The Puppeteer (25 page)

“I got sick after that. In two years, I didn't gain any weight. I was comatose but functioning. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I was physically fine, other than the weight—but I wasn't
there.
I ate, bathed, and did all the necessities, but I almost never spoke and almost never left my room. Karen and Andrew, Drew's parents, became our guardians and fought tooth and nail to keep me home with them. I guess the doctors wanted to put me in a hospital but the Carmichaels would have none of that. Karen homeschooled me as much as she could—as much as I would let her. Jason, who was still living at home, and Sammy did their best, too. I think the truth of the matter was, I had no will to live.” The thought of a young Dani scared, locked into her own hell, alone, twisted his heart. He pulled her closer and, resting his cheek on the top of her head and closing his eyes, gave thanks that she hadn't given up.

“Finally, during the first weeks of summer two years after the shooting, Drew came home from his second year in college and got through to me. I don't remember how he even convinced me to take a walk, I just remember sitting on the boat dock with our feet hanging in the water and staying that way for a long time. Drew put his arm around me and said ‘Talk to me, kid,’ and I did. I cried, I talked, I told him everything I remembered. It had been locked inside me for so long that I think, once I started talking, I didn't want to stop. I must have told him the story a dozen times, crying harder and harder each time.” She wrapped her arms around Ty and rested her head against his chest.

“By the time I was talked and cried out, it was almost dark. We stayed though, and watched the moon rise. Drew knew then that he wanted to go into the CIA, so he offered me a deal. Once he could, he would do anything he could to help find the man who killed my parents. In return, I had to get strong, physically and mentally.

“The deal worked and I regained my strength. I started with yoga, then moved on to Tai Chi, and then I worked my way through all the other forms of martial arts. When I was eighteen and could go to the shooting range without permission, Drew started taking me. And then I went on my own. By then, Drew was working for the CIA and he started to bring me pictures of anyone who might fit the description I'd given him. By the time I was twenty-three, I'd finished my bachelor's and master's and entered the CIA myself. Drew was senior enough at that point that he took me onto his team—it was beneficial for both of us. Our families have known each other forever and our family businesses are intertwined enough that it's a great cover for us when we travel together. But regardless, we've kept our deal all these years—he still gives me pictures and information and I work on staying strong.”

Dani smiled at this last statement. “At this point, I don't think it's much of a deal, but we stick to it anyway.”

“And this morning?” Ty prompted, running a hand down her back.

“It was him,” Dani's voice became stronger. “Sitting in a chair behind Sonny at some café in Miami. I was so shocked, after all these years, to see his face that I think I—well, you know how I reacted.”

Ty pulled her closer and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “And how are you now?”

Dani seemed to ponder this for a while before answering. “I'm good,” she said, and Ty could hear the truth in her voice. “I was shocked and it took me back for a while there, but I feel okay now, relatively speaking. We can work on getting an ID on him and go from there. I won't ever be able to forget what happened, but at least I can work on bringing the man to justice.”

He didn't answer, thinking that if it was justice Dani wanted for the man, she was much more forgiving than he.

“Ty?” she said after another long silence.

“Hm?” he answered, still holding her close, her head back on his shoulder.

“I've never told anyone, other than Drew, what I just told you.”

Ty took a moment to digest this and then pulled her closer, resting her whole body against his. She didn't require an answer, so he didn't offer one. She just wanted him to know.

“You realize you blew your DEA cover by telling me that you're with the CIA?” Ty pointed out, after the moon had risen even more.

“We knew you knew,” Dani answered.

Ty laughed. “We knew you knew,” he mimicked, making Dani laugh, too. “Who blabbed?”

“Your brother. Who is a great guy, by the way,” she answered.

“Yeah, so great he ratted me out,” Ty said, but without malice.

“Not exactly, if it makes you feel better. I saw the email address on the information you gave to Drew, I recognized it and called him to check it out. I've worked with Cameron a couple of times over the last few years. I knew his last name was Fuller but there are a lot of Fullers out there so I didn't make the connection right away when we contacted them for information on Getz's equipment.”

“Still, he didn't tell me he told you,” Ty pointed out.

“You going to tell your mom on him?” Ty was happy to hear the relaxation in her voice.

“So, tell me why you guys are in on this operation? And I assume you had some idea the blue-eyed man was involved somehow with Sonny, which is why you pitched a fit about going to San Diego rather than Miami. And why Drew opted to send you to San Diego rather than Miami, come to think of it,” he added.

“I did know, but not until we were onto Getz.” And she told him about Jonathon Smythe, the weapons, and how the weapons led to Getz. This part of the story was new to him, but he knew the rest from the files he'd read the other day. Once they were onto Getz, they'd found Eagle's Wing and Sonny Carlyle.

“And when I saw Sonny's name in conjunction with the Eagle's Wing, I knew.”

“How?”

“His dad did some occasional work for us,” she explained. “He wasn't an agent or even a contractor. He kept his ears open and, on occasion, passed on interesting bits of information to us, but that was all. So, when he was killed, we knew. And we knew how he was killed before we ever knew about Smythe and Getz.” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“The murder caught my attention because he was shot execution style and something about the scene was too similar to my parents'
murders—and to a few other murders that have come to my attention in the past several years. I had kept my eye on it, more out of curiosity than anything else,” she admitted before moving on.

“And you think the man who killed your parents may be the same man who killed Sonny's father?” Ty asked.

“I think it's too much of a coincidence to have two people in similar industries, killed in the same way, so yes, I think it's the same man.”

“Which is why it came as such a shock when you saw him in the picture with Sonny. The last man you'd expect to see hanging around the son is the man who killed the father.”

Dani nodded. “And, because he was there, it makes me wonder what else he might have planned. I know how vulnerable Sonny might be. And for a few days we've been thinking someone must be pulling all the strings in this situation. Maybe it's him?”

“You think the man who killed Sonny's father might have convinced him the government was behind his father's death and he should get back at them by joining the militia?” Ty asked, intrigued by this new information.

“Or that the government wasn't doing enough to solve his father's murder. I think either would be motivation enough for a young man, angry over his father's death.”

Ty mulled this over. He didn't know enough about Sonny to say, but if he was a hotheaded kid, he could easily see this happening. Easily imagine someone manipulating him into action. The question was why. So he asked.

“I'm not sure why. I know this all must sound like a crazy web of similarities, but my gut says they're all connected.”

“Okay, I'll grant you that. So, tell me why your instinct is telling you this?”

“The country my dad was working in was fine when he started his research. It wasn't rich but it was stable and experiencing moderate growth. Nothing crazy, nothing like the western countries experienced in the eighties, but it was slow and steady. After my father's death, a report was issued, from a different firm, stating that there were significant reserves of gold in the country. Lots of it. The country didn't have enough money to invest in the resources to
extract the metals so they applied to the World Bank for a loan on the basis of this report.”

“And let me guess, there was no metal?” Ty asked, though he knew the answer.

“None, or not much. You can imagine what that kind of debt did to the country over time. One thing led to another, one coup led to another, one rebel group to a counter rebel group. The country backslid and war broke out. It's been clawing its way out of poverty over the past decade. With the generous assistance of the United States, of course,” she added. Her caustic tone was mild but unmistakable.

“You think the US set the whole thing up?” Ty knew governments could do all sorts of things, and he wasn't blinded by his own allegiance to his country, but he had a hard time believing what Dani seemed to be insinuating.

Dani frowned and thought before answering. “See, that's the thing that I can't figure out. I
don't
actually think the US government is involved. There's no doubt they're benefiting from the situation. We offer debt relief, but in return we get to set up a puppet government—though, of course, we'll never admit that. But, I don't think the government has the patience to set up a situation like this. It would take too many years to see any benefit, too many terms, too many political changes for the US government to commit to that kind of scheme,” she conceded.

“And?” Ty prompted.

“Sonny's father was in a similar situation. I think a man capable of executing people without hesitation or remorse might be capable of a lot of things, including arms dealing.”

“Okay, so if this man who killed your father, and Sonny's, is involved, he must be in it for money and power. But why involve Sonny in this part of his plan?”

Dani took a deep breath and sighed. “I don't know, maybe he's setting Sonny up for something? Maybe the bombing plot we've been gathering intelligence on is going to be blamed on him?”

“How would that benefit him?”

Dani shook her head again. “I wish I knew, but I don't. I'd guess it has something to do with power and money and manipulation, but beyond that, I just don't know.”

“I wondered if you all might get around to sharing information with me.” He tempered his mild rebuke with a gentle kiss on her head. “But why all the secrecy?”

“Even though Smythe, as a foreign diplomat, is firmly within CIA jurisdiction,” she clarified, “we still had to lobby for it. We wanted jurisdiction, we wanted to lead the investigation because of Sonny's dad. We felt we owed it to him. Drew threw some fancy, if stretched, logic into his request that included Sonny's international travel experience, his multiple passports. Between those facts, the potential involvement of a foreign citizen, and arms trading, Drew was able to convince the powers that be to give us the lead.”

“He wanted the case because you asked him to get it.” Ty laughed when Dani gave him a chagrinned looked.

“Yeah, he did. We'd tracked the weapons and were about to hand the case over to the feds, but when Sonny Carlyle's involvement cropped up, I asked him to do this for me.”

“But what started as a favor, may be what breaks the investigation.” Ty offered. “Now we know the man who killed your parents is involved, and considering he might be the man manipulating everything from behind the scenes, I'd say that's a pretty good catch. A man like that, with those kinds of connections, needs to be stopped.”

Dani sighed. “I haven't been thinking about much of anything since I saw him in that picture. But it's a thought. Drew is probably thinking along the same lines we are. My guess is we'll have all sorts of new information when we get back to the house.”

Ty wrapped both arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. “Drew's a good egg, isn't he?”

Dani tightened her arms around Ty's waist, tucked her head against his neck, and nodded. “Although I'm sure he won't be happy with the delay I caused today,” she added.

“Drew is more concerned about you than this case, but to put your mind at ease, there wasn't any delay. He sent Jay and one of the women who works for Cotter to drop Roddy and Fawkes.”

“We're collecting a rather ragtag team,” she commented on the number of people now participating in the investigation that weren't employed by the CIA. “How'd it go?' she asked.

“They're all contractors. It's all legal,” Ty responded to her first comment. “As to the rest—good. Fawkes and Roddy made it up to the boathouse and back with no problems. They thought it was great fun so they made a second run this afternoon, only they went in from up the coast. One of Jay's places has a boathouse so they dropped there, swam down the coast, checked out the security again, scoped some areas, and then made it back.”

Dani shivered in Ty's embrace, no doubt remembering the chill of the water. “Of all jobs, I'm glad I don't have that one.”

“Me, too. I'd hate to hear what Fawkes would have to say after seeing you in a wetsuit,” he mock shivered himself, making Dani laugh.

“He's harmless,” she teased.

“I know, but it still bugs me,” Ty said with affection.

“So, are we all set for the water approach?”