Page 34 of Rett

“But why would he destroy his own product, his own compound?” asked East.

“He didn’t,” said Eric. “He gave the information to Ryder, who gave the order to destroy the compound. It makes it look as though Barber has no accountability, except that he followed orders.”

“Is he trying to destroy Ryder?”

“Maybe,” said Eric. “We don’t know that information yet. It’s been weeks since you were down there. The timing feels like it would have happened when the incident with Rett occurred. It might have been his opening, seeing Barber up close. Think about all the information at his fingertips right now. He can have his staff look up information in any way he wants and use it any way he wants. He doesn’t even have to know all the right things to say. We saw how easily he manipulated those three in the coffee shop.”

“Do we confront Ryder?” asked Rett.

“Not yet. We need to figure out what Ramos’s game is. The text message was sent to confirm your ‘death,’” said Eric. “But we’ve heard nothing back from him yet.”

“We have someone who might be able to help,” said Nine. A young man walked in the door looking fresh-faced, waving at them.

“Good morning, sirs!”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Dad, who is this?” asked Cam.

“This is Tyler Ells. Tyler helped us with a case involving Harlow a few months back. Tyler was with the NSA but served eight years in Navy intelligence. We promised him an opportunity to interview, but he had to take care of his mother first. Sorry to hear of her passing, Tyler.”

“Thank you, sir,” he said, nodding.

“And what is Tyler good at?” asked Eric.

“Espionage. Sir. I mean, I’m a computer engineer, but my expertise is in finding information that can’t be found, then digging further, using it in unique ways, and finding the holes. Once I had the information on Barber, I was able to verify that he submitted for a leave of absence during the time we believe he was having surgery. Given the area he was in, I started expanding out to see if I could find the plastic surgeon.”

“And?” asked Rett.

“And it’s Venezuela. They’re pretty obsessed with plastic surgery, so there was a lot to choose from. But most patients are getting nose jobs, boob jobs, butt lifts, that sort of thing. Very few are getting complete facial reconstructive surgery. That helped. He would also want the best, not some side-alley hack. I have the name of the surgeon and his location, but I decided to look into something else. It was just a hunch, but it paid off.

“I looked back into the records for Ryder. A year ago, he was in Venezuela and suddenly applied for leave due to an unexpected illness and then extended the leave citing the need to recuperate. But when I checked Dr. Vacarrez’ records, what do you know,” he smirked, “a patient with full facial reconstructive surgery.”

“Shit,” muttered East.

“Wait, here’s where it gets really interesting. Ryder is fluent in German and Chinese. But he was only passable in Spanish. Suddenly, he returns from Venezuela and is fluent in the language, including some unusual regional dialects. He claims it was immersion. Others say it was so natural, it seemed supernatural.”

“Wait, we have two high-ranking U.S. Army officials that we believe are actually Venezuelans, one being the head of a cartel?” asked Rett.

“That’s exactly what we think, and we think that one of you or all of you saw the transformation or something to do with it,” said Eric. Gabi stood up to speak.

“Did you see anyone in bandages, anyone with a strange face shape, perhaps looking puffy or swollen?”

“Fuck, Gabi, I don’t know,” said Rett. “I mean, Ramos is brutal, so seeing someone like that in the area was probably natural in my mind.”

“No bandages on a face? No strange scars?” asked Lucinda. The three men shook their heads, trying to remember all the details of their time there. “Well, there is a possibility that it wasn’t him you saw but something else. Maybe you saw Ramos or whoever he is now speaking to someone that he shouldn’t have been speaking to.” Again, they all shrugged, unsure of what they’d seen or didn’t see.

“At least we know now that Ramos and someone else are actually Barber and Ryder. Whatever they’re trying to do, we can let the General know and put someone on them both. Maybe he can force them to have new assistants,” said Rett. “Better yet, he could ask for routine blood work.”

“If you’re looking to confirm blood type,” said Tyler, “they both are a match to Ryder and Barber. DNA would be what we need to see.”

“We don’t want them to run. If they’re both still in South America, we need them to get back to America. Forcing them to take new assistants would be highly suspicious,” said Eric. “At that rank, they would get to choose their closest team. We have to find another way. Think about it. Take some time and think back to when you were there, what and who you saw, spoke to, and interacted with, and as you were making your way out, was there anything suspect.”

“Nice job, Tyler,” said Cam, nodding his head. “We’ll make sure that you follow through with all the assessments and testing we do here. I assume you’ve done the applications and background checks. Right, Dad?” Nine nodded at his son, giving a knowing smirk.

“Next time you hire someone for Voodoo Guardians, maybe let us know?” Cam gave a sly grin to his father, nodding at him. Nine wanted to say something smart, but he was right. He wasn’t in charge any longer.

“Sorry about that,” he frowned. “I just knew we could use him, and he deserved a chance.” Cam laughed, shaking his head.

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