by Dale Mayer
“A sense of violation,” she added. “To think somebody came in here, deliberately trying to hurt us, not physically, but business-wise, it’s just a creepy feeling. I didn’t have a ton of girlfriends growing up, so I didn’t have that real close connection with others in a group. It’s always been just Todd and me. Such a horrible feeling to think somebody in the outside world is trying to harm us.”
“And it may not be so much trying to do you harm as trying to line their own pockets. Greed is a powerful motivator for some,” Tanner reminded her. “So let’s hope that, A, we’re only dealing with one asshole, and, B, he decides it’s not worth his time and effort.”
She brightened at that. “I like the sound of that. It would really suck to think I had two of these guys up against me. But then what’s the purpose of trying to kill me?”
“I was going to ask you about that.” Tanner waited while Todd refilled his coffee cup. Tanner’s gaze going from one sibling to the other, he said, “Is there any chance Wynn’s accident could have been minor sabotage that went crazy, so he just wanted to scare you, maybe get you to quit? But not actually kill you?”
Todd stared at him. “I hadn’t considered that. I suppose it’s possible though. But, if you’re going to sabotage anybody’s equipment when they’re one thousand feet aboveground with very little in the way of safety gear …”
“Which brings us back to the missing parachute.” Tanner looked over at Wynn. “It didn’t open, and yet, we know that one in every thousand chutes doesn’t open based on statistics alone. Could they have known it wasn’t going to open?”
“So you’re saying, they would have sabotaged my paraglider, but, because I had on a parachute pack, they assumed I’d be fine. And maybe a good hard scare would make me quit this sport?”
“We know it happens,” Todd said to his sister. “Look at Amber. She had that bad accident. She ended up with a rough landing after a mishap in the air. She broke an ankle, cracked a rib as she came down, but she never flew again. Everyone said she lost her nerve, and, when I asked her about it, she just gave me that sad smile and said she had lost her passion for something that would eventually kill her.”
Wynn sat back and thought about it. “I guess it’s possible. It’s certainly a little easier to stomach too. I’d rather think somebody was only trying to scare me into quitting, not trying to kill me.”
“It’s still not great, but at least it isn’t as malicious.”
She sighed. “Yes, considering the alternative, I’ll take this one.”
Tanner’s phone rang. He pulled it out, checked it and laid it on the table beside him.
Todd looked up. “Where were you this last week or so?”
Tanner’s face stilled. Then he said, “I was in Iraq on a mission.”
Todd was prying, but he studied Tanner’s face while Wynn watched them both with interest. Then Todd nodded. “Top secret and all that stuff, huh?”
Tanner gave a quick nod. “Most of my work is.”
“Okay, I can accept that,” Todd said. “Glad to have you back in town now.” He turned toward his sister. “Do you get calls and have to get up in the middle of the night and leave?”
Tanner tilted his head slightly as if looking for a good answer. “I usually get a few hours’ warning. Sometimes it’s less than four though. It depends where in the world the strife is and how many skilled units they need.”
“And, being one of the elite, I suppose you only go in when it’s ugly.”
Tanner chuckled. “If that’s what you want to call us, yes.”
Wynn filed away that information. “That must be hard on relationships.”
He shot her a glance and nodded. “It is. My work is dangerous. It’s sometimes pretty hairy. I can be gone for long periods at a time, and then sometimes I’m home for months and months, when it seems like all the world is at peace. And then I get a call, and I’m gone.”
She liked that about him. He didn’t make any excuses. “Thank you for serving our country.”
He gave a slow nod. “You’re welcome. I do what I do for people like you.”
She thought there was a ton of emotion and a lot of stories and pain behind that statement. She smiled slowly. “And that’s why I’m saying thank you.”
*
It wasn’t often that he was thanked for the job he did. These two were good people. They deserved to have a life that was fun and enjoyable, even while they were working hard but doing what they wanted to do. It was hard to imagine somebody was out there trying to kill them—or at least her. And that brought up another factor.
He turned to look at Todd. “So we didn’t really discuss your accident. Is there any chance your accident was also sabotage?”
Todd looked at him in surprise.
“Sabotage, attempted murder, scaring you into quitting the sport, whatever you want to call it,” Tanner said. “I know it’s been a few years, but, if somebody was doing this to torture your family, as in they really, really, really hated you, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t have stopped after your accident but would be looking for another opportunity to go after your sister as well. So I guess that’s what I’m asking. I know it’s not something you want to contemplate, but to have taken you out and made you suffer for years and then to take out your sister, well …” He shrugged, his palms up. “I had to ask.”
Todd just stared at him.
Wynn answered him with slow words. “He was in a paragliding competition. There was no real way to understand what went wrong. His frame snapped. We were in Hawaii. He came crashing down. He was too low for his parachute to open fully. Although he did crash, the partial-chute drop helped stop him from a complete blow into the cliff edge. It was bad. But, if that chute hadn’t opened, it would have been way worse.”
Todd nodded slowly. “The frame itself was smashed into the rocks, and there were only pieces afterward to collect.”
“Any idea why the frame snapped?”
“I broke my own rule,” he said. “I always retire a frame after so many hours of flight time. And I was past it. But I had won every other competition with this glider, and I wanted to use it as my lucky charm that day.”
“And, any other time, would you have considered that number of hours to have been an issue in terms of equipment fatigue?”
Todd shook his head. “No. But it was my own rule. So, when the accident happened, I figured I had just pushed my luck once too often.”
“And now? Considering the sabotage to your sister’s equipment, how do you feel about your own accident as you look back?”
He was silent for a long moment, his hands hugging the cup of hot coffee. His face went white, as if the memories were difficult.
Tanner could understand that. He’d been through enough ugly scenarios that even the mention of one was enough to make his system chill to the point of being frozen. He worked long and hard on not having things like that incapacitate him. And so had Todd. But Tanner suspected this was the first time anybody had suggested that Todd’s accident was anything other than an accident. Tanner looked at Wynn. “Who won the competition with Todd out?”
“Nobody. When Todd went down, several other people immediately went down to help, and the competition was called off.”
“And is there any chance that, by not winning that competition, somebody else lost out?”
“Like endorsements?” Todd asked.
Tanner turned to him. “I suggest we look at it from all angles. If you had won, would somebody else’s nose have been out of joint? If you had lost, would another somebody’s nose have been out of joint? And, with your crash, did that boost anybody up in the rankings? Did somebody get endorsements because you were now out of the picture? Things like that. Money is power, and, in competitions, everybody wants to win.”
“I was less about winning,” Todd said, “and more about just enjoying the sport. Wynn and I are very similar in that way. We mostly competed against each other. However, we really compet
ed against ourselves. We kept wanting to best our own records. When we went up in the sky in these competitions, it was us against Mother Nature. And that’s how we felt. It wasn’t about competing. It was about flying.”
Tanner pointed at Wynn. “You said something to that effect earlier.”
She nodded. “And I meant it. But not everybody feels the same way,” she said in a wry tone. “That particular competition of Todd’s was the last of the season. The others wanted the competition to be run again, but, after Todd’s bad accident, it was just canceled. The year was finished by tallying up all the runs until that point.”
“And did that make sense to you?” Tanner asked. “Would you have thought there was a better way to do it?”
She shook her head. “No. I think that was the best way to handle it. But my brother had accumulated so many points that he still retained top status. If anybody had wanted to beat him that season, well, it was pretty much a no-go.”
“He had already been winning pretty steadily?”
“Sure,” Wynn said, “but two others were winning steadily too. Really only the three of them were at the top of the pack. And that left an awful lot of guys who just didn’t have the skills yet to challenge them.”
“That’s pretty egotistical to say,” Todd said quietly. “An incredible number of very talented men were coming up behind me. But, that season, three of us were in competition for the overall championship.”
“Since you had that accident, the next year, of course, you weren’t even in the play. Who won that next year?”
Todd looked at him. “Steve Catcher. He was one of the two other men.”
“Fascinating,” Tanner said. “And did he have an accident at the end of his year too?”
Wynn stared at him this time. “I really don’t like the way your mind works.”
“I’ve heard that before.” Tanner gave her a grim smile. “It doesn’t change the fact that these questions have to be asked.”
“And I really wish they didn’t,” she said. “That’s a pretty sad way to go through life.”
He nodded but repeated, “It doesn’t change the fact.”
Todd answered the question with a frown. “I’m not sure I can answer that. I know he was awarded the championship. But he dropped out of sight afterward. I don’t know what happened to him.”
“Are you a good-enough friend that you can get in touch with him and ask? Or were you never really friends?”
“We were really good friends,” Todd said. “It’s partly because of Steve that I recovered as well as I did. He wouldn’t let me give up.”
“Now that’s interesting. Maybe you should contact him, ask him about his competition win, why he’s not out there anymore. Ask if there are any rumors about the third guy. What was his name?”
“His name is Roger. We called him Rog.” Todd pulled out his cell phone and flicked through his contacts. When he got to Steve’s entry, he sent a text. Hey, stranger. He looked up at the other two, then added You dropped out of sight. Is everything okay? He read his text out loud for Tanner and his sister, then Todd hit Send. He put the phone on the table beside him. “No idea if I’ll even hear back from him.”
“Have you had any contact with Rog since your accident?”
Todd shook his head. “Rog and I weren’t exactly friends,” Todd said, his voice short. “He was one of those win-at-all-costs kinds of guys.”
Tanner stared at him. “And you never considered or it never crossed your mind that win at all costs could easily mean sabotaging the man at the top?”
“Well, it didn’t do him any good,” Wynn said, “because, if he did sabotage Todd’s rig, Todd still won, and then Steve won the year after.”
“And this year?”
Todd looked at him, his face turning slightly gray. “I believe Rog is in the lead.”
Tanner nodded. “Maybe it took him three tries to get it right, but this year he’ll win regardless.”
Wynn grabbed Todd’s hand and squeezed it. “It wouldn’t hurt to make a few inquiries. We know a lot of the people in the competition circuit. We know a lot of the judges. If anything is off out there, maybe somebody will let us know.”
Todd nodded. “I can look into it. But I tell you, I can’t say I’m terribly impressed with the concept of opening up that part of my life.”
“No,” Tanner said, “but you’ll do it to keep your sister safe.”
Chapter 11
Later that night Tanner and her brother had a few drinks, then heard a noise outside. At that point, Tanner declared in a solid hard voice that he was staying, and nothing they said would change his mind.
She hadn’t minded. Although he certainly wasn’t drunk, she didn’t want to see him leave and definitely not to drive. He laughed and told her that he never did anything stupid like that. One DUI and his navy career would be over. She was glad to hear that, but, at the same time, it was a little awkward at bedtime. She’d taken away any opportunity for further questioning when she dumped blankets and pillows on the couch for him.
Todd chuckled and said, “Well, she put you in your place.”
Tanner had given her that hot look she’d recognized a couple times before and said, “You could be nice and let me sleep in your bed.”
She shook her head. “Not happening.”
“Have you moved out of your friend’s place?”
She nodded. “I did. It’s the two of us here now.”
“Well, for tonight, it’s the three of us,” Tanner declared. “Go grab some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
She snorted. “Not necessary. We should be fine after having all the cops crawling over this place all day long. Surely the bad guy will take the night off. You’re here as a friend. Just sleep.” And she walked out, headed up to her room.
Her brother had followed suit at a slower pace. His bedroom was on the main floor, so he didn’t have to navigate stairs.
It was a large house, and she’d often contemplated that maybe they should look at purchasing it. There was really no need to keep her apartment in New York, except it had always been hers, her little piece of something. But she hadn’t been to New York in years and had no intention of living there ever. So why was she holding on to it?
As she lay in bed that night, she tried to remember what the real estate value on it was, but the figures escaped her. She’d look it up in the morning.
*
When Wynn got up the next morning, her mood was dark and gray to match the clouds outside. Then she remembered how Tanner had spent the night here. That brought a smile to her lips.
Now that she was up, with a full cup of coffee in her hand, and both men still sleeping, she headed to her office. She was relieved to notice the office door was still locked and her computer off. Nothing appeared to be changed in any way. She sat down at her computer, booted it up and brought up the tax bill she’d paid on the New York property last year, to find the market value on her apartment. And, sure enough, it was a figure that made her gasp. And she could sell it for even more than that. With that money she could probably buy this rental property outright. If her brother sold his San Diego penthouse apartment, then potentially they would have enough money to do what they were doing, as long as they were careful, for another five years. At least hopefully until they could get off the ground floor and make some profits in their business.
She’d have to remember to talk to Todd about that this morning. His property probably wasn’t as valuable as hers, but then she didn’t know what his penthouse would get right now nor what would be the price to buy this place—or even if their friend was willing to sell this place. She sent their friend an email and just asked about any interest in selling.
Then she checked her emails and the cat meme of the day, which always put a smile on her face. She stood and walked to the window in her office, opened the curtains and found the sun shining through the earlier cloudy gray skies. It felt weird not going to work anymore. After a couple years of going
out in the sky every day, she didn’t really miss it at the moment, but she knew she would eventually.
Sitting behind her desk again after her short break, she typed Roger’s and Steve’s full names into Google to see if anything came up. There was nothing on Steve. Rog, however, had a lot of press saying he was the new sweetheart of the industry. She frowned, wondering if something had happened to Steve, now that he apparently hadn’t been in the season at all this year. She had found contact information for him as well online, but what she had was even better: a number and an email address for his sister.
She looked up the email and sent off a message, asking if Steve was okay. She’d barely sent it off when she got a response telling her to call. She picked up her phone, dialed the number.
When Tanya answered the phone, she said, “Hey, this is a voice from your past. How are you?”
Wynn was happy to hear Tanya’s voice. The two women laughed and greeted each other like old friends.
“That was quite a surprise getting that email from you,” Tanya said. “And good timing. I was just about to go for a run when I saw it.”
“Good for you,” Wynn said enviously. “I pretty much gave up running.”
“It’s still the only way I stay fit,” Tanya said morosely. “I’m not long and lean like you. And I have a tendency to put on too many pounds too quickly.”
Instantly an image of Tanya’s voluptuous figure filled her mind. “And yet, it was you the guys always looked at,” Wynn said with a grin. “You had one thing I didn’t have.”
“Yeah, what was that?” Tanya asked curiously.
“Curves,” Wynn said. “I could paraglide with the best of them. But, man, when it came to walking into a room and getting all the men’s attention, you had that hands down.”
Tanya’s laughter peeled through the office.
When there was an opening, Wynn asked, “What happened to Steve?”
Tanya groaned. “He was at the top of his game. And then something happened. He went to pieces. He’s not paragliding at all anymore. He stays in his big paid-for home, plays in his pool. He is doing a lot with his music now—as long as he’s recording at home, that is, no live performances—but he doesn’t go up in the sky anymore.”
