Puppetmaster (Coastal Fury Book 8)

by Matt Lincoln

  “Yeah,” I agreed, still pretty damn impressed. “It will definitely be helpful. We’ve barely scratched the surface with these guys. We need all the help we can get.”

  “Agreed,” Header nodded, looking the assembled rifle over in his hands.

  “In case you want to have it already set up, I also brought a sling.” Farr gestured aimlessly at the dining room table, where an array of accessories were laid out among the pistols.

  “Thank you,” I said softly, feeling incredibly grateful for Farr at this moment. “This… well, you know how important this is.”

  “I do,” he assured me. “I’m out of here. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Will do,” Header replied, still looking over the gun.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Warner chimed in, “I want to update you on what Bonnie and I have found.”

  Farr gave Warner a curt nod in agreement, and the two of them walked slowly toward the doorway, Warner rattling off updates as they went.

  I turned back to Header. “You can have that,” I bargained. “I want the Glock.”

  Header looked up at me. “There’s two of them.”

  “The .45,” I clarified, sitting back and trying to shift back into a more relaxing position.

  “I mean, you can have both of them,” he assured me. “I don’t mind.”

  “Sweet,” I replied, grinning back at him as I closed my eyes. I heard Tessa’s voice from beside me, and she sounded a bit distracted.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” she muttered. I cracked one eye open to see her following Warner and Farr out the front door, and before she started to speak, the door closed behind her.

  “Ten bucks, she is yelling at Farr for putting you in danger,” Header teased. I shook my head at him, but I wouldn’t put it past her.

  “Wish we could yell at Farr and get away with it,” I replied with a chuckle. Header laughed, setting the rifle down on the coffee table.

  “You and me both, Marston,” he replied. “That guy forgets that he’s retired sometimes.”

  “Exactly,” I chuckled. Farr definitely had a big, overbearing personality. Tessa’s ability to keep him in check continuously impressed me, and I had to admit I was jealous of it sometimes. On the other hand, the man was going above and beyond, breaking multiple laws to help us out. Sometimes I questioned his motivations. He didn’t know Holm all that well, and he didn’t have any direct ties to MBLIS that would impact him if the agency went under due to lack of funds. I couldn’t pinpoint his motivation, and I think that was what made me the most nervous about working with him.

  If we found out halfway through this mission that our end goals didn’t line up, it would mess things up for all of us royally, and I knew from a personal standpoint that there would be hell to pay.

  Chapter 17: Tessa

  Warner was still rambling about everything they had learned about this case so far when Tessa caught up to the two of them outside the guest house on base. She waited patiently until her Uncle Donald thanked him, and he went back in the house, and then she stepped up to her uncle as authoritatively as she could muster.

  “This is an incredibly dangerous mission!” she spat out, spinning to face him head-on. “Is there nothing we can do to help protect them?”

  He looked down at her thoughtfully. “They all agreed to come out here of their own volition,” he reminded her. “Everyone knew the risks when they signed on. Everyone is free to go if they so desire. No one is being forced into this.”

  Tessa gritted her teeth. She knew all of this, so why did she feel that her uncle wasn’t quite doing enough? After all, she’d hardly seen him since Ethan had flown into New York, and they’d had their unfortunate date.

  “What about me?” she responded, at a loss for anything else to say. “I’m not exactly free to go, am I? I’m being kept here for my own safety. How long is that supposed to last?”

  “For as long as it takes,” he insisted, his tone much sharper now. “If you don’t like it, I can fly you out on a foreign assignment. You can work safely, but I cannot promise a return date. Would you rather that option?”

  “I’m not leaving Ethan in this condition,” she blurted without thinking.

  “That’s what I thought,” he rebutted. “You can hole up here, or I can fly you out, but there is no way you are returning home or to the office until this entire situation is handled. Let me know. I can fly you out at any time, but keep in mind that with no set return date, you could be out there for quite a bit longer than expected.”

  Spending an undetermined amount of time in a foreign country could be promising or horrible, depending on where she was sent. She was sure that her uncle wouldn’t send her anywhere too challenging, although he would be limited to places that begged a story.

  On the other hand, Ethan was here, and he had already been through a lot. She had a feeling that the worst was yet to come, and she would feel horrible if she were trapped on the other side of the world, unable to help, if anything worse happened to him. She shuddered at the thought and met her uncle’s gaze.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she insisted, more confident than she felt.

  “No problem,” he agreed. “Like I said, you can change your mind at any time. You just can’t change it back once it’s done.”

  Tessa nodded resolutely. “I understand. I’d like to revert back to my original question, though. Isn’t there more we can do to keep them safe?”

  “What did you have in mind?” he asked. His eyebrow shot up in curiosity as he awaited her response.

  “Bulletproof vests?” she asked, thinking about her options. “A bigger team for more backup? I don’t know what else. I don’t do this kind of stuff.” Tessa felt that she wasn’t doing her argument any favors by admitting she was in over her head, but to her surprise, her uncle’s response was soft and receptive.

  “You can’t get much bigger than a motorcycle club,” he reminded her. “I would never let my boys go in blind and without support. You’re right about the vests, though. They were in the bag on the table. The boys hadn’t opened it yet, but they’re there.”

  Tessa rocked back on her heels, grateful for her uncle’s thoroughness. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it,” he responded, offering her a rare smile. “Just stay safe, okay?”

  “Okay,” she agreed, and with that, her uncle spun on his heels, walked out to his car, and drove off into the night.

  By the time Tessa walked back into the house, Jake had found the vests and had given one to Ethan.

  “Tessa, check it out,” Ethan called out, gesturing to the vest on the coffee table. “I’ll be safer next time.”

  “That’s great,” she admitted, even though she’d have much preferred there be no next time. That wasn’t bound to happen though, so she’d settle for the vest.

  “I’m just happy I get to wear this on a chilly New York fall day instead of down in the tropics,” Jake pointed out.

  “You’re not kidding,” Ethan chuckled. “Miami’s heat is no joke.”

  “I wouldn’t trade Miami for the world,” Bonnie argued. “I love it there.”

  “Yeah, say that while wearing one of these,” Ethan countered. “You might change your mind, at least for the moment.”

  “Maybe,” she laughed. “Luckily, I don’t have to worry about that.”

  Tessa wandered into the kitchen to get a glass of water, barely listening to the chatter going on behind her. It still amazed her how cavalier Ethan could be about such a dangerous job, and now he was doing it without getting paid.

  His best friend needs help, she reminded herself as she propped herself up against the outdated countertop. That’s a lot more motivating than a paycheck.

  Still, though, it was weird to hear so much laughter in the midst of something so serious. She wandered out the sliding glass door and took in the view while soaking in the silence. Sure, the barbed wire fence wasn’t exactly pretty to look at, but beyond it, the moon
reflected on the rippling surface of the water and the blue lights on the Verrazzano Bridge traced the shape up to the two towers and back down, offering more light to the water beneath it.

  Tessa did feel a bit trapped and suffocated here, but standing out here helped to give her the perspective she needed, and she didn’t even argue when Ethan eventually joined her outside.

  “I know I’m supposed to be glued to the couch,” he murmured softly as he came up behind her, “but you look like you could use the company, and I could definitely stand to move around and get the blood flowing a bit.”

  Tessa giggled softly and turned to face him, placing her water glass down on the table as she did so. “I’m glad you came out here,” she whispered, slipping her hands around his waist.

  He looked down at her, the lights reflecting gently in his blue eyes, and she knew right then that there was no way she would be taking her uncle up on his offer to send her away. She belonged here, with him, even if it wouldn’t last forever. She had to at least see this through and ensure he was as safe as possible.

  Ethan leaned down and kissed her softly, wrapping his arms around her. She stayed in his embrace for a while, appreciating the moment.

  “Is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked after a few minutes, pulling away to look up at him again.

  “Unfortunately, no,” he admitted. “I think we’re at a standstill right now, for the most part, at least.”

  Tessa sighed in frustration. “Maybe I can help with your research for the Dragon’s Rogue? I have nothing to do here. I need a project. I’d like to be able to do something useful.”

  Ethan looked at her thoughtfully, as if he’d just realized something. “Actually, I could use a second set of eyes on something. Do you want to see what I found? It might be nothing, but my gut tells me that’s not the case.”

  Tessa’s eyes lit up. “Are you kidding me?” she gushed. “Of course!”

  Ethan laughed lightly and slid the door open. She grabbed her water glass and stepped inside, only to find Bonnie and Warner huddled in the corner at the computer desk, focused intently on something, and Jake nowhere in sight.

  “Where did Header disappear to?” Ethan called out to the two tech geniuses in the corner.

  “He went for a run,” Bonnie muttered distractedly, not bothering to look up from her work. “He’ll be back soon.”

  “Alright.” Ethan walked over to the couch and dug out his tablet. He sat down and slid over, patting the cushion beside him so that Tessa could join him. She sat down, her elbow grazing his slightly, sending a slight shiver through her body.

  She waited patiently while Ethan logged into the digital files for the Searcher’s Chance log and then watched as he flipped through the pages. It was fascinating, seeing the notes so impeccably preserved after all of these years.

  “Here,” he said suddenly, pointing at a curving line that seemed randomly doodled into the margin of one of the pages. “It looks like nothing, right? Maybe he was bored or something.”

  “Right,” she nodded. “I agree.”

  “Watch this, though,” he continued, flipping the pages. Two pages later, there was another curving line running from top to bottom. A couple of pages later, she saw it again, and then again two pages after that.

  “So, he liked to doodle,” she stated, waiting for the rest of the revelation.

  “That’s what I thought,” he replied, holding up a finger to pause the conversation while he flipped back. He landed on the page that he wanted and pointed at the line. “I thought this was oddly shaped. It almost reminded me of Cape Cod, up in Massachusetts.”

  “Oh, yeah!” she giggled in appreciation. “It kind of does!”

  “Then I noticed this,” he added, flipping through a few more pages. This page had a couple of lines, but none of it resembled anything significant to her. “Tell me that doesn’t look like North Carolina, like Nags Head.” He must have read her blank stare because he almost immediately opened up a search engine and pulled up a map of North Carolina’s coastline.

  “Oh, wow,” she muttered. “Yeah, I can see it now.”

  “Of course, it wouldn’t be exact,” he continued. “The coastline has changed over the years, and he is also drawing it out, but I think he was drawing a map.”

  “A map to what?” she wondered out loud. She sat forward intently, already fully committed to this project that she hadn’t even started yet.

  “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’d love it to lead us to the Dragon’s Rogue, but more realistically, it would probably lead to the point of his capture.”

  “What should we do?” she pressed, waiting for the next step.

  “I need a few sheets of paper and a pen,” he informed her. “I’m going to connect these lines and try to draw out the map in its entirety. Let’s see where it leads us.”

  “Okay!” Tessa leapt up immediately. “I’m on it. I’ll be right back!”

  Glad to have something productive to do, Tessa took off on a hunt for a pen and a small stack of paper. What she found in a random kitchen drawer was a small notepad, but luckily the paper was thin. It’d be easy to trace through it, although they’d need to lay all the sheets out on one flat surface in order to get a solid visual of this supposed map.

  “Okay,” she announced, returning to the couch as quickly as she could. “This is what I have so far.”

  “We can make it work,” he chuckled as he held one of the sheets of paper up to the light. “It won’t be the prettiest method, but it will work.”

  “It doesn’t need to be pretty,” she reminded him. “It just needs to work.”

  Tessa and Ethan sat side by side on the couch for a couple of hours, taking turns tracing the lines off of the tablet and then trying to fit the new piece into the ever-growing puzzle on the coffee table. At one point, Jake returned from his run, his skin dripping with sweat, but other than a puzzled look in their direction, he just took off up the stairs, presumably to take a shower. Tessa and Ethan continued until they had traced everything and then sat back and admired their handiwork.

  “So, it does look sort of like a map,” she confirmed, adjusting the vaguely Florida-shaped section of the notepaper to line up with the rest of the East coast. “What does it mean, though?”

  “I’m not sure,” Ethan admitted. “I hadn’t thought this far ahead.”

  The two of them stared at the seemingly random collection of note papers, trying to make sense of it all. After a few minutes, Tessa held out her hand.

  “May I see the digital file?” she asked, not tearing her eyes from the papers.

  “Sure,” Ethan replied, placing the tablet into her open palm. She flipped through the pages slowly, scanning each page that showed a piece of the supposed map. There was nothing distinctive on any of the pages. As frustrating as that was, Tessa pushed forward, opting instead to study the pages that didn’t have a piece of the map already drawn on it.

  “What are you looking for?” Ethan pressed, leaning in closer.

  “I’ll know it when I see it,” she assured him, continuing to flip through the pages with seemingly reckless abandon.

  She wasn’t sure what she was looking for if she was completely honest. She slowed when she saw a small cluster of stars in a corner, but she wasn’t confident it meant anything. Eventually, she sat back with a sigh, defeated.

  “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I mean, we can’t even say for sure it is a map. Even if he was drawing the coastline, there’s no indication that it will lead us anywhere. It could just be anecdotal.”

  Ethan leaned forward and fixed his eyes onto hers. “You don’t believe that, do you?”

  “Honestly? No.” It sounded silly, but she felt there was something there. She just wasn’t sure what that something was.

  “Me neither,” he agreed.

  “So, now what?” Looking down at their makeshift map that covered the entire coffee table, she felt stuck. She wanted to do more, to push forward, but
she was missing a critical piece of information.

  “I’m going to call Dr. Silver,” Ethan replied cheerfully. “I’ll send him some photos of what we have and see if he can make heads or tails of it. If not, maybe his friend in New Jersey can.”

  “That’s right.” Tessa had almost forgotten about Ethan’s new New Jersey connection. “You haven’t heard from him yet?”

  “Not yet,” he shrugged, “but keep in mind, my phone has been out of commission since before our plane landed. He could have been calling nonstop.” Tessa noticed Ethan’s face darken for a moment, but he shook his head clear and continued. “I should reach out to him anyway, just to touch base and keep the line of communication open.”

  “I agree,” she nodded. “I think there’s something else on your mind, though. What was that?”

  Ethan tried to play dumb, but he knew she had noticed.

  “It’s Holm,” he murmured. “I know he is worried about me. We never go this long without communicating, and I never just fall off the face of the earth like I just did. If anyone is calling me nonstop, it’s Holm. I should call him, but I really shouldn’t.”

  Tessa giggled. “That last statement was about as clear as mud,” she jested, and Ethan laughed along with her, although it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “I should call him to assure him that I’m okay,” he clarified, “but if I do, he will try to pry information out of me, and I hate lying to the man. If I don’t call him, it might be better.”

  “It’s never better being left in the dark,” Tessa pointed out, sitting forward and resting her hand gently against his forearm. “I’ll tell you what… Why don’t you let me call him instead? I can simply say that you have reached out to me and that you’re okay. You want him to know that even though you cannot speak with him right now, he needs to trust that you’re okay.”

  “That’s only going to make him more worried,” he replied, staring down at their collection of notepaper.

  “I don’t think so,” she urged. “I think it’s important that he knows you’re thinking about him. I think it’s important that you don’t leave him in the dark.”