“I think, VD, you’ll find that we’ve had Global Hawk over both Yemen and Dubai for a couple of days now. The financier is none other than a respected Dubai citizen, Jamal Mohammed, whom AQ calls the Technician. He is going to die very soon. Probably his family, too. We’ve had a more difficult time identifying our friend in Yemen. He’s got medical problems apparently, because a van arrives everyday at nightfall and two men get out of the van carrying assorted medical equipment. One day it was a doctor’s bag, another day it’s a dialysis machine. So who knows?”
Again the command center fell silent.
“But that son of bitch is going to die soon also. And we’re going to wait until the medical personnel are there so that we know he’s in there. So they’ll die too. All of that is in the works. I’ve got two teams prepared to do night jumps to extract and confirm the bodies when we decide to pull the trigger. Could be tonight, could be next week. I will provide the best recommendation to the president on when and how to do this. If you’re nice to me, maybe the five of us can jump in and go get this guy. And now my first priority is to go get my brother, who risked his life to make all this possible.”
Without waiting for an answer, Matt turned and walked out of the headquarters.
CHAPTER 48
Melanie Garrett walked through her dining room, running a moisturized hand along the reflective sheen of the wood. Nina Hastings leaned her aging but agile frame against the portico that separated the foyer from the dining room.
“Whatcha gonna do?” the mother asked with a toying smile. The relationship was too complex to be characterized as mother-daughter, teacher-student, or squad leader-soldier. Co-dependent was too simple a phrase that failed to capture the multiple linkages and twisted interrelationships between the two. These women were sociopaths who carved out their own niche in this world, this survival of the fittest existence.
They acted without conscience and without mercy. The ends always justified the means.
“I’m thinking things are going just about right, Mama.”
“Well, you need that paperwork signed.”
“Amanda will sign it tonight. She has to be scared. Everything but us has gone to hell in her life.”
“Heard Dwyer died.”
“No, unfortunately. They forgot to hook up her machines or something, but she’s as good as dead as far as we’re concerned.”
“So, what next?” Nina Hastings, dropping bread crumbs along the path she wanted her daughter to follow, smiled at her own manipulation.
“Amanda comes home, we call the military, and they process the paperwork.”
“How you going to do that without Dwyer’s signature?”
“Oh, I’ve got that already.”
Nina raised a pencil-marked eyebrow. Had the warrior outdone the general? Melanie smiled. She had forged enough insurance checks to buy a new car, just a little bit at a time so no one would get alarmed. And, she had forged Zach’s signature on so many checks and documents that she had been able to, without concentrating, imitate his signature at will.
“Practice makes perfect.” She showed her mother the document, which she had retrieved from Amanda’s room.
“Gonna tell her that Dwyer signed it at the hospital?”
“Yep. Went over there today, spoke with her briefly, and she agreed. Unfortunately, she fell unconscious after that, but thank God that we can move on.”
“Gotcha.”
They turned their heads when they heard the car door slam in the driveway.
“Let me handle this, Mama. I’ve got it under control.”
Amanda pulled into her mother’s driveway after having left Jake’s house. She stopped the car and sighed heavily. She leaned over, pulling at her hair, banging her forehead on the upper leathered portion of the steering wheel.
“What is wrong with me?” she screamed inside her nearly soundproof Mercedes. The advertisements championing the heavy doors and airtight fit were all true. An outside observer would see her moving her mouth, but be unable to hear anything unless they were directly beside the vehicle.
She pulled herself together and walked through the front door entryway, seeing Nina leaning against the doorjamb as if she were hanging out at the soda fountain, twirling a toothpick in her mouth. Next she saw her mother standing in the dining room. What were they thinking?
“Hey, baby, how are you?” Nina Hastings was instantly upon her. While Melanie’s need was money, Nina’s was attention, manufactured or not.
“Fine, Nina. I mean, not really. There’s some stuff that’s happened.”
“Want to tell me what you’ve been up to?” her mother chirped from the dining room.
Yes, Melanie Garrett to Nina Hastings was daughter to mother as Goebbels was to Hitler. Who was more evil? Hard to tell. Each was capable of independently operating for her own purposes, but they were so much better together. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts.
She wasn’t sure when she had reached this conclusion, but Amanda stared at her mother and grandmother, debating with herself the course of action she had entertained on the drive back from Jake’s. Their visit had been brief, the electronic bracelet around his ankle a visible reminder of what they faced together. Nonetheless, her thinking had crystallized after their short conversation. It was all starting to make sense, and she had a plan. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“Well, Mom, you know it has just been one of those weeks. You-know-who is dead. Jake’s in jail. There’s a half million dollars out there for the taking. So, you know, cut me some slack, please.”
Melanie Garrett tapped her foot, covered in an Italian leather pump, then softened considerably. Be tough, then loving; keep her off balance. Never be predictable. These were her operating credos. Amanda was beginning to see through the smoke screen that was intentionally laid in front of her.
“Speaking of the money, Amanda, we need to talk.”
Amanda held up her hands. “Mom, it has already been a long day. I know what you want me to do, and I will do it. The problem is that the original that was signed by you-know-who is still with Miss Dwyer.”
Melanie paused and decided to let Amanda continue. The copy she had made from the version Amanda kept in her lockbox was nearly perfect. Yet, the raised seal was not present; not that she couldn’t fix that in a hurry.
“So, let me go see Dwyer tomorrow at the hospital, if she wakes up, and we’ll get this done.” Jake had received the news that Riley Dwyer was still alive and had passed that much on to Amanda. Amanda knew she needed to start taking responsibility for her actions — an alien concept to her — but she thought she might know how to begin.
“I’m told she’s in a coma, almost died,” Nina said, speaking up for the first time.
“Well, can we just deal with it tomorrow? I want that money just as much as anyone. I know it will do us some good. I’m on the team, so don’t sweat it.”
The two older women stared at their protégé.
“Okay, then, but first I want you to take a drive with me,” her mother said.
“Mom, please—”
“Amanda, you’ve been out of it the past few days, both mentally and physically, and I need to show you something.”
Amanda recognized this as her “no negotiation” voice. Some days she was bewildered by the way her mother and grandmother would seem to be out of synch, one nice, the other mean as hell. She loved them, for sure, but at times she could swear that they were almost working her.