CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Marcus Stone. Twenty-six years old found dead at an overlook that was popular for tourists. A family in an RV said they saw him pull up, step out of his vehicle, and look out at the ocean. They took a few photos, asked him to snap one of their family, which he did, and then they drove away. Five hours later, a state trooper pulled into the overlook, which was supposed to be closed at eleven p.m., and found his body.” Georgie looked up from the screen.
“Four dead. Three with bullets to the temple,” said Moose. “This shit is getting fucked up fast.”
“Wait a minute,” frowned Jill, looking at the report. “Marcus was twenty-six, but it says that his wife was forty-one. That can’t be right. How could Alana have been forty-one? I always thought she and Adam were the same age, maybe early thirties.”
“Hold on,” said Moose, looking back at the files. “Age at death, fifty-two. That was some damn good plastic surgery.”
“How long has she been doing this?” said Jill, staring at the others. “Think about it. The timing from the death of what we believe is her first husband could be all screwed up. Marcus could have been a second, third, or even fourth husband with this information.”
“These guys had to have known the age difference,” said Dan. “If you sign the marriage certificate, you see the age of your spouse, even if it’s a fast Vegas wedding.”
“Maybe that didn’t matter, or maybe she lied,” said Jill. “Can you ask Hiro through your communication thingy if he can track down any other husbands?” The men all laughed, nodding their heads.
“He can actually hear you through our thingy,” smiled CJ.
“Oh,” she blushed. “That’s handy.” There was a knock on the door, and four men stepped inside.
“You asked to see us?” said one of the men. He looked up, seeing a familiar face. “Hi, Jill.”
“Hi, Kip. Nice to see you,” she said with a pained smile.
“Don’t lie, honey. We both know it’s not nice to see us. We’re sorry about what happened with Tim and Alana. It wasn’t a surprise to any of us.”
“Well, it was to me,” said Jill. “Have a seat. Kip Gordon, Demetri Stratafos, Bob Thompson, and Jason Ross, this is Georgiana Robicheaux, an attorney that I’ll be working with going forward.”
“And the gorilla team behind you?” smirked Ross.
“CJ Abbott, Dan Robicheaux, Moose Sculler, Brixton Slater, Sor Teller, and Patrick Fitch,” said Georgianna, lifting a brow as if to let them know they’d better back off.
“Let’s see,” smirked Gordon, “that’s two Robicheauxs, a Slater, and a mixed bag of tricks. To what do we owe the honor of being interrogated by VG?”
“Aren’t you guys curious as to why two members of your team are dead?” asked CJ.
“Friendly fire and a weird accident,” said Demetri, shrugging his shoulders.
“And the fact that Alana Weathers was married to Adam and Tim and was shot in the same way doesn’t bother you?” The men frowned, staring at one another. “Or the fact that her first husband was killed with a bullet to the temple doesn’t bother you?”
“Wait. Wait a minute,” said Ross. “Alana’s dead?”
“Yep. Killed yesterday,” said Georgie. “Bullet to the temple, just like Adam, and just like her first husband. A Marine.”
The men took their seats, realizing that this was going to take longer than expected. They stared at one another, then back at the team.
“We didn’t hear about Alana. I’m guessing the wives knew, which is the best grapevine on base, but to be honest, no one liked her.”
“I can’t imagine why,” said Jill.
“We tried to warn Adam and Tim about her. She was a woman who wanted what she wanted and would find a way to get it one way or another.”
“But why target Special Forces?” asked Jill. “You guys make decent money, but if she was this shrewd, swindling vixen, then why not target D.C. politicians?”
“I can’t answer that,” said Ross. “She always had something on the guys that lured them in. With Adam, she knew that he’d taken gifts from a tribal leader in the sandbox and didn’t claim them. He told us that. I’m not sure how she knew that, but she did. He gave them to her to sell, which she did, then seemed to turn on the charm with him, and he was sold.”
“Why do you think that is?” asked Moose.
“Honestly, we all just thought she must have given stellar head. Sorry, ma’ams. Sorry, Jill.”
“Don’t be sorry. I knew Alana wasn’t exactly as pure as the driven snow, but there’s a lot more happening here than we think. Tim was killed because someone placed poison on my doorknob. A poison that he was allergic to. His epi-pen was in his truck.”
“We were aware of that,” said Gordon. “It seemed odd because he carried that damn pen with him everywhere. He always had it in his pocket.”
“That was my experience as well,” said Jill. “Were you aware that Alana had at least one other husband?” The men all stared at one another, then shook their heads.
“We weren’t aware of it, but it’s not surprising.”
“Were you aware of her age?” asked Georgie.
“I think she was a couple of years older than Tim. Maybe forty.”
“Try fifty-two,” said CJ. The shock on their faces told them that the team knew nothing of her age.
“Shit. Fifty-two?” frowned Gordon. “I mean, it was obvious she’d had plastic surgery on her body and maybe her face, but I never suspected it was that much.”
“She could have been very good at taking care of herself,” said Jill, “I don’t want to imply that she didn’t. However, she was at least fifteen to twenty years older than all of her husbands that we’ve found so far.”
“We need to know about your last two missions,” said Moose.
“Sir, that’s classified,” said Ross. The VG men laughed, shaking their heads.
“Our clearance is so far above yours you’d get a nosebleed,” said Dan. “I can read all the details I have in the files, but I’d like to hear them from you. Why was Adam so far away from the rest of the team when you were bringing the contingent down the steps?”
Gordon stared at the others, realizing that these men knew far more than they should.
“Tim told him to take point. He asked him to check the van and the streets. The view was blocked by these large concrete lions on both sides of the steps. If you were at the top, you could see clearly, but the further down you walked, the less you could see.”
“Did you see the direction of the shot?” asked CJ.
“No. Ballistics said it came from the northeast side of the building, but that didn’t make any sense. He turned and was looking at us, which put his left temple on the southwest side of the building. It didn’t come from the direction they said, but they kept telling us that ballistics didn’t lie.”
“What was on the northwest side of the building?” asked Dan.
“Nothing. Another reason we didn’t buy it. It was an empty parking lot. The southwest side of the building had other structures along the street. It also faced the cross street, making it easy for someone in a car to drive by and shoot.”
“The contingent you were guarding said that they’d requested basic security while there and were shocked when a Ranger team showed up,” said Georgie.
“Not as shocked as we were. We were told it was an important diplomatic envoy. These guys were private corporate yahoos as far as we knew. They were negotiating shipping contracts for common goods. We didn’t need to be there.”
“Who sent you?” asked Dan. They all looked at him and then at one another. “Who gave the order for you to be sent there?”
“Command, I guess,” said Ross. “Tim was our lead, and we did what he told us.”
“Things must have been tense if Tim and Alana were screwing around while she was married to Adam,” said Moose. He looked apologetically at Jill, and she gave him a small smile, letting him know it was okay.
“It was different, but not what you think,” said Stratafos. “Adam actually seemed happier. He was going out with all of us for beers and dinner, something he hadn’t done since he married her. It was Tim that wasn’t around any longer, and he seemed fucking miserable. It was the weirdest shit ever.”
“Did she try to get to any of you?” asked Jill in a quiet, calm voice.
“Jill, she tried to get to all of us,” said Gordon, shaking his head. “Look, being on a Special Forces team is like having a room full of brothers. These guys can attest to that. Trust is everything. I trusted Adam, and for the most part, until the end, I trusted Tim. But I wouldn’t have trusted Alana as far as I could throw her. Didn’t you ever wonder why no one invited her to parties at our homes?”
“But she was at parties. I was there,” said Jill.
“At their home,” said Ross. “Adam threw the parties so that she could host. We never hosted parties where they were invited. If we did, we made it guys only. Our wives, our girlfriends, were instructed to not say a word to her about anything dealing with work.”
“Did she pry?” asked Georgie.
“All the damn time. She was striking up conversations with the women anywhere she could. The PX, the beach, the gym, anywhere. They all knew to just smile, nod, and walk away. Her only source of information was Tim and Adam. I don’t know what she had on them, but it must have been good.”
“You think she had something she was bribing them with?” asked CJ.
“It had to be,” said Thompson. “There couldn’t have been any other reason you would trust that woman and put up with her bullshit. Whatever she was involved in was high-dollar shit. We all got suspicious of what might be going on and hacked into their banking, both Adam and Tim. It was perfect. Their checks, payments for rent or mortgage, utilities, nothing strange at all.”
“Did you find banking for her?” asked Georgie.
“No. Nothing.”
“I’m on it. ”
Georgie gave a smirk at the sound of Hiro’s voice in her ear.
“One last thing. Tim had a camera in a tree pointed right at Jill’s door after they’d split. Why?” asked CJ.
“He still loved her,” said Ross. “We all knew he’d fucked up leaving her for Alana, but when she told him she was pregnant, he felt he had no other choice. Bitch was lying about that as well.” Moose stood, signifying they were done.
“Do us a favor. Check your surroundings for cameras, including in your homes. If you can think of anything else about the last two deployments, contact us right away.”
They nodded and stood to leave. Gordon turned and looked at Jill.
“I’m really sorry about all of this, Jill. You’re the best and a great catch. We could never understand why you were dating Tim.”
Jill nodded at them, giving a small wave as they left the room. When she looked at the others, they had the same expression she did.
“We are missing something big.”