Again, a nervous chuckle. “Of course I’m kidding, honey!” Robert’s rocker squeaked as he began to rock. He had no way of knowing a formidable Enigma captain was guiding his wife through a maze of secret tunnels below the streets of Sacramento. It wasn’t until Robert heard a strangely familiar ding that he inquired. “Was that an elevator?” He stopped rocking. “What are you doing?
Tessa watched the stern faced captain breathe on an identification pad to enter through the clear doors of a busy control room filled with people, all monitoring computer screens or overhead flat screens you would normally see at a convention. “Elevator? Oh, that’s right; you’ve been gone so long you no longer recognize the sound of a microwave.” Tessa sounded almost light hearted as she teased her husband. She wasn’t going to straight out lie to him. “Guess you really do need me!”
Robert sighed. “Yes, more than anything.”
“Call me tomorrow, Robert. Kiss the kids for me. I’m beat. Love you!” Tessa clicked off before her husband could brow beat her into joining them at Lake Tahoe.
~ ~ ~
Raising her chin in defiance once more at the suspicious captain, Tessa nonchalantly handed back his phone. “Happy?”
Taking the phone he looked down into her manipulating blue eyes that made him more than a little uneasy. “Charming!” he snapped.
Together they pushed through another set of doors. Tessa burst into laughter. The sound of Chase Hunter’s sarcastic response caused a release of the day’s terrifying tension. As they neared the inner offices, he blew his breath on another security pad before placing his hand on some kind of sensor. A green ribbon of light appeared and scanned his entire body. “Charming?” She choked back the laughter as steel doors slowly opened. He pulled her in after him.
“Why is that so funny?”
She looked around her small enclosure, all shiny, sterile and non-descript. Chase put his hands on his hips, a gesture Tessa began to recognize as Chase’s way of evaluating a situation. “You’re a big strong guy with killer brown eyes.” Again she chuckled, trying to figure out where they were. “You look like someone who eats nails and barbwire for breakfast. And then you say something like ‘charming’.”
This time when she started to laugh, Chase found himself intoxicated by the sound and joined in just as the opposite side of the tiny room opened into the inner office of Benjamin Clark. Tessa found his deep, warm laugh somehow comforting as they turned to face the Enigma team that Captain Chase Hunter commanded. Some of them stood, others sat at a desk, but all of them froze and looked at the two when the sound of their laughter filled the room.
~ ~ ~
Benjamin Clark frowned as he eyed his team leader with one thick eyebrow arched in confusion and aggravation. Chase quickly soured as he met the hawk like eyes of his boss. “Having a good time, Captain Hunter?”
“No sir.”
“I should hope not.” The director observed Mrs. Scott, standing like a high school beauty queen next to his team leader; a man who had been to hell and back.
He realized by her wandering gaze she struggled to make sense of her surroundings. Earlier in the day she’d been in an unused part of the Enigma headquarters. Tessa had now been exposed to the hub of their work. He wasn’t sure what he ultimately would need to do about that problem.
Benjamin could count the times he’d heard Captain Chase Hunter laugh out loud and this was the second time today. He watched Tessa wither under his fierce gaze as she stepped a little back and behind the captain. Benjamin didn’t like surprises. Mrs. Scott was proving to be an interesting encounter. He turned his stocky body to stand before the entire team. The wall behind him transformed into a computer screen.
A map appeared of Grass Valley. Points were marked as to the location of Tessa and Mr. Crawley’s house. The site of the unexpected launch was marked in red. Tessa’s eyes widened at the realization of how close she’d lived to the terrorist. Although her neighborhood was a gated community, the one behind her was not. The house in question had not been that far away. Why would someone living in such a beautiful place want to destroy it? How could a life be so filled with hate and hopelessness that the only option was destruction?
“Mrs. Scott?” Benjamin Clark singled her out. She straightened, leery of what she may have done wrong again. “You were right. There were traces of radioactivity in the mud.” He saw the anxiety in her eyes. “Fortunately the levels were very small. And,” he nodded toward her as he turned his back on them once more, “thanks to Mrs. Scott, we did find a small dirty bomb in her flower bed.”
All eyes turned her way. Zoric, the villainous looking man she’d encountered earlier in the day, smirked a satisfied “well done.” Vernon, the computer genius gave her a wink and thumbs up. Sam, the stunningly beautiful woman she’d been captured by at the elevator, only eyed her with contempt before turning her large cat like eyes back to their boss.
But it was Chase Hunter she timidly looked at for approval. His acknowledgement failed to come. She turned her eyes back to Benjamin. He went on to say the bomb appeared to have landed in Mr. Crawley’s yard near the fence.
“It appears Mr. Crawley buried it in your yard, Mrs. Scott. Given that he made comments about you not leaving on vacation with your family indicates he thought it would be safe there.” Benjamin moved to the edge of his mahogany desk and leaned on the edge. “We think Mr. Crawley knew what it was and used one of your son’s toys to trick the terrorists. We suspect he’d had contact with these men before, maybe wanting advice. Why he didn’t call authorities is a little suspect.” He took a deep breath then ran his hand across his face as if wiping away cobwebs. “It’s on the way to the lab for further evaluation. At this point we don’t know for sure if there is another bomb.”
Timidly, Tessa took a step forward. “And Mr. Crawley? What about him?”
Ben nodded. “None of the agencies claim him but both the FBI and the CIA dodged our inquiries. No work history, no family, no previous address, no nothing as far as we’ve found which adds more evidence that Mr. Crawley was someone important who knew about such weapons.”
Tessa took another step. “But,” she looked up at Chase. His hard eyes fell on her like hammers at her interruption. “He moved here from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We used to talk about it since I worked there too when I was in college.” The team exchanged serious glances. “And…” Tessa felt a tingling sensation, knowing this little bit of information meant something or the Enigma team wouldn’t be staring at her.
“Out with it, Betty Crocker!” snapped Sam with a growl. “We don’t have all day. Maybe if you’d given us this information earlier we wouldn’t be playing catch up!”
Tessa withered at her reprimand. Her mouth went dry and her words came out a stutter. “I, I’m so sorry. I, I...”
Chase reached out and touched her arm. “Take your time, Mrs. Scott.” He leveled his dark eyes at Sam causing her to take a step back and frown. “And what?”
“Before that,” Tessa swallowed hard, “Mr. Crawley lived in Santa Fe.”
“New Mexico?” Chase asked. She nodded. “That’s thirty minutes from Los Alamos,” he said pointing to Vernon who sat down at a computer and began tapping keys so fast it sounded like one continuous tone. “Did he say why he moved to Tennessee, Mrs. Scott?” She seemed frozen except for the large blue eyes that looked up at him in terror.
“Yes! He worked at a lab until he retired.”
“A lab?” Chase said looking over at Vernon who nodded and began tapping even faster on the computer. “Did he ever tell you..?”
Tessa gasped. “It was Oak Ridge National Laboratory!”
“You’re sure?” Chase said as his hand remained on her arm.
“Yes. I remember thinking how close that was to my parent’s house in Nashville.” Tessa gulped. “Who was Mr. Crawley really?”
“Got him!” Vernon yelled out with pride. He turned the laptop around for everyone to see. There was a picture of a young man around
thirty-five and another of a man in his late fifties.
“Mr. Crawley retired ten years ago and left for parts unknown, much to the FBI’s disappointment!” Vernon laughed knowing he’d bested them. “He apparently wrote a paper that was never published about the safety measures both at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge concerning isotope production.”
“Isotopes?” Tessa shook her head. “Why would isotopes be so important?”
Sam came up behind Vernon and reached over his shoulder to pull the lap top back around. Her body rested against the young Vernon’s back. Slowly she pulled back to view the screen, pretending not to notice Vernon was paralyzed at her touch. A hint of perspiration showed just under his wild red hair that fell over his forehead...
Sam casually informed Tessa of the importance. “Isotopes are used in nuclear medicine. It aids in the medical and diagnosis of disease. Some isotopes are used in the study of environmental science such as understanding acid rain, flow paths for geochemical and hydrologic modeling.”
“You’re over my head now,” Tessa said lightly not wanting to be the victim of Sam’s disgusted opinion of her.
“No kidding,” Sam said sarcastically as she folded her arms across her breasts. “In other words isotopes are used in everything from defense programs to food irradiation which makes our food safer to eat and have a longer shelf life. The U.S. now has to import nearly 90% of our isotopes because our facilities cannot produce enough.”
“The Department of Energy is trying to convince congress to build some new facilities so our dependence on Russia and other foreign powers will not put our national security in jeopardy,” Benjamin Clark added.
Tessa nodded in understanding, visualizing the big picture. “So without isotopes people go undiagnosed, and salmonella poisons our food.”
“Some 40% of all raw poultry has traces of salmonella.” Sam continued. “Then there’s E Coli which affects 7,000 to 20,000 Americans a year. The cost of this can reach a half a billion dollars. Irradiation is widely used on food items grown in or near the ground such as spices and vegetables that are dehydrated. All these items are exposed to bacteria and mold.”
“Not to mention insects and rodents that frequent growing centers,” Vernon chimed in with a shiver. “I hate rodents!”
“And,” a new voice entered the room. “Isotopes may be a possible alternative power source for longer-life space missions. If we produce enough isotopes for use in fundamental science projects it may just simulate electronic devices when exposed to cosmic radiation.” Former astronaut Carter Johnson smiled mischievously as he entered the room “Great stuff isotopes!” His eyes fell on Tessa who had now recognized him and couldn’t seem to speak. “And you must be the new girl,” Carter said with the charm of a political candidate running for president. “I’m Carter.” He stepped toward Tessa and stuck out his hand.
Tessa swallowed hard, afraid her admiration for the former astronaut would be evident. She’d followed Carter Johnson’s work at NASA over the years. Having been a co-pilot on six shuttle missions and a pilot on two, Carter had flown into space more than any other astronaut. His expertise was in aerospace and mechanical engineering.
She remembered reading an article about him in Time magazine after he’d suddenly left NASA to take a job in the private sector. The reporter implied he had been asked to leave because of his reckless behavior and tendency to be a thrill seeker. NASA invested a lot of money in their astronauts and didn’t need them taking unnecessary risks.
His biggest mistake, the article reported, was getting involved with two women astronauts who both claimed to be his lover. Unfortunately, one of those astronauts had been Russian and planned to write a book about her six months aboard the International Space Station with Carter Johnson. Both space agencies were furious. The Russians took care of their problem as only they can. It wasn’t until the second female astronaut hired a contract killer for the Russian that NASA decided to let Carter go his own way. He was a public relations nightmare.
Tessa took his hand and felt it close around hers. He gave a sensual squeeze and continued to hold her hand as he smiled flirtatiously. “So you’re the sweet thing that took our glorious captain to his knees.” His laughter sounded like a high school quarterback used to having everyone enjoy the joke. Carter lifted his eyes to Chase who seemed to be frowning more than usual. Tessa tried to remove her hand but Carter continued to hold it. “Tessa, better watch this guy,” Carter spoke to her but his eyes were clearly on Chase. “He’s a smoother talker than me. You’ll never know when this guy is lying to you.”
Tessa’s eyes darted to Chase in alarm, wondering if she’d let her guard down too much. She managed to free her hand. “Nice to meet you, Carter. I’ve followed your career for ten years. I admire all you managed to accomplish at NASA.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound like hero worship.
Chase pushed between Tessa and Carter moving her toward Vernon’s computer screen. “You obviously don’t know about everything he accomplished at NASA.”
Instead of being put off by Chase’s condescending tone, Carter laughed good naturedly and slapped Chase on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t spoil your fun with the little housewife.”
Tessa whirled around in anger. “You know I’m getting pretty sick and tired of people treating me as if I’m not in the room. I’m not a total air head. Maybe I don’t have all the degrees behind my name like all of you, but I seriously doubt all of you combined have as much common sense as I do in my little finger!” Tessa reached down and turned Vernon’s computer screen around and folded her arms. “And if you think you’ve found Jericho Crawley, you’re sadly mistaken. Because,” Tessa pointed at the screen, “that’s not him!”
Chapter 9
H olding a cup of steaming coffee, Robert stood on the front porch, drinking in the beauty of Lake Tahoe. He and Tessa often wondered if there was any place on earth as beautiful as this mountain hideaway they shared each year for two weeks. The smell of pines and fresh air could be intoxicating.
He rubbed his eyes. Sleep had eluded him for a long time, but dozed off only to be awakened by something around four in the morning. After checking all the doors and windows, Robert made rounds, looking out each window into the darkness for over an hour. The story about those escaped convicts forced an uncomfortable uneasiness on him. Soon he felt wide awake and pulled out a novel to read. He thought the western involving gunslingers and Indians would invite sleep. The book, lame in plot, was laid aside as he rested his head back against the rocker he had brought inside the living room from the porch the previous evening.
Honey Lynch, wholesome and sexy that one. Strange how she popped up yesterday. Her company last evening had been welcomed but a little uncomfortable. Entertaining attractive women without Tessa around made him feel guilty. He wasn’t sure why. It had been obvious that Honey was interested in his company. The trout had been delicious. The kids had eaten every bite. She had finally said goodnight when it looked like Robert wasn’t going to send the kids off to bed. Once again she’d disappeared into the woods like a phantom. He’d ask about her vehicle and shouldn’t he and kids drive her to her car. But Honey had only smiled teasingly and said she could take care of herself. After all she carried a gun. That part unnerved him more than the escaped convicts. Maybe she was a psychotic killer looking for unarmed campers.
Robert smiled as he took another sip of coffee. Nothing that looked that good could be a killer. He was sure of that.
~ ~ ~
“Mrs. Scott?” Captain Chase Hunter spoke in a quiet voice as he sat down next to Tessa. She’d fallen asleep shortly after takeoff at two in the morning. Her head rested against the window with a blanket pulled up to her neck. The small pillow had fallen down on her shoulder. Even though the overstuffed leather seats were the best money could buy for this type of luxury jet, there was no substitute for a good bed. She’d turned down the offer of the one bedroom, saying she didn’t want any special treatment.
“So what do you think?” Zoric said in his raspy voice.
“Ben said that Jamaal was intercepted by three men outside Sacramento. We lost track of him after he was taken to a carwash and scrubbed down by hot jets of water.” Chase’s demonic smile showed no sympathy. “Even though we lost him after that I’d have given anything to watch that creep get his just desserts.”
Zoric laid his head back and grinned sadistically. “No, man,” he nodded toward Tessa Scott. “I mean the woman. What do you think?”
Chase glanced over at Tessa and turned back to a folded map he quickly opened. He shrugged. “Interesting.”
“Interesting hell! She’s amazing!” Zoric chuckled quietly so as not to wake her. “How can someone who looks like that get into so much trouble?” He leaned forward and smiled, revealing a chipped tooth. “She’s gotten to you, old friend.”
Chase scowled. “Got that right. That’s why I’ve developed this twitch,” he said pointing to his left eye.
“Naaah! It is something else I think,” he said leaning back in his seat. Chase knew when Zoric closed his eyes, he remembered his wife and daughters one more time before he slept. It had been a ritual for many years now. “I think you have found the one person who can make you face the past and finally see the future.”
The Enigma Series Boxed Set Page 10
