“And why Getz is suddenly dealing in weapons.”

“A sixty-four thousand dollar question.”

“Maybe Ty will have some insight.”

Dani turned at the comment. Drew was leaning against the counter, arms crossed, watching her.

She picked up the plates and glasses. “Maybe. I'll let you know.”

She made her way back to the front room contemplating the interaction. No doubt it was a test. But he wasn't revisiting their argument from the night before. He seemed more curious than anything. Frowning to herself, she pushed open the door to the front room. Ty looked up from his position on the floor, then held out his hands to take some of the dishes from her.

A few minutes later they were situated on the floor, files and food scattered across the coffee table.

“Any questions?” she asked.

He frowned and shook his head. “No, not yet. I'm still reading the background on Sonny Carlyle. I don't think I'll have much to offer on him or Savendra, but it's still good to know the players.”

Dani passed the time flipping through files and watching the shadows on the floor shorten as the sun moved west. Every now and then Ty would ask a question. At one point she got up to get them another snack. It was heading into the evening when Ty closed the last file and looked up.

“Thanks for sharing.”

“Not a problem.” Dani rose and stretched. Ty did the same. “So, have any insights? Find any magic words that tell us where the drugs are coming from and when?”

“I could pull my magic eight ball out for you.” A smile tugged at his lips. Dani gave him a rueful smile back as she walked to the window. The lawn was cast in shadows now as the sun had moved far into the western part of the sky. She could still hear the ocean. And she could feel Ty approaching. She looked up when he was just a few feet away.

“We don't know how Eagle's Wing and Getz got connected in the first place, do we?”

Dani shook her head.

“Or why Getz's is suddenly expanding into weapons?” Ty took a step closer. Looking lost in thought, he stared at a point over her head for a long moment before meeting her gaze again. They were alone and now just inches apart. He must have recognized it at the same moment she did. His pupil's dilated and his jaw twitched.

For what felt like forever, Dani stood stock-still. The breeze from the window slid over her face and her bare neck. And Ty's eyes stayed locked on hers. He raised his hand, brushed a thumb across her lips and cupped her face with the palm of his hand. Without taking his eyes from hers—giving her every chance to turn away—he lowered his lips to hers.

This was a test. She could feel it in the tension of his body, in the deliberateness of his actions. He was waiting for her to turn away, to pull back, to slam the emotional wall back up between them.

He brushed his lips across hers once. Then again. This was not the flaming passion from their one night together. This was soft and gentle. About the present. The future. When he raised his head up his eyes searched hers. She stood, accepting his touch. She still wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. It was too new. It was too different. And it was coming at a really bad time. But she wanted it anyway.

And then he moved away. Turned his back on her and faced the window. Dani blinked then ducked her chin. Turning away, toward the door, she searched her mind for an excuse. Then she saw Drew enter the room.

She glanced back at Ty, who met her gaze. Understanding dawned on her. She hadn't heard a thing, but he must have. He'd moved away to save them from being found by Drew.

“Drew,” Ty said in greeting.

“Ty.” Drew nodded then scanned the room. “Find anything interesting?”

Ty moved back to the coffee table and began picking up files. “A lot of interesting parties involved in this.”

“You could say that again.”

“Like I told Dani, Sonny and Savendra are outside my jurisdiction and the reach of my intel, way outside. As is Eagle's Wing. But I can focus on Getz. Maybe see if I can find out how he got connected to the militia, or why he's moving into weapons.”

“That would be good. Any insight you can dig up will be appreciated.”

“No problem. Dani, do you need help with these boxes?”

She shook her head. “No we've got them.”

“Then I'll be leaving. I'll put some feelers out tonight. See what might pop up. I'll come back by tomorrow morning.”

Dani and Drew both nodded. Ty gave her one last look on his way out.

“You good?” Drew asked. She turned and faced her boss and friend.

“Yeah. I'm good.”