Ambush (Michael Bennett #11)(76)

Dougie said, “Rick made a big deal one day of telling me he had a half sister. It was the family secret, because Rick’s parents were still married when his dad got involved with a Las Vegas showgirl. Rick only found out about it after his parents died and he read their letters. He waited years, he said, and finally reached out to her after he was in Iraq. She was his only sibling.”

Sarge laughed softly. “I’ll be damned.”

“He was planning on visiting her after the war. Then a week later we were ambushed, and he was killed.” Dougie’s hands staccatoed against his thighs. “He had this planned. He knew what was on that video. Knew he had to get it out of the country.”

I slid off the wall, then regretted it as the world wobbled. I reached out a hand to steady myself. “Where is she, Dougie?”

“Bullhead City, Arizona. A hundred miles south of Las Vegas. She manages a copy center there.”

Sarge’s laugh grew louder. He grabbed me and gave me a bro hug. “How much you want to bet she has mailboxes there, too?”

I pushed Sarge away and told myself that pain makes us stronger. “Let’s call her.”

“No,” Dougie said. “It’s safer for her if we keep her out of the loop. We go in, find the mailbox, and leave without her knowing we were there. Then we use it to get your detective out of danger.”

I leaned carefully against the wall. The world stopped wobbling, but my back burned with a thousand agonies. “This is our one shot, isn’t it? If the video isn’t there, we’ve got nothing else.”

“That’s optimism for you,” Sarge said.

Dougie roughed Clyde’s fur. “What’s odd is that this key is all Rick left. Rick was Mister Triplicate. He always had a plan B, usually a plan C.”

“Maybe there wasn’t time.” I frowned. “Or maybe, like you said, he couldn’t risk it.”

Sarge spread his feet and clasped his hands behind his back. “You want me to go to Vegas? You trust me enough for that?”

“You can’t go alone,” I said. “Too dangerous.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t exactly have an army to help. The two of you need to find Cohen. I’ll move fast and keep my head low. Agreed?”

Dougie and I exchanged glances. But Sarge was right. There was no one else.

“Agreed,” we both said.

Sarge said, “Okay, good.”

But Dougie and I were still looking at each other.

In that moment, it was as if no time had passed. As if we were still young and in love, carrying faith that the war would soon end and there would be room enough in the world for our dreams.

That we would always be together.

Sarge said, “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m interrupting something?”

Dougie startled, and his face folded in on itself, overcome by a sadness so profound it was visible even in the dull glow from the streetlight.

I knew the feeling.

Dougie shook himself and said, “You feel you can manage Bullhead City on your own, Udell, then we’ll trust you to bring back that video. After all, Malik trusted you with it when all this started. Seems only right for you to bring it back. While you’re gone, Rosie and I will work on figuring out where her friend is. And tracking the man you guys call the Alpha.”

“James Osborne,” I said.

Dougie nodded. “Sarge told me your theory. What you guys learned about Valor Industries and Vigilant Resources.”

“There’s more.” I told them about my call with Alison Handel, my State Department friend. When I finished, Dougie fisted his hands one atop the other and tapped them together, thinking. Then he nodded.

“Rick worked with Osborne. I don’t know in what capacity. But Osborne gave the order to allow the weapons and the Iranians into Iraq, then set up the mission for us to capture them.”

“Then he really is our Alpha,” I said.

“He definitely sounds like a good place to start.” Dougie flattened his hands on the wall. “For now, I suggest we get a few hours of sleep and start fresh. Not much we can do until Sarge can get on a flight to Vegas.”

“We can look for Cohen,” I said.

His look was soft. “You have any ideas where?”

I had to shake my head.

Sarge collected the empty bottles and took the room key Dougie offered. “I’ll book a seat on the first flight out. And arrange for a rental car. I’ll let you know what time I’m heading out.” He headed toward the motel, then turned back. “Have you two thought about how this is going to play out? We turn over the intel, what’s going to stop him from whacking us?”

“Nothing,” Dougie said. “The only hand we have right now is that video. Soon as we turn it over, he’ll kill us.”

“Nice. And if we don’t turn it over?”

“He’ll kill us.”

“I hate suspense,” Sarge said. “Why don’t we lie down on that highway right now and get flattened by a semi?”

“We’ll figure out something.”

Sarge eyeballed us in a way that could only be described as skeptical. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but ‘we’ll think of something’ don’t get my heart fluttering. I might take my chances with the semi.”