“The guy with the man bun had a tattoo on his neck. I couldn’t quite make it out, but it looked like a gang tat of some kind.”
“Yeah, I caught a glimpse, not enough to tell what it was. You’re right, it could be a gang tat. Believe it or not, there are gangs in the army, same as anywhere else.”
“What about the license plate number? Did you get a look at it?”
“I got the number, but odds are the plate is stolen. I’ll run it down, see what I can find out, but don’t get your hopes up.”
“How did they know we were here?”
A muscle worked in his jaw. “Good question. Either someone at the base put a tail on us or they’re tracking you, may have been tracking you all along. I was watching for a tail, didn’t see any sign of one, which means...”
He strode over to his black canvas duffel, tossed it up on the sofa, and unzipped it. He pulled out a handheld, black plastic device with tiny lights on the front.
“What is it?”
“Bug detector.”
She followed him into the bedroom, watched him check her carry-on, then run the device over the clothes in the closet. Finding nothing, he walked back out and checked her purse. LED lights began to flicker, growing brighter and brighter, and a buzzing sound went off.
“Fuck.” Bran grabbed her purse and dumped the contents on the sofa, then started digging around inside. He found a small round chip about the size of a thumbnail in the bottom of one of the pockets and held it up.
“Oh, my God.”
Carrying it over to the stone-floored entry, he dropped the disk on the floor and crushed it beneath the heel of his boot.
“There’s a good chance your car is bugged, too. That’s probably how they knew you were flying into Dallas. Tracked you to the Denver Airport. If they watched you check in, it wouldn’t be hard to figure which flight you were on.”
“So they called someone in Dallas and had them waiting at the terminal when I landed.”
He nodded. “Hired guns. Like you said, they were probably watching for you, followed your taxi to The Max.”
Her hand shook as she started putting the contents of her purse back inside. “How did they get the bug into my bag?”
“You were on the base asking questions before you flew to Dallas, right?”
“That’s right. Once I decided to look into the theft, I drove down from Denver and stayed overnight. I drove down again right before I left for Texas. Both times I got stonewalled by just about everyone. They wanted me to back off, but I told them I was going to keep digging.”
“Who, specifically, wanted you to back off?”
“Thomas Anson, Dad’s counsel, for one. You heard what he said. He thought I would be better served to get on with my life.”
“Who else?”
“Charles Frazier. I spoke to him about the theft, asked him how many munitions had been stolen. He was evasive, just said the weapons would be worth a lot of money.”
“Anson and Frazier both visited your father the day he died.”
She nodded. “According to the list, Frazier came in with his assistant, Andrew Horton. He’s a young guy, a computer specialist. I met him, but he was on his way out, so I didn’t really get to talk to him.”
“With any luck, we’ll be talking to Frazier tomorrow. Maybe we can speak to Horton while we’re there.”
“There was also a woman on the list. Mara Ramos. Dad never mentioned her.”
“We’ll track her down.” Bran glanced regretfully around the beautiful suite. “We need to pack up and get out of here before those guys or someone else decides to take another crack at us. I’m sorry to say, the next place won’t be nearly so nice. We need to find a spot with a lower profile.”
“I can do that while you’re driving,” Jessie said.
“You could, but you need to take the battery out of your phone so they can’t track us. Mine’s encrypted. It’s also got antitracking software.”
Jessie had to admit she was impressed.
“There’s a disposable you can use in my gear bag.”
She took the battery out of her cell, went over and got the disposable and stuck it in her purse. Quickly repacking her carry-on, she towed it into the living room.
“You ready?” Bran asked.
“Whenever you are.”
He grabbed his duffel and slung it over his shoulder. “Time to get the hell out of Dodge.”