insurance that dear old dad wouldn’t go to the police, but he’s done everything to make sure Charlie, and your father, have taken the fall for what some other bastard has done. It’s a good thing he’s remained useful to me, or he would have gone the way of his father and mother a long time ago.”
“It was you who tried to have Tyler killed when he decided to look into a possible connection with Bosnia, wasn’t it? And you killed those last few remaining team members of my father’s Ranger unit, right?”
“Guilty,” he said playfully. “Well, technically, I hired an old acquaintance from back home to do all that. I’m rubbish when it comes to explosives, but he has what I would call a very unique talent.”
“How did you know Tyler and his team would be going to question them?”
“Remember how I had mentioned your buddy, Damian, had remained useful? Well, I had him flag certain files in various government databases, particularly any of them having to deal with your father’s Ranger unit. I had eliminated most of his team members, except for two who had apparently gone underground. One day, we saw there was some activity on them. Then there was nothing for weeks, but I still couldn’t shake it off. Thankfully, Damian was able to find out the IP address of who hacked into the government database, who just happened to be one of Tyler’s guys, then broke through his firewall to see what information he had. Luckily for us, he had been able to locate the two missing team members. When I saw flight plans, one to somewhere in Oklahoma and another to Florida, I knew something was up. We had about an eighteen hour head start, but we still had to act fast. So we made sure both men suffered an unfortunate ‘heart attack’, then rigged the houses to explode when someone tried to enter. Of course, my man was smart enough to leave clues out in the open that would indicate someone was home so your boy would break in. And when he did… Boom.”
“Why? You killed the guys in the Ranger unit. What did you have to gain by trying to kill Tyler and his team?”
“Everything!” he growled, his face growing red. “He was determined to find who was responsible for everything and I knew he wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t have that happen, not until I finally got my hands on your father!” The vein in his neck flared and the wild look in his eyes reminded me of an addict desperate for his next fix. And that was precisely what Richard was. He had become so addicted to how powerful and in control he felt when he thought he was responsible for taking my father’s life that he had been trying to recreate that high over the past several years, but nothing topped it. This man in front of me was desperate and crazed, completely irrational.
“But if you were so anxious to get your hands on my father,” I said, snapping out of my thoughts, “why didn’t you do anything at the wedding? He was there. You were there.”
“It’s not just about your father. I need retribution, an eye for an eye, and just killing your father isn’t enough anymore. However, I did make sure he knew who I was, that I was still alive and not dead as I’m sure he hoped.”
My mind raced, wondering why my dad hadn’t said anything to any of us.
“And Charlie? That was you?”
“I still don’t know why he made it so easy for us to find him. After all those months of him on the run, he just called you on your cell phone, allowing Damian to trace the call. Imagine my surprise when we found out it was from your condo. I called a favor into my buddy, the agent who had been leading the investigation into all of Charlie’s murders, and gave him a lead on the location. It’s not a coincidence he was assigned that case and, like most low-paid government workers, he was more than willing to help me stage a suicide in exchange for a heavy payoff.”
“Agent Suarez?” I asked.
“I met him years ago during a fundraiser at one of my hotels in Washington. I heard he had a certain talent and knew he may end up being useful to me one day. He was more than willing to put an end to Charlie, then try to pin his death,