Chapter 18
18
M ason felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see who texted. He grinned when he saw Carley's name. He'd been thinking about her nonstop today. They'd had a hot night last night. Sex. Shower. They ordered food to be delivered and watched a movie. Afterwards, they had sex again, and she slept over. He basically told her she had to stay over since he didn't want her out there alone in her house at night. Initially, he'd worried about his nightmares, but she told him if it was bad, she'd sleep on the couch. He relaxed after that. He only had one nightmare, and it wasn't a bad one.
This morning, she woke him up, sitting on top of him. His cock roared to life, and the instant she felt it, she slid herself on him. Best way to wake up…ever.
He read her text.
"Hey, Layton Terry wants to see the condo at eight tonight. He insisted on that time. Do you think you'll be off to join me?"
"I'll make sure. Don't go in without me there."
"Okay. See you later."
"Looking forward to it."
She sent a smiling face and replied.
"I've been thinking about you all day."
His heart swelled and his mind went back to this morning. And suddenly he couldn't wait to see her again. Actually, it wasn't sudden at all. He tapped out,
"I've been thinking about you too."
She sent another smiley face. He waited in case she was going to send something more. She didn't so he pocketed his phone and continued working.
He called a cleaning company to go into his old apartment and clean it up. Then he called his now former landlord and told him a cleaning company was coming in tomorrow and he should try to rent out his apartment. He was obligated to a sixty-day notice and he acknowledged that. He'd pay the two months’ rent if he had to, but he also knew it would rent quickly. He'd likely not have to pay anything at all, so would let the chips fall where they may.
Jace stepped behind the bar. "Good morning."
Mason grinned. "Morning. Do you have a minute?"
"Sure. We have time before we open, let's head back to the office."
He followed Jace to the office, pulling the thumb drive out of his pocket that Carley had found. As they stepped into the office, Margo was sitting at her desk on her computer. She turned and smiled. "Morning."
"Good morning." He nodded.
Jace turned to him, "Is it okay if Margo stays or does this need to be private?"
He shook his head, "It's not private, and it's her office, too, so I'd feel bad asking her to leave." He held his hand out to Jace. "Carley found this on the grounds of the condos last night. It's military-grade. I recognize it, and whoever had it originally, had some security clearance. And when that place was a barracks, no one with that type of clearance would have stayed there."
Jace turned it over in his hand, then pulled the cap off of it. "Did you look at it?"
"No."
He pushed it into the side of his computer and a Military Intelligence logo appeared on the screen. Jace turned his head and stared at Mason. "Holy shit."
"Right."
Jace clicked on the logo, and a sign-in window appeared. He stood and huffed out a deep breath. "I don't have contacts with super-high clearance anymore. Do you?"
"I have a couple of people I can contact."
"Okay. Who else knows about this thumb drive?"
“The landscaper who was there and a client of Carley's named Layton Terry. That guy Terry seemed weird about it. He kept asking to see it and what she was going to do with it. It creeped both of us out."
"Okay. Tell you what, I'll put this in the safe. You call your contacts and see who we can get this to."
Mason nodded. "Thanks. I feel better knowing it's hidden and secure until we can hand it over."
Mason stepped out of the office and pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed up his former Army Lieutenant, Ethan Dougherty. Putting his phone to his ear, he stepped into the storeroom where it was private.
"Hello, Mason Thompson. How are you doing?"
"Hello, Lieutenant. I'm fine."
Ethan's laugh sounded so good to hear over the phone. He'd always been a happy guy. "I'm not your Lieutenant anymore."
Mason grinned. "I'm aware. It's a sign of respect you know."
"Thank you. It's good to hear from you. What's going on?"
"I found, or I should say, my girl..." He swallowed. "My girlfriend found a military thumb drive. My boss put it in his computer and the Department of Military Intelligence logo came up on the screen. I don't know what's on the thumb drive, but it was buried in the dirt around an old barracks here in town that has been turned into condos. I live there. The barracks was decommissioned about twelve years ago."
"Interesting. Where are you?"
"In Blossom Springs, Florida."
"Okay. Let me do some checking on my end. I'll get back to you by the end of the day with a plan. Can you keep it safe?"
"Yes. I work at a bar called the Sandbar, and my boss has it in the safe."
"You work in a bar?"
Mason immediately began sweating. He'd forgotten for a moment about his situation. He froze, not sure what to say. Ethan spoke again. "I think we have some catching up to do."
"Yes, sir."
"Hmm." There was a brief silence, and then Ethan spoke again. "I'll be in touch with you later today, Mason. Thank you for calling me."
"Of course. Thank you."
"Nice talking with you."
"Yes sir...Ethan. It was nice talking with you."
The call ended, and Mason pressed his back against the wall and closed his eyes. What did it mean that he'd forgotten to explain before he told Ethan about the thumb drive? Of course, Ethan knew Mason had left the Army. But the last he'd seen Ethan, at their annual get-together three years ago, he was still a surgeon. He'd stopped going to the annual gatherings, embarrassed about his PTSD and then his leaving his job at Presbyterian Hospital in Maryland.
He dragged a deep breath into his lungs, pushed himself off the wall, and strode out to the bar to finish set-up for the day.
The door to the Sandbar opened and a man and woman hurried in and shut the door. They seemed upset. Mason moved out from behind the bar and made his way over to them. They stood by the door watching it.
"Can I help you with something?"
The man turned to him. He swallowed and nodded. "There's some guy out there walking in between the cars. As we walked toward the building he followed us. My wife..." he glanced at the woman next to him. "was scared."
"What's he wearing?"
Mason turned the handle on the door before the man was finished. He hustled out to the parking area and saw the back of the man's head hurrying away from the Sandbar. He recognized him. The same hair and still wearing the same clothes.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialed the Blossom Springs Police Department.
"Blossom Springs PD. How can I help you?"
"This is Mason Thompson. I work at the Sandbar. The man you're looking for who put a note on Carley Page's car is here now."
"I'll send an officer over right away."
"Thank you."
He hung up and followed the man, keeping a distance from him in case he was armed. The man turned and saw him, then took off running. He had a bit of a limp to him, as if he had a bad leg or had hurt himself. Mason took off after him, grateful he jogged a couple of times a week. He gained on the man, then, as if he'd done this before, he ducked into a small patch of tall brush that led up to Sid and Grace's place.
He didn't have Sid's phone number, nor Grace's but he knew Jace did. He stopped in front of the patch of brush and called Jace as he watched for movement.
"Hey, Mason, what's up? Some customers said you were following someone."
"Yeah. The man who put the note on Carley's windshield had scared a couple of customers. I've called the police, and they're on their way, but he dove into some tall brush that leads up to Sid and Grace's house. I don't know if they're home to warn them. I don't have their numbers."
"I'll call. I hear sirens now, stay where you are, and I'll send them up the road."
The call ended, and he craned his neck to see if he could spot something moving. The adrenaline raced through his bloodstream, and he felt the flush of heat envelope his body. Of course, it was plenty hot outside, but this was internal. The sirens grew louder, but he didn't take his eyes off the brush.
A police cruiser stopped on the road and the officer neared him slowly.
"I'm Officer Isak Voss. Can I help you?"
Mason was afraid to turn away from the area in case he missed something. He also didn't want to be rude. Finally, he reached forward and held his hand out to shake the officer's hand. "I'm Mason Thompson. I called. He ran in there."
Officer Voss stared at the area and heaved out a deep sigh. "I hate this."
"I'm aware. I'm also not terribly familiar with this area other than I know Sid and Grace Hoffman live up there. This piece of land..." He pointed to the brushy area. "Meanders along the cliff and separates their place from the water below."
Officer Voss nodded. "Yep. That's correct. Also, much further in there, the terrain gets very steep. So, now we have to decide whether to go up or down."
Mason nodded. "If it helps, I called Jace to tell Sid this guy is around, so up is likely covered."
Officer Voss grinned. "That helps." He strode toward the bottom edge of the brush, and Mason stood watch, not sure what he should do to help other than stand there in case the man came back out.
After a few minutes, he heard Officer Voss yell, "Stop and put your hands in the air. I said, stop! Stop. Stop. Stop."
Then a gunshot rang out and Mason's legs crumbled beneath him.