Page 52 of Twister

He quickly recovered and pinned the man down, zip-tying his wrists behind his back. They trekked back to the helicopters and turned the man over to the CIA’s makeshift interrogation camp housed in a twenty-foot-long Conex box, a shipping container with the doors and windows cut out.

This mission was complete. They had the man responsible for the airport tragedy, and David Burton was being hunted for Mercer’s death. Now all he had to do was curb his patience until Sadie found her answers to her deeply personal questions. She had to be settled, confident about her path, and as much as hehoped she would choose him to walk it with her, he was ready for whatever she decided. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

17

Axel stood over the body.It had been moved from the gentle surf to the beach. He crouched down. “According to the local guys, David was strangled, and that’s quite evident. Look at the bruising around his neck.” The deep marks were a dark purple, showing a lot of force. “It took some rage to do this, and that makes it completely personal.”

“I’m getting a very bad feeling about this,” Griffin said, frowning. “If Burton didn’t kill Mercer, then who did? And, better yet, who killed Burton and why?”

“All good questions, and I have to agree with you.” The FBI forensic team showed up, and Axel indicated they could bag the body. “Let’s get back to command and see if my hunch panned out. Although now I’m not so sure about whether or not I’m on the money.”

Dagger watched the surrounding area.Even though the threat of Seven Demands had been resolved, he and Twister wouldn’t let down their guards. Twister, Sadie, Neil, and Dagger had onlydescended to the sub-level moments ago. Sadie and Neil were going to make one more pass through the sub to collect anything that may have been missed.

The torpedoes in the bow of the ship had been rendered safe by the EOD techs, and the Seabee team was going to come in and remove them, then carve up the sub for extraction onto a barge that would take the artifact to Norfolk, where it would be reassembled for inclusion in the Naval Museum.

This was their last dive before they were going to be shipped back to Little Creek, but they would have to wait to fly for all the nitrogen to dissolve from their bodies, giving them some much-needed downtime on the beautiful island of Bali. After about half an hour, Dagger started experiencing a tightness in his chest. He breathed normally, and it lessened a bit, but on the next two breaths, it tightened again.

He knew immediately from experience that he wasn’t getting enough air. He signaled Twister and his teammate swam down to him. Through hand signals, he indicated that he was going to have to surface. Twister nodded, looked at his dive watch, and indicated that they would be following in about fifteen more minutes.

Dagger nodded, reluctant to leave his teammate, but he couldn’t chance that he would encounter a more serious breathing issue. He headed toward the line and started to ascend. Each time he breathed out, it lessened, but two breaths later, it was back again. It was completely odd. He looked down, then around one more time before he started up the rope. SEALs were taught never to leave their swim buddy, and he got such a pushback from his conscience. But Twister could handle just about anything.

As soon as he was topside, he decided to grab a new set of equipment before he came back down…if Tex authorized it. HisCO wouldn’t be too keen on having Dagger doing two dives in such a short timeframe.

Back at command,Axel went over to his assistant. “Did you finish with that data I asked you to collect?”

Axel had the idea that maybe Burton had been stalking Sadie Tompkins. She seemed to be at the nexus of all of this. After her comment about the guys she'd dated ghosting her, Axel had gotten into her account and found the names of the men she’d made contact with—Josh Carter, an architect and recreational diver, Mike Branson, a CPA, and another recreational diver, and finally Pete Young, a food truck owner, and, ha, a recreational diver. The woman looked up and nodded. “No luck on David Burton, but the other three names came up as deceased.”

“All of them?”

“Yes. According to local law enforcement, all of them died while diving, all ruled accidental.”

“Yeah, that’s unlikely,” he said. He went over to his computer, knowing that there was something nefarious here. He opened up his browser and typed in another name. He perused the manifests of several airports before he hit paydirt.

He looked up at Griffin. “I got something.” He explained about his searches and Griffin’s eyes gleamed with admiration.

“And?”

“Neil Lancaster was in Hawaii on each date one of Sadie’s boyfriends showed up dead.”

“Oh, my God.”

Both of them rushed out of the command center up to Neil’s room. They broke down the door and stopped when they saw aphoto album on the bed next to a dirty and grimy Jiminy Cricket T-shirt.

Axel picked it up and sighed. “He’s been impersonating Burton all this time. Probably had him stashed somewhere, and it explains the ligature marks on his wrists and ankles.”

Griffin held the photo album, flipping through the pages.

“Axel. They’re pictures of Sadie, everywhere. In Hawaii, and here, including her trip off compound with Twister.” His mouth was pulled into a grim line. “And check this out. Not only are all her boyfriends X-d out in red, but Twister’s picture is also mutilated.

“Fuck,” Axel said succinctly. “Where is he now?”

“At the wreck, diving with Sadie, Dagger, and…Twister.”

Axel and Griffin left the room at a run.

Twister’s senseswere heightened now that Dagger had to return prematurely topside. He never took his eyes off the surrounding area or Sadie and Neil. Currently, both of them were inside the sub, but moments later, Sadie emerged with what looked like a full bag. She turned, looking down at the hatch. After a minute passed, she looked up, searching for Twister. He swam over immediately, reacting to her body language.

She made it clear that Neil had been right behind her. He signaled for her to stay put, and he would check it out. If there was any danger, she needed to get to the rope immediately. She touched her dive knife and nodded.

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