Patriot Lies (Jack Widow Book 14) Page 33

  “You’re not sure?”

  “I’m sorry, Chief.”

  “You keep saying that! I don’t care if you’re sorry!”

  Fallow said nothing.

  Gaden said, “Okay, no point in dwelling on mistakes. What do we do now?”

  “I think you’d better prepare.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Last, I could tell, they were in Hawaii. My guess is they’re coming to you.”

  “Are you still in DC?”

  “Yes. I can take a flight out, but I won’t be there before them.”

  “Get out here on the double. I’ll deal with them for now.”

  Gaden clicked off the line, but he didn’t put the phone away. Instead, he put in a local call.

  A voice answered.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s me.”

  The voice sounded a bit nervous and a bit afraid.

  He said, “Yes. I know.”

  “I need to cash in the favor you owe me.”

  The voice said, “Okay. What do you want me to do?”

  Gaden explained about Widow and Gray and told him to check on incoming flights to Anchorage. He told him what to do. The man behind the voice wrote it all down and acknowledged that he understood the instructions.

  Fifty-Two

  Gray canceled their flight home and rebooked them on a flight to Anchorage, Alaska. They left in a Boeing 737 in the midmorning, and, because of the two-hour jump in time, they landed around eight-thirty in the evening. The flight was nonstop and comfortable enough.

  Widow could tell that Gray was getting sick of planes.

  At one point, she asked, "How are you okay with flying so much?"

  He said, “I flew a lot in the back of cargo transport planes. All over the world. So, I'm used to it. Like second nature.”

  "C-130s?"

  "All kinds. C-130s. I've also been in C-17s, CN-235s, and a bunch of others. Have you never flown on one?"

  Gray said, "Not once. I flew commercial whenever I had to go somewhere."

  Widow nodded.

  Gray said, "I bet this beats flying in the back of a cargo plane."

  "I wouldn't say that. In the backs of C-130s, we used to set up hammocks and lie stretched out. It was fun."

  She looked at him with that sideways look again and smiled.

  A bit later, they were on the ground. Widow carried their shopping bag. They were both dressed in their warm clothes from DC, which was good because it was cold outside. Widow had washed his clothes in the bathtub and sink at the hotel and he dried them off the balcony, all before they left. Luckily, he’d enough time to do that before they took off for Anchorage. He offered to wash Gray's, but she wanted to do it herself, which she did after watching how he did his.

  They landed, disembarked from the plane, and walked to the gate. They were following the signs to the car rental office when Gray's phone rang. It was Cameron. She called to inform them that they would have to liaise with a local FBI agent. Gray didn't protest. She’d expected something like this because the NCIS had virtually zero presence in Alaska at the moment.

  After the call, Gray told Widow they would be meeting an FBI agent named Tyler.

  They rented a car and got lucky; there was a Dodge Charger in stock. Gray asked for snow tires. The rental vehicles automatically came with snow tires, which they doubted they would need. Snowfall in October was just a few inches in Anchorage, Widow told her.

  They walked to the Charger in the lot. It didn't come with a police battering ram on the front or sirens or police lights embedded in the grille, like the one she had back at home, but it was the same navy blue color with black rims and tinted windows. Inside, it had a black leather interior with warming seats.

  They got in, and Gray fired up the engine to let it warm up.

  She pulled out her phone and went over the information that Cameron had texted her on Gaden.

  She said, "Okay. Gaden is due to start campaigning the day after tomorrow. Right now, he should be in his home in a town called Anguta."

  "Anguta?"

  "That's what it says. What does that mean?"

  "Anguta is the Eskimo god of death, or rather the English translation is the gatherer of the dead."

  "Well, that's fitting."

  Widow smiled and said nothing.

  Gray said, "Okay. We have to meet with FBI Agent Matt Tyler before we do anything."

  "Great."

  "He's former Navy. He won't be all bad."

  Widow said nothing to that.

  He said, "We should go out there tonight."

  "You don't think we should wait till tomorrow?"

  "How far is Anguta?"

  Gray looked at her phone and put in the town's name on Google Maps. Then she waited for it to calculate directions.

  She said, "Three hours north."

  "Better tell Tyler to meet us there in three hours then."

  "Think we should go now?"

  "Dark is best. Let's not wait for him to know we're here. Let's stop by."

  "We have to announce it. We can't just show up at his house. He's running for the Senate. There is protocol. We're not arresting him."

  Widow said, "Text Tyler and tell him we're here, and we're headed out to speak to Gaden tonight. This guy's slippery. We don't want to wait till tomorrow. What if he decides to leave early for his campaign? We have to assume he knows we're coming. Best to do it now."

  "What are we going to do when we get there? We can't flat out accuse him of a conspiracy to murder Eggers and cover it up. Not to mention kidnapping, and possibly the murder of Cho."

  "And Shore."

  "Shore killed himself in prison."

  "Did he?"

  "You don't think he did?"

  "I'm not sure. Either way, it's because of Gaden. So, let's go have a chat with him. If the FBI wants to be there, so be it."

  Gray nodded and texted Tyler. Then she put on her seatbelt, told Widow to do the same, and they were off, following the GPS navigation to Anguta, Alaska. Most of the way was on Route Three, which changed road and highway names several times.

  Two and a half hours later, they parked off the road at a local gas station that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. As far as they could tell, theirs was the only car there, except for the attendant's truck. The only lights they saw were from inside the station.

  Since they were already there, they gassed up the car. They parked in a space facing the road and waited. The car engine idled, and the heat blasted from the vents.

  A thermometer gauge on the dash indicated it was about thirty degrees Fahrenheit outside, which Widow thought was okay because it was Alaska at night; it could've been much worse.

  They sat in their seats, waiting for a long time. Before they knew it, without realizing it, they were holding hands over the cup holders.

  Finally, Widow said, "Where is he?"

  Gray clicked a button on her phone to see if she had gotten a message from Tyler and hadn't heard it, but there was nothing.

  She said, "Tyler said he'd be a little long because he's coming from Fairbanks."

  "They didn't have an FBI agent in Anchorage?"

  "They do, but I guess none of them wanted to be a part of this. I still don't know what we're going to do when we see Gaden."

  "We're just going to ask him some questions."

  "You think he'll cop to a murder twenty years ago and hiring some guys to kill Eggers in order to cover up that old murder?"

  "He might. Think about it. He's been carrying this secret for twenty years. I've dealt with guys like that before. He's probably full of arrogance and superiority. He probably thinks he'll never get caught."

  "Guess we're going to find out."

  Just then, they saw a pair of headlights from a black truck pulling up. The truck turned into the gas station. It was unmarked but had government plates.

  Widow said, "That's him."

  They waited for the truck to pull up alongside the
driver's side and park. Gray pulled her hand out of Widow’s and rested it on her leg. The driver’s side door opened, and a guy with fair hair, a tight frame, and a little gray in the temples got out. He wore a red winter coat and blue jeans.

  He walked around the nose of the truck and greeted Gray at her window.

  Gray buzzed down her window, and the guy bent down at the waist and stuck a hand out for her to shake.

  He said, "Gray?"

  "That's me."

  Tyler reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a black object, which made Gray reach her hand to her Glock, which was in the holster but tucked between her seat and the center console. But the object wasn't a weapon. It was a badge in a black leather billfold. He showed it to her. She checked it, and sure enough, it was Matt Tyler Special Agent of the FBI.

  "I'm Matt Tyler, FBI. A deputy director over at NCIS in DC called us and told us some of what's going on. You're working a homicide and you've got interest in Nick Gaden?"

  "That's right."

  Gray moved her hand away from her gun, pulled out her own badge, and showed him. He glanced at it and smiled.

  Tyler said, "That's not going to be pleasant for us if it turns to more than just interest. The Gadens are a very popular political family here in the state."

  Gray nodded and didn't respond to that.

  Tyler twisted at the waist and pointed north to Anguta.

  "Well, the Gadens live up that way about twenty miles."

  "Okay. Let's go."

  "Not yet. We're waiting still."

  "Why?"

  Tyler leaned back down and put his head near the window. He looked in and saw Widow for the first time.

  He said, "We gotta wait for the local sheriff before we go out there."

  "We're not talking about arresting anyone," Gray said.

  Widow thought, Not yet.

  Tyler peered over at Widow.

  "I was told to expect only one NCIS agent. Who's your friend?"

  Gray looked at Widow, who smiled and tried to look as nonthreatening as possible, which wasn't possible, not really. But he tried anyway.

  "This is Jack Widow."

  Tyler said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Widow. You NCIS too?"

  "I was."

  "So, what are you doing here?"

  Gray said, "He's consulting with us. He's critical to our case."

  Tyler said, "I see."

  Just then, another set of headlights appeared from around a bend. A police cruiser pulled into the lot. It was a Ford Crown Vic, an older model with police markings all over it and a light bar on top.

  The cruiser pulled in and parked on the other side of Gray's Charger, near Widow. The window buzzed down, and a heavy guy with a pretty big dark beard smiled at them. The sheriff was probably younger than Widow, but he looked ten years older. He wasn't the model of health.

  Tyler called out over the roof of Gray's car.

  "Sheriff."

  The sheriff spoke with a rural accent that Widow guessed was local to the region.

  "Hello, Tyler. It's always good to see you."

  "You too, Sheriff."

  Widow buzzed down his window so Gray could hear the conversation.

  The sheriff said, "Hello, folks. I'm Sheriff Clark Daniels. You can call me Sheriff. Everyone else does. And who are the two of you?"

  Widow said, "I'm Jack Widow, and this is Sonya Gray, NCIS."

  Gray nodded from over Widow's shoulder.

  Daniels leaned forward as far as he could, which put his belly into the steering wheel. He took a look at Gray and smiled at her.

  "Nice to meet you, Agent Gray. Okay. Now, Tyler warned you about the Gadens?"

  Tyler said, "I didn't warn them. I just informed them that we have to walk gently."

  "Gentle as can be. They're an important family to the state. Randall Gaden, Nick's daddy, is a personal friend of the governor."

  Gray said, "We're just here to ask some questions. It's important to our case. We're not here to point fingers."

  She was a good liar. Widow thought she would make a good undercover agent.

  Daniels said, "Okay. Good. Now, one more question. I was told there was only one of you."

  Tyler nodded over the roof of the Charger at Daniels.

  Daniels said, "I suspect that's you, Ms. Sonya Gray, and not Widow?"

  Widow said, "I'm here as a consultant."

  That was the first time he’d said it out loud. It was a lie, technically, because he was there unofficially. They both were. Still, the thought occurred to him that NCIS consultants usually got big, hefty paychecks for consulting, and he was getting nothing. It was just a thought, like remembering a song lyric from out of nowhere. It was meaningless, and it vanished as fast as he had thought it.

  Daniels said, "Well, I'm real sorry to ask this, but are the two of you armed?"

  Gray said, "Of course."

  "And you, Mr. Widow. Are you armed as well?"

  Widow looked at Daniels and nodded.

  Daniels asked, "Is that a yes?"

  "Affirmative," Widow said.

  "But you're not officially an NCIS agent, correct?"

  Gray said, "He's retired."

  Daniels said, "I'm real sorry to say this, but I'm going to have to take possession of your weapon."

  Gray said, "What?"

  "I'm real sorry. It's just for the time being. Widow can get it back after we've talked to Gaden. It's a security thing."

  Tyler bent down again and looked at Gray.

  He said, "It's okay. He's within his rights to request that. Widow isn't officially an active duty law enforcement officer."

  Gray said, "It's my gun; he's carrying."

  Tyler said, "You'll get it back."

  Gray turned to Widow. He stared back at her. Then he reached down into the waistband of his jeans and pulled out her backup Sig Sauer P226. He ejected the magazine and racked the slide. A chambered bullet hopped out of the ejection port and into the air. He caught it one-handed. He did all of this within seconds.

  Widow opened his car door, slid out of his seatbelt, and stood up. He handed the gun to Daniels along with the magazine. Daniels took the weapon and the magazine and stuffed them into his glovebox, which was an ordeal because he had to reach across the center console to do it and his belly made it a chore.

  He closed the glovebox and came back into his seated position. He looked up at Widow.

  "Thank you, Mr. Widow. You'll get it back after we leave the Gadens."

  Widow nodded and pocketed the extra bullet. No one seemed to notice. He got back into the Charger.

  Tyler said, "Okay. Sheriff, do they know we're coming?"

  "No, but I did have my dispatch call ahead and see if Nick was even home."

  Tyler said, "And?"

  "He's there. Randall isn't."

  Gray said, "We aren't interested in the father, just Nick."

  Daniels nodded and said, "Okay. Everyone ready? Tyler, why don't you ride with me?"

  Tyler said, "Yeah, sure. That's fine."

  Tyler locked his truck and joined Daniels in the police cruiser. He sat in the passenger seat. As he crossed out in front of the car’s lights, Widow saw a Glock in a hip holster under Tyler's jacket.

  Gray reversed the Charger and backed up into the parking lot, turned the nose to face the road. Daniels and Tyler drove out alongside.

  Daniels peered past Tyler and looked at Gray.

  "Follow us."

  Gray said, "We're right behind you."

  Daniels and Tyler pulled out onto Route Three and sped up. Gray and Widow followed close behind.

  Gray and Widow followed behind the sheriff's police cruiser up Route Three and into the night, into the darkness of a lonely stretch of Alaskan freeway. They followed, expecting to go straight to Gaden's house in the town of Anguta, but that wasn’t exactly what happened.

  About halfway into their drive, Widow and Gray saw the police cruiser veer a bit to the right, as if Daniels hadn't been payi
ng attention and almost ran off the road. Then the cruiser did something they hadn't expected.

  The lightbar on top lit up like a Christmas tree, and the cruiser slowed and then took a sharp right off the freeway. The tires kicked up dirt and sleet from off a dirt road.

  Gray stared at her GPS on the dash and said, "That's weird."

  "What?"

  "They're going a different direction."

  "Follow them."

  Gray turned the wheel and followed the cruiser. Widow watched through the windshield. They saw the cruiser fishtail a bit to one side and then the other.

  Widow asked, "Are they going faster?"

  Gray looked down at her speed and said, "Yeah."

  They followed close to the cruiser. It stopped fishtailing and sped up. The route ahead was covered in darkness and trees. They stayed tight behind Daniel's cruiser. He looped around tight paths, barely dodging trees and ditches.

  Dust spiraled behind them, smoking up the roadway.

  Gray said, "What the hell is going on?"

  Widow's primate brain fired up and primal instincts, buried down deep in his DNA from a million years ago, from the open forgotten plains of North America, from some prehistoric ancestor, kicked in.

  He said, "Careful. Stay back a bit."

  Right then, Gray's phone rang.

  She said, "Get that for me."

  Widow picked up.

  It was Tyler on the line.

  He said, "You guys, all right back there?"

  Widow said, "We're okay. What's going on in there? It looked like you guys almost went into a ditch."

  "Everything's fine."

  "Where are we going?"

  "We have to make a pitstop."

  Widow said, "Why? What's going on?"

  "Daniels got a nine-one-one call. We have to check it out. He's on duty. Hopefully, it's nothing."

  Widow stayed quiet.

  Tyler said, "Tell Gray to get her weapon ready."

  Widow thought for a moment. Gaden was from Alaska. He’d lived there most of his life except during his stint in the military. Tyler lived in Alaska. He had been in the Navy. It wasn't inconceivable that they knew each other.

  Widow said, "I'll let her know."

  "Good. It should be nothing, but just in case. Better safe than sorry. Just keep on us."

  Tyler clicked off the call.