Hector just stood there, resolute. “Yes, sir, though it may take me a little while to figure out what just happened,” he said as he looked at Eric and me, “and who everyone is. I’m not sure I have all the relevant facts yet…”
“Take the time you need. I’m sure as the new security manager, you’ll have your hands full trying to patch things back together around here.”
Hector just looked at him, dumbfounded. “Are you serious, sir?”
“You’ve earned it. From what I hear, you were instrumental in keeping it together tonight. I’d say take a few days off, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible. The FBI and sheriff are outside and want to know what happened, though they didn’t exactly put it quite like that. They want to talk to the man in charge. That’s you.” Then he turned to me. “What do you think we should tell them, Nick?”
“Oh, you’ll think of something,” I said. “Hey, I don’t suppose Marti is around anywhere is she?”
“Matter of fact, she’s been asking about you, too. Seems you’re a popular kind of guy. She’s been busy keeping the NRC Commissioners updated, though I understand they’re furious. But I’ve arranged to have her meet us upstairs in my office after we get you cleaned up. We need to get you out of sight for a while. I sure as hell don’t know how to explain you to the FBI.”
CHAPTER 68
We worked our way up to Prichard’s office as the sun came up over the hills to the east. A new day was dawning. The Pacific Ocean was earning its name with placid, gently rolling swells. Eric was sitting in a chair nursing a bottle of cold water. I was resting on the couch, with my right arm in a sling, drinking piping hot coffee, when Marti came in. She rushed over to me and didn’t care who saw what as she plunked down on the couch next to me, hugged me, and kissed me lightly on the cheek. She didn’t release or let go and I found I enjoyed the soft feel of a woman in my arms again. It had been a long time.
“Hey, take it easy on my shoulder, okay?” I told her teasingly.
She released me and then noticed the sling. Her eyes went wide. “Oh my god! What happened? Are you okay?”
“You should see the other guys!” I said, trying to lighten things up. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
She then looked over at Eric with a good deal of skepticism, and then back to me.
“Marti, meet Eric Jansen. He’s a part of my team.”
Marti looked at him but refused to let go of me. If anything, she huddled a little closer. She’d been through a lot in the last couple of days and right now wasn’t sure of too much, other than her feelings for me. She didn’t know much about our backgrounds and probably little about the Green Berets, but it looked like that was something she’d like to rectify if possible.
“Who are you guys?” she said with unabashed wonder.
Just then, the door to Prichard’s office opened and the Old Man walked in with Dave. I looked up and saw the bandaged arms and red face. But there was a twinkle in the older man’s eyes and I could tell he was all right. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I stood up and went over to him, with Marti hanging on to me like Velcro. The Old Man moved over to me, too, but stopped when he saw Marti attached to me, and smiled, causing Marti’s cheeks to turn a bright red.
The Old Man looked her in the eyes. “I’ll give him back to you in a minute, but do you mind if I borrow Nick for a moment?”
Marti returned his gaze, looked down at his wrapped arms, and instinctively went over to give him a hug, too. She reached out to him gently and put her arms around him, trying not to hurt him. She didn’t know this man a couple of days ago but felt a bond with him now, too.
As she broke her embrace, she looked back up at the Old Man’s face and eyes and shuddered, pushing him back a couple of inches and stood there. There was that familiarity again. Then she looked at me with a question in her eyes. All I could do was smile at her.
The Old Man put an arm around Marti, looked down at her, then back at me and said, “Not bad, son.”
I looked back at him and said, “Not bad yourself, Dad — for an old man.”
CHAPTER 69
Prichard stood up and went over to greet my dad. “Mr. Connor, good to see you again. It’s been a long time. I didn’t know you were associated with this disreputable rabble!”
“I’m actually retired. I just consult from time to time,” he said with a glance at me.
Prichard smiled. “Looks like you do considerably more than that to me. We owe you a debt of gratitude sir.”
Then he moved over to Dave and shook his hand. “Good job last night, Dave! You did an excellent job holding things together in the control room. I appreciate everything you did. I really do. I know you’re tired and have, well, some things on your mind. We’ll try to get you out of here just as soon as we can.”
Dave looked drained and said, “Thank you, sir.” He turned to me and extended his hand. I took it and gripped it firmly. Dave’s eyes teared up, but he didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. I understood all too well. Just then, my phone rang.
“Connor,” I answered.
“Boy, what a cluster,” Pete said. “I can’t get within a mile of The Headlands. All the roads are closed and there are more law enforcement around here than you can shake a stick at. I assume you took care of business out there for us?”
“I did my part, but we had a lot of help,” I said, glancing around the room.
In a more serious tone, Pete asked, “Did everyone make it okay?”
“Eric and the boys are fine. By the way, did you find anything out about Waxman Industries? Do we have them this time?”
Prichard was now looking at me — hard. He couldn’t hear the whole conversation, but just listening to me probably made him wonder if my being there was really his idea in the first place. He was a smart man and I was sure he’d figure it out sooner or later. Whatever he couldn’t figure out, I knew the National Security Agency would fill him in on — at some point in time.
“Matter of fact, we do,” Pete said. “We’ve got more on Waxman than I’m sure the FBI and CIA want us to have. But right now, I’ll bet we’re the flavor of the month, so they can’t do jack about it.”
“Have you figured out how they did it yet? It’s time to end this,” I said “They’ve stepped way over the line. Brenda Williams’ death is simply unacceptable.”
“The real power is upstairs with Mr. Waxman himself. These guys are good. We’ve got the intel and paper trail to shut them down permanently this time,” Pete said. “I hacked their system the way the Chinese have been doing to us, for years now. I had to go through a server in Hong Kong — too many firewalls over here. But over there, it’s a wide-open infrastructure. I opened a portal in Suriname of all places, and fed some breadcrumbs to the FBI through the NSA. There’s now a paper trail all the way back to Mr. Waxman himself, that even they should be able to follow. He’s on record as having met with Mr. Chiu and arranging this whole debacle.”
“Good work, Pete. What do you recommend?”
“Mr. Waxman has a private plane waiting for him at the executive terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson airport. He’s on a plane for a high-level meeting in D.C. this afternoon with some government officials at the Department of Commerce and Trade. He thinks he’s negotiating some trade agreements with China. We’ve arranged to leak some incriminating information through the Washington Post, just to get the ball rolling.”
“Well done,” I said. “Sounds like this thing is about wrapped up. You’ll have to give me a complete brief when you get a chance.”