The Puppeteer

CHAPTER 18



DREW GLANCED UP FROM THE DESK when Dani and Ty entered the room. There was a heightened focus emanating from them which Drew found interesting. They were two of the most focused people he knew. How they could increase that intensity was beyond him. Only it wasn't—not when he saw Dani glance at the folder with the picture of the man he now knew had killed her parents and then watched Ty unapologetically wrap an arm around her waist and direct her to a seat. Drew knew Dani had told Ty what, until that day, had only been known by him.

And he knew she wasn't going to lose it, she wasn't going to get sick like before. Now, with help from Ty, she was going to stay strong and centered on her goal. And now that her goal had an identity—and a name, thanks to some of their friends back in headquarters—she, and Drew, had at least a shadow's chance of finding the answers they'd sought for so long.

“His name is Nicholas Frey,” Drew started, as soon as everyone was seated. “He's also known as Frankie in reference to Frank Sinatra and the similarity of their blue eyes,” he added with a look at Dani, whose eyes followed his every movement.

“We don't have much on him after about 1976. But, prior to that, here are his specs,” he said, passing around sheets of paper to everyone in the room, which included his core team of Spanky, Cotter, and Marmie, along with Jay, Fawkes, and Roddy.

“Born and raised in Podunk, Indiana. Small, rural farming town. Not much to offer in it. Good people, low crime, but poor, and there were few opportunities to get out. Nicholas enlisted in the army in ‘68 and was shipped to Vietnam. In the couple of tours he did, he never distinguished himself, but there were never any problems either. He did his job, was reliable and, by all reports, a team player. He was one of the few survivors of a small but efficient ambush by the Vietcong that wiped out most of his unit. After that, he was discharged and not a whole lot has been found on him since,” Drew concluded.

“And why is he important to us?” Cotter asked. Drew looked to Dani who gave him a small smile, as if to reassure him she was okay, and then she spoke.

“Because he killed my parents,” she said. Drew heard Marmie suck in a quick breath. All eyes swiveled to Dani, demanding an explanation but respectful enough to give her the space to decide when she would explain. Dani looked over her shoulder at Ty, who rubbed an encouraging hand down her back. She looked back at the group and told them everything.

When Dani finished, the men in the room all let out a string of swear words at various volumes and Marmie pursed her lips and shook her head. Not for the first time did Drew concede that Ty had been right to suggest bringing in Fawkes and Roddy. Drew was a pretty efficient fighter, but based on the way the two men looked right now, he wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley. And Jay. Jay was a kind of scary-looking dude to begin with. Now, Drew wouldn't have been at all surprised if he let out a war cry and went on his own hunting expedition. Despite all the caged anger, Drew had to smile. Dani had a good team of people at her back. Not only would they watch out for her as a colleague, they would go to bat for her as their friend. Each and every member of the team was now personally invested in finding Nicholas Frey and, given what else he'd learned that day, finding Frey meant getting Getz and the Eagle's Wing.

“Drew?” Ty prompted when silence fell again. “What else did you find?”

“Like I said, not much. But enough to know that Dani's instincts were right on when she suspected he had something to do with Sonny's father's death and, based on what Adam is seeing down in Miami, he's probably involved with Sonny as well.” Drew took a deep breath and launched into the additional information he'd learned in the last few hours. Information that more than suggested Nicholas Frey was their puppeteer.

“Our intelligence tells us Nicholas Frey was seen with Sonny's father twice before he was killed. The first time was when Sonny senior was visiting the site of the rumored oil reserves. Photos taken that day show the two men talking. We're locating the agent who was present to learn more about the actual interaction, but we do have confirmation the two men met. The second sighting was in London a couple of weeks later, which was also a few days before Sonny's father was found dead in his Virginia home. Again, we don't know much about the exchange, we didn't have anyone in the area but we did catch Nicholas on the CCTV entering and leaving Sonny senior's hotel room. A few minutes later, Sonny senior made a call to his contact in the agency requesting a meeting. He didn't say why and he never made it. He was killed two days later.”

“And Sonny himself?” Dani asked.

“I'll get there,” Drew turned to look at her. He knew what he was about to say wasn't going to come as a shock but he also knew what it was going to do to her. He paused before going on. As if sensing what was to come, Ty reached forward and took her hand. With a glance at him, Drew continued.

“I also had them dig back as far as they could on the work your father was doing.”

Dani frowned at this bit of information but waited for him to continue.

“His notebooks and files were all examined right after the murder but there wasn't anything in them at the time that raised any red flags. When my parents took the time to go through much of the stuff in your old house, just before it was sold, they asked me what they should do with those files. We had our deal,” he said looking at Dani, who gave him a small nod. “And so I told them to box them up and send them to me. I put them in storage and hoped someday they might come in handy.”

“I didn't know. I thought all the files were returned to the firm he worked for,” Dani commented. Drew could tell from her careful tone that she wasn't sure what to think or feel about the fact that he'd had possession of her father's effects all these years and hadn't told her.

“Most were, but his personal files stayed in his office. Once we had an ID on Frey, I sent someone over to the storage locker to go through the boxes and see if anything synced up.”

“And?” Dani prompted.

“There are several journal entries where your father mentions Frey.”

“Did he say anything about Frey, about what he was doing in the area or what he wanted? Was there anything that would tell us anything about him?”

Drew took another deep breath before continuing. “Your dad seemed to like Frey. He didn't say a lot about him, but mentioned meeting him a couple of times on the site and then they met for dinner a few nights as well. He thought Frey was smart and they seemed to agree on the potential political issues their presence in the country raised. They talked a great deal about what effect it would have on the region if they projected high yields of the metal and what effect it would have if they didn't. Both seemed to agree that if the metal wasn't found the country would get by. It would continue to grow, just at a slower rate. They differed on what they thought would happen if metal was found. You're father wasn't so sure it would be the manna Frey seemed to think it would be.”

Everyone in the room was silent when Drew finished. While it was more likely Dani's father was taken in by Frey, played by him, and killed by him for not going along with whatever game Frey was up to, Drew and, judging by the look on her face, Dani were unsettled by the fact that he'd known Frey well enough to share dinner with him. Drew wanted to believe that the man who was like a second father to him, the man who'd spun tales of exotic travel and political intrigue, tales that played a huge part in his own decision to join the CIA, wouldn't have become involved with a man like Frey in any way. A man who could kill and not think twice about it. But believing it wouldn't make it true. And so, for now, he had to at least explore the possibility that Dani's father might have intentionally walked into something that eventually resulted in his own death, as well as the murder of his wife.

Drew was glad when it was Marmie who broke the awkward silence. “Drew, even if Dani's dad was mixed up with whatever Frey was doing—which I don't think he was, especially considering what we know about Sonny,” she added with blunt and honest look at Dani. “What does that have to do with Getz and Sonny senior and Sonny?”

“Maybe nothing,” Drew admitted.

“But you don't think so,” Ty interjected. Drew could take issue with his tone, but decided not to, knowing Ty was acting wary and defensive on Dani's behalf.

“I do think they're related, now,” he added with a nod toward Dani, indicating her part in convincing him. “I think it's too much of a coincidence that we have two men, one a petroleum geologist and one a metallurgist, who both knew the same man, were involved in surveys with huge political fallout, and were both killed in the same way. Now, whether your father and Sonny senior were involved too, or knew what was going on, I don't know. But,” he raised his voice to override the protest he knew was about to fall from Dani's mouth, “I have to consider the possibility, or I wouldn't be doing my job. None of us would,” he finished, with a pointed look at everyone in the room.

Drew watched as Dani turned her back on him and looked to Ty for moral support. Drew saw no expression on the man's face but Dani was satisfied, or assuaged, by whatever silent communication passed between the two because, when she turned back, he no longer saw the look of denial in her eyes.

“And Getz?” she asked instead.

“And the drugs?” Ty added.

“We know Getz has the arsenal of weapons. We also know Frey has visited several of the countries where those weapons, and others, could have originated from or been transported through,” he added.

“And the good news?” Fawkes joked.

Drew grimaced. “Believe it or not, it gets better,” he shot back. “We don't know everything Getz has in his arsenal. But, if we take a look at the countries where Frey has been and work on the assumption that he is manipulating this whole thing, it's pretty f*cking scary. As in, think about the top ten worst countries to work in, and we all know what those places are, and use that as your basis for guessing what kind of weapons Getz might have. If Frey is involved, and I think we're all thinking he is, we might have just stepped into a major clusterf*ck.”

The room filled with curses and utterances of disgust. Drew was silent, having already absorbed the fact that it was possible Getz, via Frey, had some of the ugliest, dirtiest, nastiest weapons—weapons most of the rest of the civilized world couldn't even imagine—sitting in his house in Portland, Maine. Sitting in his house, waiting to be handed over to an anti-US militia.

“And I'd bet it's the same for the drugs,” Ty interjected.

“The man is ugly and knows ugly people,” Drew responded with a nod. The group processed the information in silence. It was a shift in the investigation and everyone knew it. They were no longer just looking at Smythe or Getz or Eagle's Wing. Now they were looking for a murderer and arms dealer—a man with enough power and influence to make justabout anything happen. A man who now had a name and a face.

“And Sonny?” Dani asked. “How would he be involved?”

“You said it earlier,” Ty looked at Dani, though he spoke to the group. “If Frey is capable of dealing arms, making deals with drug cartels, and somehow dabbles in international politics, my guess is you're not far off on what he's done to Sonny. Now why he would manipulate Sonny, I don't know, but my guess is, he is,” and looking for confirmation, he turned back to Drew.

“He is involved with Sonny and we're on the same page here. We don't know how, or why, but Adam just sent a few photos of the two of them together.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about a guy you said you didn't know that much about,” Cotter noted.

Drew looked at the older man—a man who had probably seen more ugly things than most of the people in the room put together. He sighed, Christ the world can be a bad place, he thought. “We know where he traveled and are tracking down where he stayed during his travels—and he does travel a lot. But beyond that, we don't know much. We don't know where he lives when he's here in the US. He's got a bank account but it's not that big. We don't know what he does or who he sees when he travels. In other words, we have the skeleton of him but no meat. He's never been on a watch list, never raised any red flags. He was just a guy who traveled for business. But now we're digging and we're digging deep and fast,” he added.

“Great,” Fawkes drawled. “We've got ourselves a grade-A mother-f*cking psychopath arming a group intent on making an explosive statement somehow, somewhere, and that's all we know about him?”

“That about sums up the situation,” Drew conceded with an annoyed shrug. He wasn't annoyed with Fawkes, but with the situation. It irritated him to no end that Frey had been operating for decades without so much as a by-your-leave from the CIA. It made his skin crawl thinking about all the things this guy might have done, might have been involved with. Things they might have been able to put a stop to had they put two and two together earlier. And while he hedged his bets with the team, there was no doubt in Drew's mind that Frey was pulling the strings and everyone, including Dani's parents, were nothing but puppets to him.

“And the plan?” Marmie asked.

“Now that we've got an ID on Frey, we've got someone on him,” he began to answer.

“Are we confident he won't tag the guy?” Spanky asked.

“It's Kapitany,” was all Drew needed to say to his team. They all nodded in approval. Ty, Jay, and the others looked to him for explanation.

“Ethan Kapitany?” Jay asked. When Drew nodded, Jay nodded back in recognition.

“Jay?” Ty said. Ty didn't say anything else, but he looked to his friend for assurance on Kapitany.

In response, Jay gave Ty a sharp nod. Drew saw Ty's shoulders relax and then send Roddy and Fawkes a single look. At this, they relaxed as well. Though Kaps was a company man through and through, it didn't surprise Drew that Jay knew of him. He was a legend among those who had ever touched his world—which, apparently included Jay.

“So what now?” Roddy asked.

“Now we rest. We wait. Cotter, I have a few things I'd like you to look into with respects to Frey's time in the army?” And, just like that, the meeting ended. Everyone but Cotter filed out and within minutes, Drew and the Cotter were alone.

When the door closed behind the last person, Drew turned and spoke. “Find out what the hell happened to him in Vietnam. He was a kid from nowhere when he went in and the minute he comes out he disappears and then shows up like this? Something happened, find out what.”

It wasn't a request and, though he didn't often give Cotter orders, even though he had a right to, he did so now—without hesitation. Cotter studied him for a long period and then, giving a curt nod, he left, leaving Drew to contemplate what Frey was involved in and how he was going to keep Dani out of it.

* * *



By unspoken consensus, everyone but Drew and Cotter moved from the library to the kitchen. Drew had dumped a lot of information on the team and they needed some time to process it. Ty smiled, watching the team's personalities surface as they did so. Marmie went straight for the pastries Fawkes had brought in earlier that day. Spanky proceeded to make some god-awful thing that Ty supposed could, on a stretch, be called a sandwich.

Fawkes, Roddy, and Jay, as the relative outsiders, observed the subtle actions from various places around the kitchen. Dani touched Ty's arm and asked if he would like some coffee. He smiled at her gesture, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and shook his head. He was tired and he knew Dani must be exhausted.

He accepted a glass of water instead and leaned against the counter, Dani at his side. The silence stretched and, though it wasn't uncomfortable, there was a definite undercurrent. Then Spanky tossed his sandwich down and swore.

“Christ, Mack,” he said. “I had no idea. I'm so sorry,” he added. And then, taking everyone by surprise, he walked over and gave Dani a hug—a hug she returned.

Marmie walked up and moved Spanky to the side. She gave Dani a look communicating that she seconded his statement. “I'm so sorry about your parents, dear,” she said before enveloping Dani in yet another hug.

Ty watched the team rally around Dani and he felt himself relax. He hadn't even realized he was tense, but he had been, on Dani's behalf. She'd been through enough today that he didn't want her teammates to question her father's motives or actions or give her a hard time about keeping something from them. When they showed nothing but support, he allowed himself to let down his guard a little bit. Not much, but a little bit. Still, he was ready to step in and run interference which, judging by Dani's body language, he would need to do soon. She appreciated the support, and even let herself be comforted, but he could see all the attention was beginning to make her uncomfortable.

Fawkes must have noticed, too. “Fawkes, don't even think of coping a feel,” Ty all but barked as Fawkes stepped forward to offer his condolences with a big hug.

Fawkes shot him and Dani an unrepentant grin. “A guy's gotta keep trying. Didn't you teach us that lieutenant? Failure is not an option?”

Ty rolled his eyes and Dani laughed. If nothing else, Fawkeshad accomplished his goal. Within minutes, sensing Dani's need to be alone, her team had disappeared into their own little worlds scattered about the house. Jay and Roddy headed out and Fawkes dragged his feet up the stairs with one last offer to let Dani share his room.

When the kitchen was empty but for Dani and Ty, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. He massaged her neck. Her head fell back in appreciation and she closed her eyes.

“How are you?” he asked.

For a long moment she remained silent.

“I'm tired, Ty. Just…really tired.”

“You've been through a lot today.”

“It's strange,” she said. “I haven't told anyone about what happened in almost twenty years, and then to tell it twice in one day…” her voice trailed off.

“How did it feel?”

“Tough,” she said. “It was tough. But it was also the right thing to do. It was time. Probably way past time, if you asked a shrink,” she added with a small smile.

Ty pulled her against his chest and ran a hand down her back. They stood that way for a long time before either of them moved.

“I'm so tired, Ty,” she said again, this time the sadness was thick in her voice.

“Go on up to bed,” he replied, his voice quiet.

“What about you?” she asked.

“I have to run home and get a change of clothes. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“Good,” she said, burrowing gently against him. “I don't want you to leave me.”

“I'm not going anywhere. Not tonight.” Not ever hung in the air between them, but he didn't say it because he didn't need to.

* * *



The house was quiet when Ty returned—showered, dressed in clean clothes, and carrying a small bag. It was quiet but he wasn't fooled. He had no doubt the house was buzzing with activity—well, silently buzzing anyway. If he poked his head downstairs, he'd see Marmie's team sifting and sorting through information. Cotter's men would be out watching the compound, and Spanky's team would be plugged into their electronics.

As he headed for the stairs, the door to his right opened and Drew stuck his head out.

“Ty,” he said.

“Drew.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Ty turned and walked into the study. He set his bag down and waited for the team director to speak. Drew's eyes went from Ty to the bag at his feet and back again.

“How's Dani?” he asked.

“Tired. I hope asleep by now,” Ty answered, wondering why Drew hadn't asked her himself.

Drew's eyes flicked to the bag again.

“I'm staying, Drew,” Ty said in response to Drew's unspoken concern. Drew studied his face for a long moment before sighing and turning back to his desk.

“The day's been hard on her,” he said, pulling out a file. It was a massive understatement and Ty didn't bother responding.

“Here,” Drew said, handing Ty the file. “That's the picture of Frey Dani recognized on top, and a few more that Adam sent today from Miami.”

Ty flipped through the pictures, not needing much time to burn the image into his memory. He flipped the file closed and handed it back to Drew, waiting for whatever Drew needed to say next.

“He's on his way up here,” Drew said. Ty raised an eyebrow. “Booked himself a flight. He arrives tomorrow in Portland.”

“And it's legit?”

“The ticket's booked. Whether or not he gets on the flight, we'll have to see.”

“And if he does?”

“We've got a plane on standby. Kapitany will take it and make it here ahead of Frey so he can pick him back up at the airport.” Ty mulled this over, knowing now why Drew called him into the office. He wanted Ty to break the news to Dani.

“And Sonny?” Ty asked.

“He's headed back to Eagle's Wing tonight. And they're all booked on a flight to Toronto tomorrow.”

“So it's happening,” Ty commented.

“In the next few days is my guess,” Drew concurred.

Ty nodded and reached for his bag.

“When are you going to tell her?” Drew asked, the sadness and memories of all those years still heavy in his voice.

Ty sighed, “Tomorrow. She's tired, she needs a good night's sleep, and nothing can be done about it now.”

Drew managed a half smile. “She's not going to like being the last person to know.”

Ty chuckled, “I know. That's why you gave me the dirty job.”