Blind Instinct: A Tess Barrett Thriller

by Michael W. Sherer

  This was how to feel powerful.

  Chapter 28

  Senator Jeremy Latham swiveled his desk chair so that it faced the window and looked out at the lights of the city. Some said New York was the most vibrant city on the planet. It may have been true, but Washington, D.C., was the most powerful. New York had financial power, but money was just a tool, in the same way a nuclear aircraft carrier or a Stryker brigade were tools, nothing more. It took men like him, men with vision and brilliant minds, to wield those tools most effectively. And this town—the capital of the most powerful country in the world—was where those tools could best be put to use.

  The hour was late—most of the country had already gone to bed or was on its way—but headlights and taillights still streaked the avenues with red and white. Latham loved this city, with its wide boulevards, its icons of freedom and democracy, its rich heritage. He would die for this city and what it represented, for Latham considered himself a patriot to the core. But his vision, along with that of others like him, was so much broader, so much larger than America. Latham and these others saw the “big picture,” the need for a single command structure in the world, a single entity to which all others—countries, ideologies and individuals—would pay fealty. America had grown too wishy-washy. People were tired of war after Iraq and Afghanistan. They wanted the troops to come home. But who would be the world’s cop if the U.S. stopped caring?

  Latham didn’t sleep much himself, didn’t see a reason for it. He had too much to accomplish, and more than half his life was behind him. But he considered how far he’d come, and how much more he could still do in the time he had left. He turned back to his desk, its surface lit by a pool of light from a solitary lamp, leaving the rest of the office in shadow. He opened a drawer, took out a prepaid cell phone and dialed a number from memory.

  “Yes?” a voice said after a single ring.

  “Report,” Latham said.

  “The subject just returned home and logged onto the app. We’ve tweaked it based on his game play up to ‘aggression’ mode.”

  “You’re confident this will work.”

  “Given what we saw at the high school out here a few days ago, we’re very confident.”

  “We don’t have much time,” Latham said, the calmness of his voice belying his nervousness. He stopped to evaluate his feelings. No, it wasn’t nerves. It was anticipation, excitement, almost. This concept had so much potential.

  “He’ll be ready. I’m sure of it. He’ll be weaponized in time.”

  “Two days…”

  “Stop worrying.”

  “I’m not concerned,” Latham said. “I have other alternatives if this fails. But perhaps you should be. You have a lot to lose, Mr. Bradley.”

  The man on the other end gave no response.

  Latham chuckled softly and hung up.

  Chapter 29

  “Good morning, Miss Barrett.”

  Tess paused with one foot on the bottom of the jet’s airstair. “Tom, is that you?”

  “Yes, ma’am, at your service. It’s good to see you.”

  Tess laughed. “I wish I could say the same.”

  She had always liked the pilot her father had hired to take him and the family wherever they wanted or needed to go. In the past year she hadn’t given a thought to the family’s planes or the staff it took to maintain and fly them. But it made sense that Uncle Travis had kept them for his own use.

  “Is Rick here, too?” she said, thinking of Tom’s younger co-pilot, remembering the crush she’d had on him when she was in fourth or fifth grade.

  “No, I’m sorry he’s not. But I’ll tell him you said hello. We’re taking the little jet today. Be sure to keep your head down once you’re inside. Ah, and you must be Oliver. I’m Tom Foley.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Oliver said over her shoulder.

  She gripped the railing and climbed the short set of stairs to the open hatch. The little jet was a seven-passenger plane, comfortable enough for short trips, but pretty cramped for any longer than a few hours. She wasn’t complaining, though, as she bent over and made her way to one of the plush leather seats.

  “So this is what it’s like to have money,” Oliver said as he sat across the narrow aisle.

  “I guess I never really thought about it, but yes, this is some of what money can buy. But money can’t buy me parents. Or new friends.”

  Oliver didn’t seem to have a ready answer, so Tess settled back and closed her eyes. Alice had woken her up too early.

  About two hours later, Tom brought the plane down. Tess yawned to relieve the pressure in her ears as they descended, and before she knew it, a slight bump and the roar of reverse thrusters told her they’d landed. The plane rolled down the tarmac, gradually slowing, and finally turned around and taxied.

  “Where are we, Tom?” Tess called to the open cockpit.

  “Airstrip outside Libby,” he said loudly over his shoulder. “Maybe a half-hour’s drive from where you want to go. It’s a nice strip for a small airport, but the runway’s too short for the big plane. That’s one reason we took this one.”

  “The flight was just fine, Tom. We didn’t need anything bigger. Thank you.”

  The plane rolled to a stop and after a cockpit check, Tom unbuckled himself, opened the hatch and lowered the airstair. He climbed down first and waited at the bottom for Tess, with Oliver close behind.

  A voice greeted them from the tarmac as Tess carefully stepped down the airstair. “Miss Barrett, Mr. Moncrief, I’m Bob Haskell. Welcome to Libby. I’m your local contact, so whatever you need, you call me. I’ve got a car waiting for you, fully outfitted. I assume you want to go straight to the ranch first, but based on the briefing I got from Alice Pemberton I’ve taken the liberty of providing detailed county maps as well as assay maps that show locations of old copper mines. If you’ll come this way.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Haskell,” Tess said as he took her arm and guided her to a vehicle.

  “I’ll get your bags, Miss Barrett,” Tom said.

  In five minutes they’d loaded the vehicle, consulted the maps and hit the road. Tess enjoyed a few moments of silence, lulled by the steady purr of the engine and hum of the tires on asphalt.

  “What kind of car did they give us?” she said finally.

  “Range Rover,” Oliver said.

  Tess couldn’t help the sudden intake of breath. She hadn’t ridden in a Range Rover since the accident a year earlier. But if they encountered any rough terrain it was the best vehicle for the job. If Oliver noticed her discomfort he didn’t let on.

  So, do you have ideas about how we do this?” she said.

  “Well, it’s not like we’ll find him by just waltzing in. They won’t have him on display, tied up in a chair in the front lobby, assuming this place has a lobby. But it’s worth taking a look and getting a feel for the layout. So here’s what I’m thinking. If you don’t mind, I propose we pretend we’re engaged and are considering having our honeymoon there, maybe even the wedding itself if we like the place enough.”

  Tess was silent for a moment, trying to decide if she liked the idea of pretending to be Oliver’s fiancée. As serious as she’d thought her relationship with Toby had been before her accident, she’d never entertained fantasies of marrying him. And she certainly didn’t think of Oliver in a romantic sense. She wasn’t sure if she could pull off the charade.

  “You think I look old enough to be engaged?”

  “Definitely.”

  “So we’d be there for a tour, basically.”

  “Sure, and to ask whether the riding the guests do would be suitable for you, since that’s something you seem to enjoy.” He paused. “Look, if you’re uncomfortable with it, we can come up with something else.”

  She mulled it over. “No, that’s okay. I guess it might work.”

  “Good. We’ll give it a shot.”

  After about twenty minutes, Tess felt the SUV slow and turn off the main highway. Back roads would
take them the rest of the way.

  “Wow,” Oliver murmured a few minutes later. “I wish you could see this, Tess. We’re running along a ridge, alternating between thick forests of lodge pines, ponderosa pines, Douglas firs and what I guess you’d call high mountain meadow, kind of sandy soil with grass and scrub. Ahead and down below us is a valley that is almost all meadow dotted with stands of trees. The spring colors are amazing. The valley is a sea of green covered with purple and yellow patches of flowers of some kind. Across the valley in the distance are craggy peaks of the Cabinet Mountain range, some of them still covered with snow. It’s just beautiful.”

  She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Trying to imagine it the way Oliver described it all she could come up with were memories of spring skiing up in the Cascades when everything was green and blooming in the foothills, but the higher elevations still had enough snow for great boarding in fifty-degree temperatures. She had a feeling this was different somehow.

  The five miles from the turnoff to the ranch down in the valley took nearly ten minutes. Tess was content to roll down the window and feel the warm breeze and sun on her face. When the vehicle slowed and the sound of tires on pavement changed to the crunch of rubber on gravel Tess knew they’d arrived.

  Oliver gave her a verbal tour as he drove up to the ranch complex—barn and stable buildings off to the left, large main lodge in the middle, and scattered in among the trees a number of half-hidden log guest cabins. He parked, shut off the engine and got out. Tess opened her door and breathed in the mountain air, detecting the sweet, grassy scent of clover mixed with pine and dust. Another deep breath brought more smells—hay, horses, leather and wood smoke. The sun bathed her in warmth, but the little breeze that stirred wisps of her hair, tickling her neck and cheek, never let her get too hot. She could get used to this.

  “You ready?” Oliver murmured beside her. “I’ll be Joe. Who do you want to be? That character, Cammie Morgan?”

  “I can’t believe you remembered that. Oh, that’s right; you can’t forget most stuff.”

  Tess put her out, found Oliver’s arm and traced it up to his shoulder. She squeezed lightly and he set off with her in step right behind him. She felt the change in the air as soon as they set foot in the lodge, cooler out of the sun, and tinged with scents of old wood, bacon and a hint of mustiness, as if something in the room collected dust. They took several paces inside before he stopped.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  “Oh, my, are you folks lost?” a woman asked.

  “No, we’re—”

  “It’s just that we don’t have anyone on the books as arriving today,” she went on, “and we’re pretty far off the beaten path. So, are you looking for a room?”

  “Actually, we’d like a tour,” Tess said. “You know, take a look around?”

  Silence filled the space around her until it squeezed her chest.

  “Are you…?” The woman couldn’t finish her thought.

  “Blind?” Tess laughed.

  Oliver joined in then said, “I’m Joe and this is my fiancée Cammie. We’re on our way home from Yellowstone, but we heard about this place and wanted to take a look.”

  Tess chimed in. “We’re trying to decide where to spend our honeymoon, and I recently discovered that I love to ride. So here we are.”

  “You know, hon’,” Oliver said, “this might be a great place to have the wedding. Is anyone available to show us around?”

  He was laying it on so thick Tess wanted to kick him, but she smiled sweetly.

  “Oh, of course,” the woman said hurriedly. “Let me get Mr. Evans. Buck Evans is the manager of the ranch. I’m sure he can help you. Wait here and I’ll be right back.”

  “Seems to be working,” Oliver said quietly a moment later.

  “You don’t have to be so into it,” Tess said. “We’re not actually getting married.”

  “I thought girls couldn’t wait to get married.”

  “With the right guy, maybe.”

  “You don’t think I’m good enough for you?”

  “I didn’t say—”

  “Well, hey there, you two!” a man’s voice called. He had a bit of a twang in his voice, and Tess couldn’t help wondering since this was Montana, not Texas, if it wasn’t put on for the guests. Mona here tells me y’all want to take a look ’round the spread. Dad-gummit, she was right!” He let out a low whistle. “You can’t see a bonfire inside a barn, can you, little lady?”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that, Mr. Evans,” Tess said. “I’d say you’re waving your hand in front of my face right about now.”

  Buck Evans roared with laughter. “Just goes to show you don’t have to see to know what in Sam Hill is goin’ on. I’ve got a few minutes of free time. You got yourself a tour.”

  Oliver took her hand and squeezed it. Evans kept up a steady patter as he led them through the main lodge first, pointing out the large, open great room with panoramic views of the meadows and mountains, the dining room, a smaller sitting room, a library about an eighth the size of the one she had at home, and a little gift shop. Oliver provided physical descriptions when necessary. The musty smell, apparently, came from hunting trophies on the walls, the stuffed and mounted heads of moose, elk, deer, mountain goat, a buffalo and a bear. Tess shuddered, glad she couldn’t see them.

  From there, Evans took a short path outside to another large building behind the lodge that housed conference facilities. Inside, he showed them a large banquet hall that could be divided into smaller areas, a medium size hall and four smaller conference rooms. All wired, he said, for high-speed Internet connection over a wi-fi network.

  “What do you think so far?” Evans said as he escorted them back out into the sunshine.

  “Terrific, if we planned a company meeting,” Oliver said.

  “Oh, I get it,” Evans said. “Y’all are more interested in the accommodations. Well, that’s next. We’re on our way.”

  Tess felt warm sun then cool breeze on her skin, and guessed the path led through the trees, alternating between shade and sunny spots. Her thoughts wandered to what Oliver had said earlier, about girls spending so much time anticipating their own weddings. She didn’t, really, but she couldn’t say that she hadn’t been into watching Say Yes To The Dress once in a while before she lost her sight.

  From there, completely unbidden, her train of thought jumped the switch to a siding as she wondered what it would be like to kiss Oliver. Yoshi had said he was good-looking, but she wondered if she would be able to tell. And whether it made any difference. She wondered what it would be like to feel her arms wrapped around him, her fingers running over his smooth skin, muscles rippling beneath it. She imagined leaning into him, their lips about to touch, her heart beating faster the closer they came.

  “So, where y’all from?” Evans said.

  His question yanked Tess back into reality, and she flushed, shocked at where her thoughts had strayed. Why on Earth would Oliver be interested in her? And why would she even contemplate a relationship with him? He worked for her. She reminded herself that they were playing roles.

  “Washington state,” Tess said, keeping it deliberately vague.

  “Y’all look a little young to be gettin’ hitched.”

  “We’re planning on a long engagement,” Oliver said.

  “I’m finishing school before the wedding,” Tess added.

  “Well, now, that’s smart,” Evans said. “You should take all the time you need.”

  They didn’t volunteer any more, and Evans didn’t push. He took them to what he called a standard cabin, which Oliver described as a nice size bedroom with a connecting bathroom and small sitting area. The deluxe cabin he showed them next featured a kitchenette and eating nook. Evans explained that the ranch had about a dozen of each, another ten rooms on the second floor of the main lodge, and about a half-dozen two- and three-bedroom cabins that were self-contained, more like individual houses.

  “Can we s
ee the horses now?” Tess asked after they’d “seen” the second cabin. She wanted to move this along, They hadn’t come all this way to look at honeymoon suites.

  “Guests have taken a lot of them out on a trail ride,” Evans said, “but I can take you to the stables and see if we have staff on hand to show you around.”

  A five-minute walk brought them to the stable. Tess could tell by the smell of hay, oats, manure, and horse sweat, not to mention the lazy buzzing of flies all around. Inside the relative coolness of the stable, Tess also picked up the scents of leather and liniment. Evans told them how many horses they had, and gave them a summary of the riding programs, including cattle drives, round-ups, trail riding, riding clinics and rodeo riding instruction. He walked them from there to the corral.

  “If you’d come a couple weeks ago,” he said, “you could’ve seen spring roundup. That’s when we bring in all the mama cows with their new calves for branding before we turn them out in summer pastures.”

  Tess’s nostrils flared. She could still sense vestiges of the wood fires used to heat the brands, along with the smell of burnt hide and flesh.

  “I heard a lot of ranches use RFID tags these days instead of brands,” Oliver said.

  “Really big spreads—forty, fifty thousand acres or more—use radio frequency tags cause they make it easier to track the animals by copter. This ranch is small by comparison, and a visual brand still works for us.”

  “It just seems so mean,” Tess said. She fidgeted. They’d wasted so much time, and they weren’t any closer to finding Uncle Travis.

  “I won’t say it doesn’t hurt, but they live through it.”

  “Well, I think we’ve seen enough,” Tess said.