Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
The shoes Pyro bought for Penny and Bowie were a huge hit with the little girl. They weren’t anything special, weren’t even that expensive. But Bowie loved them so much, she refused to take them off that first night when she went to bed.
That was five days ago. Penny had warned him that Bowie was “a lot,” but the reality was that she was a very well-mannered child. She was actually quiet except when she got to talking about something she was interested in. Then she could ask a hundred questions and still not be satisfied.
Pyro hadn’t expected anyone else to help entertain Penny or Bowie, but his fellow Night Stalkers had really stepped up.
Chaos had built a kind of fort around Bowie’s bunk with a couple of sheets, both so she had some privacy and to help muffle the sounds in the room, since she went to bed earlier than the rest of them.
Buck had taken her to the library a couple of times to read to her, giving Penny short breaks.
Obi-Wan sat with her for an entire afternoon as they both researched braille.
Amazingly, the sailor in charge of the library had found one single book in braille.
Bowie had never had the opportunity to learn it, and Obi-Wan was enjoying the challenge.
He’d printed off the braille alphabet and the two had spent an afternoon translating the book in braille from the library.
The others had done their share of babysitting, as well. Taking the little girl on another tour of the ship, playing board games, or simply sitting with her in their bunk room, giving Penny more free time.
Seeing the little girl blossom under the positive attention she was getting from the adults was heartwarming…
but Pyro couldn’t help but be pleased that he was the one she always wanted to sit next to in the chow hall.
That it was his hand she held as they walked from one section of the ship to another.
And when she asked him to read the Little House on the Prairie book he’d downloaded onto his tablet, after Penny told him Bowie was into chapter books.
He was smitten. How could he not be? Bowie was an incredible little girl. Smart as a whip and fascinated by everything around her. It was hard to believe she’d never had any formal schooling. That everything she knew was what her mom had taught her.
And as much as Pyro loved hanging out with Bowie, her mom held his attention even more.
Penny was not only a great mother, she was friendly, intelligent…
and when she was with him and his friends, gave Pyro all her attention.
It was a heady feeling, especially for a man who’d grown up largely ignored, and who’d never had anyone focus completely on him.
Spending time onboard was sometimes boring, especially after a mission, when they’d already done their AAR and didn’t have another assignment pending.
They essentially had no job on the ship and had to find ways to pass the time.
The addition of Penny and Bowie to their little group was more than enough to stave off boredom, which was a relief.
Tomorrow, they’d finally arrive in Norfolk…and Pyro wanted to have another talk with Penny about what her next steps would be. He’d offered a few choices, and he’d do anything to keep her from having to go to a shelter.
Casper and Laryn took Bowie to the hangar after lunch, where they would be giving all the evacuee children a helicopter tour and letting them see the interior of a fighter jet.
The carrier air wing commander had given his blessing for the tour, and Bowie couldn’t talk about anything else all morning.
Pyro would’ve loved to have seen the little girl’s reaction to touring the aircraft, but Casper promised he’d take lots of pictures and share them later.
He and Penny weren’t attending the tour because he needed to tell her what he’d found out about Colvin Jackson.
He’d also use that time to ask what she’d decided about her living situation when they arrived in Virginia the next day.
Truth be told, Pyro was nervous. About her reaction to the intel he’d gleaned about the man who’d made her life difficult back in Gabon, and her future plans.
Casper had arranged for them to talk in a small conference room they sometimes used when preparing for a flight. It had a circular table and office chairs that weren’t the most comfortable, but privacy was hard to come by when the carrier was at full capacity, so Pyro wasn’t going to be picky.
After leaving Bowie in Casper and Laryn’s capable hands at the hangar, Pyro led Penny to the conference room. He sat next to her at the table, turning his chair slightly so he could see her face as they talked.
“This week has been so great,” Penny told him with a small smile. “Bowie’s never had so much attention before. She’s going to be spoiled.”
“She deserves it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You’ve done an amazing job with her. She’s delightful.”
“Thanks. It’s more because of her good disposition than anything I’ve done.”
“That’s not true. You know as well as I do that environment is a huge factor in shaping a person’s life. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t have eighty pairs of shoes or four hundred and three outfits in her closet, what matters is that she’s loved unconditionally.”
“I have no idea how I made it out of the system without more baggage than I did,” Penny mused.
Pyro nodded. “Right? I was a complete asshole when I first joined the Army. Thought the world owed me more than it did to make up for the shitty start I got in life. But I learned pretty quickly that the Army doesn’t care if you have one dollar or millions, you’ve got to prove yourself to earn respect.
It was actually a good reset for me. To know that if I worked hard, I could really go places. ”
“And you did,” Penny said softly.
“Yeah. So…we have some things to talk about,” he said, not wanting to beat around the bush.
She licked her lips and nodded.
“First up…Colvin Jackson.” He ignored the slight wince she couldn’t control and pushed on.
“My friends and I have a contact. He’s a computer guy.
His name is Tex Keegan. He’s really good at finding dirt, and finding people in general.
I couldn’t even tell you how many missing people he’s found over the years, both military and civilian.
I gave him the few details I had on this Colvin guy and he got back to me fairly quickly. Did you know he’s a millionaire?”
Penny blinked. “What?”
Pyro nodded grimly. “Yeah. Looks like he’s in the oil industry, which is how your husband probably met him.
He has houses in the US, the UK, Switzerland, Spain, and the Bahamas.
He’s married with no children, and he and his wife spend very little time together.
She spends his money how she sees fit, while he travels the world and sleeps with whomever he wants and generally lives like a twenty-five-year-old bachelor instead of the fifty-one-year-old businessman he really is. ”
Penny’s eyes widened more as he spoke. “Wow, you found all that out in a week?”
“That was just in the first day,” Pyro said with a humorless chuckle. “Tex is good at what he does.”
“If he’s rich, why has he been taking money from me for two years? It’s not as if the two hundred dollars, or whatever the local currency converts to, is anything compared to millions.”
“Because he’s an asshole? Because he can? Because he gets off on feeling powerful over others? There could be a hundred different reasons that actually have nothing to do with money.”
“Did John really owe him money in the first place?”
“Unfortunately, it seems that part is true…though so far, Tex hasn’t determined how much.
But Colvin appears really good at getting people to trust him, make them feel comfortable about borrowing money, then turning around and calling in their debt when they’re at their lowest, exploiting their financial issues.
Oil isn’t the only way he makes his money. ”
“That’s disgusting,” Penny said with a frown.
“It is.”
“But now that he can’t get to us, we’re okay, right?”
Pyro frowned. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he refused to keep her in the dark.
“I’m going to make sure that you and Bowie are okay, but because the man has millions of dollars, he’s got some serious power.
And with power, comes plenty of people who are willing to look the other way when laws are broken.
Who are willing to participate in things they know are wrong, immoral, or just plain inhumane. ”
“We’re still in danger, aren’t we?” Penny whispered.
“Tex thinks so, yes. He’s done what he can to keep Colvin out of the country, including putting him on a watch list. But people can be bribed.
And he could fly to the States on a private plane and land at some out-of-the-way airport or a privately owned airstrip. But that’s not Tex’s biggest worry.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what is,” Penny said.
Pyro sighed. “First, the man has many aliases. It wouldn’t be hard for him to buy a new one and get into the US that way. Second, he’s also got no shortage of people who are willing to do his dirty work for him for the right price.”
“Yeah. I didn’t see him a lot, but the people who showed up demanding each month’s payment made it clear they worked for him and would do whatever he asked. They almost seemed…scared to go back without the money they were sent to collect. That’s not really the right word though. Maybe desperate?”
“It’s possible they were being threatened as well,” Pyro said. “But with a network as vast as he has, it’s likely he’s got people in the US already who act in his stead. Who are collecting on the various debts he claims are owed to him.”