Page 52 of Very Special Forces

"Let'sgo find this guy," I said, pointing at the monitor.

Chapter Thirteen

Wewalked all over the base and Harris ducked into a few places that Icouldn't go into but there was no sign of Sergeant McTavett. Afteran hour, I had to concede defeat.

"Maybehe's keeping a low profile," suggested Harris.

Ishrugged. "Could be but if he is the thief, he doesn't know anyoneis onto him yet. As far as he knows, no one has even noticed thetank is missing. That worries me, you know."

"Why?"

"If youcan misplace a tank, what else can you misplace that no one'snoticed?"

"Whenyou put it like that..." Harris grimaced. "What do you want me todo now? Like I said, someone is going to notice it's gone soon.Kafsky can only head them off so long and then the shit's gonna hitthe fan."

Westopped by my car. "As soon as you locate this guy, McTavett, tryand take a look at his forearm. No tattoo, no problem. If he doeshave one, get a photo of it to compare to the one on thevideo."

"What ifhe's wearing long sleeves?"

"Get himto take them off."

Harrisgave me a piercing look. "I've never asked a man to take hisclothes off before."

I wasway ahead of him there but I couldn't see any of my usualtechniques working. "Throw a glass of water over him," I said."Call me when you have something."

"Iforgot to ask, any news on the tank's location?"

"Not yetbut I'm sure it's still in Montgomery." I got into the car andwaved goodbye. Harris didn't look happy as he watched me leave butthere wasn't much I could do about that at the time. As I clearedthe base and headed back to Montgomery, I placed a call to the oneperson I could think of who might know something about a missingtank.

"Hi,Lexi," said Maddox, answering on the second ring.

"Hello.Are you still at your top-secret hideout?" I asked.

"If Itold you, it wouldn't be top secret."

"I'lltake that as a yes."

"Is thiscall for business or pleasure?"

"Business. I'm still searching for the tank. I wondered ifyou heard anything since we last spoke."

"Oh,yeah. All kinds of people have told me about that."

I perkedup. "Really?"

Maddoxlaughed. "No."

"Damn! Ihoped you might have come across some intel about a stolen tank.Something on the deep web."

"Darkweb."

"Whatever."

"Justout of curiosity, and I already regret asking, what sort of intelwould I look out for?"

"Maybesomething to do with the sale of a top-of-the-line American tank. Ican't imagine who would want it specifically so I'm thinkingforeign countries with suspicious motives, despots, home-growncrazies, and people with a lot of money and nothing better to spendit on. Maybe even some kind of blackmail."

"Not ashort list."

---