Page 37 of Garr

“Garr,” said Luke, holding up a hand. “We deserve an explanation, Isaac.” The man said nothing, looking as if he were searching for the right words. He could hear one of the men behind him pecking away at the keys on his tablet.

“You owe him a favor,” said AJ, staring at the man. All eyes turned to AJ, then slowly back to Isaac. “You owe him a favor.”

“I owe him a favor,” he said solemnly. “He took the blame for something I did a long time ago. I’ve promised that I won’t kill him or pursue this further. I didn’t promise I wouldn’t involve all of you.”

“So, you want us to do your dirty work?” said Garr. “Fuck that. Grow some balls and handle that shit yourself, or I will.”

“I’m glad you offered,” said Isaac.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“We don’t take contracts for hits,” said Luke, standing from the table. “I’m sorry, but you’ve wasted your time coming here.”

“Luke, please,” said Isaac. “I need your help. I need to know who is helping Brockman, and I have a few ideas.”

“Let me guess,” said Garr. “Your wife is at the top of the list.”

The room was so quiet you could hear the waitstaff out front helping patrons in the main dining room. It nearly echoed for them, and everyone stayed perfectly still, making Isaac all the more uncomfortable.

“I. I think. I think my wife could have been feeding him information, but I can’t prove it.”

“How? The first thing every military man learns is that we don’t speak about missions, meetings, nothing with anyone, not even our wives.”

“My wife has a degree in information technology. She worked at the Pentagon, which is where we met. Her job was tracking the money used in terrorist organizations.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” growled Eric. “What happened to her? Why did she leave the Pentagon?”

“She resigned, but I learned later that her entire division was under suspicion of funneling money back to the terrorists. They suspected that there was a small group of sympathizers, and so they made the decision to turn over the entire staff. Marilu didn’t want to get caught up in the scandal, so she resigned. She was seven months pregnant at the time anyway, and we both knew she was going to stay at home after the baby was born.”

“AJ?” frowned Luke, never looking away from Isaac.

“More than twenty-seven billion dollars was unaccounted for. It was removed from the bank accounts directly related to terrorist activity, but it seems the Pentagon, NSA, and CIA lost track of it after that.”

“Twenty-seven billion,” whispered Cam. “Do you know how much damage your wife and brother-in-law could be doing with that kind of money?”

“I’m well aware,” said Isaac, slowly turning his coffee cup. “I need to use the restroom.” His aide stood to follow him, and he held up his hand. Luke watched him walk out and head in the direction of the bathroom and looked at the aide.

“What do you know?”

“I know that he wouldn’t betray his country for any amount of money or any number of weapons.”

“What’s the wife like?” The young man stared at Luke, then the other men in the room.

“I’m not sure that’s polite conversation befitting of an officer. Sir.”

“I see. So, she’s a real piece of work is what you’re telling me.”

“Admiral Harris is one of the kindest, most considerate leaders I’ve ever worked for. He’s intelligent. He’s in touch with the men and women who work for him. He knows the names of every child that any of us have. His wife came to a meet and greet a few years ago while we were stationed in Norfolk. This was right before his current appointment.”

“And?” asked Hex.

“And, she showed up in a dress that would have made a stripper blush. You could tell that he was embarrassed. She was drunk, smelled like men’s cologne, and couldn’t remember if she’d called the babysitter or not. That was strange because their kids were teenagers then, old enough to be alone. I sent a junior officer to their home, where he found the kids watching television. They’re not babies, but they shouldn’t have been left alone without anyone supervising.”

“Did she say anything?” asked Luke.

“She kept saying that she knew she was embarrassing him, but she needed to be there for him. I’ve been around a lot of drunk women, but this woman was a professional. She was hitting on the single officers, speaking disparagingly to the wives and girlfriends. It was pretty terrible to watch. I finally offered to take her home.”

“What happened?”

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