Page 49 of Sensual Nights

"I got shot today."

"What?"

"Yeah, an officer's bullet ricocheted off a rock and hit me. It didn't go deep. It was actually not in far at all, and EMTs were able to pull it out."

"Holy shit, you're leading an exciting life here."

"To be honest with you, it's more exciting than I would like right now. I just want to get my girlfriend back, spend time with her, do my job, and have a nice life with her."

"Okay, well let's see what we can do."

They hustled in the back door. Jace had pulled the thumb drive from the safe. Margo sat at her desk wiping her eyes. The second she saw him, she jumped up and hugged him.

"Oh, Mason, I can't believe this. I can't believe this. I just can't believe this."

"I know, Margo. We're going to get her back and we're going to do it as quickly as we can. I don't doubt the police are doing everything they can, but they're blocked by laws and rules. We aren't. Well, we are, but we're not."

Jace handed Mitch the thumb drive.

Mitch looked it over, turned it around in his hand, and nodded.

"Yeah, this is military grade for sure." He put it in Jace's computer then pulled his phone out and tapped a number.

"Hey, Ethan, it's Mitch. So I'm here in Blossom Springs, and we have a little bit of a snag. Carley Page, the woman who found the thumb drive, has been kidnapped. I'm here with Mason Thompson and friends. I want to see what's on the thumb drive to see if it can help us identify who has her. I need login information."

He listened, clicked on the logo, and the password and username screen popped up.

"Okay, go ahead. I have that screen open now."

He was given information to unlock the thumb drive and as soon as he clicked enter, the screen filled with information. He read it over, as Mason watched over his shoulder.

Mitch whistled a low, slow whistle. "This is information on Russia. It looks like secrets were being passed between the US and Russia regarding government equipment, including weapon diagrams.

He kept clicking back and forth between screens.

"Somebody's passing military secrets," Mitch said. "Hang on. I'm going to put you on speaker." He tapped the speaker icon on his phone.

"Mason Thompson, Jace Marriott, Quinn Kurtz, and Jace Marriott's wife, Margo are here with me."

He set his phone on the desk. "All right, folks, I have Ethan Dougherty here on the line."

"Hi, folks. I'm sorry about all that's happened there, but I'll help in any way I can." He took a deep breath. "All right, Mitch, click on the upper left corner. There's an icon there. Click on that."

Mitch did as he was told. "Done."

"All right, there's a number in there. Give me that number."

Mitch read off the number. In the background, you could hear the typing of keys.

Ethan then said. "That thumb drive has been missing for about a year."

Mitch stood up. "Well, what do you make of that?"

Ethan replied, "Where did you find it?"

Mitch looked over at Mason. "Hey, Ethan, it's Mason. Carley was speaking to landscapers outside the Barracks Condos last night. I told you about the condos yesterday. That's where I live. Landscapers are planting shrubbery around the building. As they were scraping the dirt into a hole, she saw the shine of the thumb drive and picked it up. She asked the landscapers if they'd dropped it, and they said no. I asked the landscaper if anything else had been uncovered. And he showed me a box that had been with it. I gave that box to Jace also."

Jace turned around and grabbed the box from the safe and handed it to Mitch. "I have the box here. Ethan, hang on. Let me look it over."

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