The Puppeteer

CHAPTER 9



DANI ELBOWED HER WAY through the tunnel. She could see the light at the far end; it wasn't more than twenty feet away. Still, twenty feet on your belly wasn't as fun as it sounded. It took a few minutes longer than she thought; she was out of practice. But when she reached the end, pulled out the glasses, and had a look, it almost took her breath away.

She laughed at herself. Most women needed gold or diamonds to gasp in delight—all she needed was a clean, unobstructed view of her target's private domain.

“Happy?” Ty called from the opening of the tunnel.

“Very.”

She couldn't have had a better view without being on the property. The house was more exposed on the north side than the south. Getz hadn't bothered with the mirrored windows, he must have figured the trees and foliage protected him enough. There weren't as many windows on this side, but those she could see gave her a clean view into the house. Even without the equipment, she could see people moving around. Once Cotter and his folks got up here it would be like having a video camera inside.

After a long look at the house, she moved her focus to the boathouse. Surveillance of the boathouse wasn't going to make the case for them. And with the two new recon positions, if the drugs were going to come in by boat, they'd have plenty of advance warning. But the boathouse was the Achilles' heel of the compound. She had no doubt it was well protected, that Getz knew it was a vulnerable point, but no matter what he did, the fact remained, the boathouse would never be as fortified as the house or the land. And if the transfer were to take place out at sea, having a view of the boathouse would give them a heads-up to any activity that might indicate movement.

“Enjoying yourself?” Ty's amused voice echoed through the tunnel.

Dani glanced at her watch; she'd been in the tunnel for over twenty minutes already. “Immensely, now be quiet, I'm focusing.”

“Fine,” Ty laughed. “I'm going up to my bike to grab something, I'll be right back.” A few seconds later Dani heard the sound of his feet on the rock and then silence. Her eyes stayed focused on the house, even as she wondered what he was getting from his bike.

She felt bad for snapping at him earlier. She knew her attitude was out of line, he'd done nothing but help her and her team since she'd dropped the bombshell on his department that morning. In fact, he'd gone above and beyond the call of duty. She had a fleeting thought that his actions were because of her, but she dismissed it just as fast. Ty would have done it anyway, he would have gone out of his way to help because that was the kind of guy he was. When he saw a job that needed to be done, that he knew he could do, he went ahead and did it.

He was different than other men who had passed in and out of her life. In the few hours she'd spent with Ty, she realized that not only could she like the man, she might even respect him. Not that she'd disrespected the others, but nothing in those relationships had ever inspired her to offer anything more than the basic respect a person should hold for another human being. But with Ty, it was more.

He went about his job with quiet confidence and she got the sense he was a team player—as long as the team was doing the right thing. But even as Dani acknowledged this aspect of Ty's character, she knew it wasn't the only, or even the main reason, she found herself wanting to really talk to Ty. That she'd asked about his family, or, even more startling, that she'd told him about hers, was as much of a surprise to her as she knew it was to Ty.

It was a strange tug inside her. On the one hand, she wanted to ask, she wanted to hear about his life and his family. But she was out of practice and it felt awkward. Then again, if she was being honest with herself, which seemed to be a growing trend in the last twelve hours, it wasn't the talking that was awkward, it was the wanting. The wanting to know more, to hear more. And the more she thought about it, the more she knew her discomfort wasn't because she was out of practice, it was because the wanting was a new thing all together.

“You didn't pass out or anything?” Ty's voice filled the cave. Startled, Dani bumped her head on the low ceiling of the tunnel.

“Christ, that hurt,” she complained, rubbing her head. “Give me a minute,” she grumbled.

“A real minute or are you going to spend another twenty minutes?” he chided. Dani looked at her watch and chastised herself. She'd been in the tunnel for over forty minutes and over half of that had been spent thinking about Ty and her confusing reaction to him. Yes, the time had come to admit that she was pathetic; she grimaced.

She wiggled back out of the tunnel, stood, stretched, and turned. “Whoa, hey,” she all but sputtered and then frowned. “Please tell me I didn't just sound like an extra out of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?” she asked, her hand pressed to her chest in concern.

Ty laughed, and handed her a glass of wine. Well, it wasn't a real glass but a little plastic cup. It went with the little picnic he must have set up while she was hiding from him in the tunnel. Dani glanced at the blanket, now spread out and covered with various foods. Nothing heavy, but Ty had managed to bring down a few cheeses, some bread, some fruit, and a few of what Dani suspected were lobster rolls, though it had been years since she'd had one.

“Wow,” she said, taking the cup from Ty's outstretched hand. He was sitting with his back against the cliff wall, legs outstretched and ankles crossed.

“It's just dinner, Dani,” Ty said when she didn't move to sit. “Everyone has to eat some time. And drink. I assume one glass won't get you any demerits with Drew?” he teased.

It was so obviously not ‘just dinner’ that Dani took a long moment to search Ty's face. He didn't seem concerned with her scrutiny. He sat back, closed his eyes against the fading light, and enjoyed a sip of wine. He didn't look like he had any plans other than to sit and enjoy the coming evening and the food. He didn't look like he expected anything else from her other than to join him. So, she brushed herself off, sat, and took a sip of her own wine. Unlike the military, the CIA was way more lax in its drinking policy. In fact, whatever an agent needed to do to get the job done was actively encouraged—not always beneficial to the agent, but encouraged nonetheless.

They ate in companionable silence for a while, until Dani's guilt got to her.

“I apologize for the attitude earlier,” she said.

Ty glanced at her and shrugged. “Apology accepted. Why does Drew think I can kick his ass?”

Dani laughed. “He thinks you want to kick his ass. I'm the one who thinks you could.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but those tall wiry guys are quicker than they look.”

“Yeah,” Dani gave him a rueful grin. “Tell me about it.”

Ty shook his head. “You've sparred with him haven't you?” He didn't wait for her to answer. “Of course you have. Have you ever won?”

“Yeah, but it took me a while to get there,” she grinned.

“So what did he say to piss you off earlier?” Ty asked.

Dani's first reaction was to answer the question with a glib ‘nothing’ but she bit her tongue and took a few deep breaths before deciding how to answer. That she was going to answer at all surprised her, but her conversation with Drew earlier, and the subsequent revelations about herself were lurking in her mind. Nausea roiled in her stomach. Fear. Fear of maybe offering a little bit more of herself. She took another breath and looked at Ty. And even more powerful than her fear was her desire to overcome it. Maybe it was a control issue, or maybe it was Ty. Either way, she answered.

“He figured out something had happened between the two of us. He was concerned.”

Ty's eyebrows shot up. “Don't tell me he thought you might let it compromise the investigation?”

Dani shrugged, still not comfortable having this conversation, but wanting to have it anyway. “Something like that.”

Ty's eyes narrowed. “Something like that?” he repeated and then paused in thought. “I can't believe he would think you would let anything interfere with an investigation. I've known you less than twenty-four hours and even I know you wouldn't do that. Wait,” he paused. And then his eyes narrowed. “Is he afraid I'm going to do something to screw it up?” he asked in dawning recognition.

Dani glanced up and shook her head. “I don't know what brought it on. I have some ideas but I'm just…” she paused, thinking. There was more than one reason Drew might be concerned, although, at this point, she was pretty sure it was because he was worried she would hurt Ty and Ty would retaliate by becoming difficult. By now she knew this wasn't a fair assessment of Ty so she didn't want to share it with him.

“He's like a big brother to me. And kind of like a father figure, too. I'm sure he has his reasons, and I'm sure none of them are based on his professional knowledge of you or me,” she said.

“Father figure?” A hint of a teasing grin curled his mouth. “He's what, three years older than you?”

Dani, thankful to him for not pursuing the personal conversation, gave him a cheeky smile. “He's five years older, but don't let those boyish good looks fool you. Underneath all that baby skin is an old man.”

“You mean, old soul,” Ty corrected.

Dani's smiled widened, “Maybe that, too.”

* * *



Several hours later, Dani jogged up the steps to the second floor of the house, hoping to avoid Drew. But the fates weren't that kind.

“Dani,” he called from the bottom of the stairs. She hesitated for a split second before turning to look down at him. “It's late, where have you been?”

Dani glanced at her watch, surprised to see it was close to ten p.m. “I got hungry. We stopped for dinner.” The lie came easy. The truth was that she and Ty had stayed on the little shelf talking. Nothing too serious, just chatting about life. He talked about how he went from being a Navy SEAL to a vice detective. He talked about his family, his life in Portland. She talked about Sammy and the kids. They even spent a bit of time talking about Getz and Ty's recollections of him—of things he'd heard, over the past several years.

Drew didn't look like he believed her, but for the first time in a long time, she didn't care what Drew thought of her. She felt a sense of calm that she hadn't experienced since the investigation started, probably even long before that.

“How were the sites?” he asked, sounding like he wanted to ask something else.

“Better than we could have hoped for,” she replied with a telltale glance down the hall toward Cotter's set up.

“You going to tell Cotter?”

Dani nodded and made to move away, but Drew stopped her. “Dani,” he spoke, the regret clear in his voice. Dani turned to looked at him, studying his face. After a moment, she shook her head in resignation.

“Forget it, Drew.”

“I was out of line,” he continued.

“Yes, you were.” She refused to make him feel better, but she wasn't interested in pushing back or fighting about it either. “I want to catch Cotter before he closes up shop for the night, and then I need to go to bed. It's been a long day.”

Drew studied her face. He knew as well as she did that Cotter wasn't going to close up shop for the night. Cotter wasn't going to close up anything until the investigation was long complete. But he was searching her face, looking for something. Whether or not he was satisfied with what he saw, she didn't know. But he gave her a sharp nod. “Stop by the library when you're done. I have a new stack of pictures for you.”

It was as close to an apology as she was going to get, which was fine with her since she didn't want an apology—didn't know if she deserved one anyway. “Thanks, I will,” she responded, as she turned and headed toward Cotter.

An hour later, she dropped into the library to pick up the promised photos. She'd hoped that her extra-long detour would mean the room would be empty—that she wouldn't have to see Drew again. She was disappointed to find both Spanky and Drew there, looking like they wanted to talk to her about something. But she wasn't interested in having any conversations, so she gave them a brief nod and picked up the tidy folder resting on the edge of the big, teak desk. She slid out of the room before either man could stop her and headed for her bedroom.

She'd gotten only a few hours of sleep over the past three days—her eyes felt gritty and her limbs heavy. But even as she tossed the folder onto her bed and headed for the adjoining bathroom, she knew she wouldn't rest until after she looked at the new set of photos.

Ten minutes later, showered and dressed in one of the old t-shirts she'd found in the dresser, Dani sat cross-legged on her bed and opened the folder on her lap. This stack of photos, like all the other photos he had given her over the years, was something Drew did for her—something that, if pressed, would be considered inappropriate. Many of the photos had nothing to do with her assignments and the agency wouldn't take kindly to her studying them. But Drew had made a promise to her over fifteen years ago, and he'd stuck by it.

Focusing on the task at hand, Dani began to review the first photo in the stack. It was easy to dismiss. The single form in the picture was a woman, dark hair, young, wearing sunglasses. She looked like a journalist, ambitious but weary. The picture was taken in the desert somewhere; judging by the colorless beige background Dani would place it in the Middle East. It wasn't the face she was looking for.

Setting it aside, she looked at the second photo. A single form was in focus, a young man, not the man she was looking for. But the photo was taken at a café so she pulled out her magnifying glass and scanned all the other faces. No traces of the blue-eyed man whose face was burned in her memory.

Methodically, Dani went through all thirty-six photos before sagging against the headboard, closing her eyes, and admitting defeat. One day, it might be different. One day, she might see the man who haunted her nightmares. She had to hope that, one day, in some photo, she would see the face of the man who had killed her parents.