“You called them weaklings. I knew one of those weaklings. He was thirty-six years old. An Army veteran. He left behind a wife and a little kid. This guy here? It was his brother.”
In the moonlight, Max could see the senator’s eyes go wide with fear.
Trent whispered, “You made a deal with the devil, Senator. And he always collects.”
Max had placed a zip tie around the senator’s wrists, holding his arms behind his body. They placed a gag over his mouth, then carried him towards the water and down a short dock. Trent kneeled down and lowered the senator’s head into the water, upside-down, holding him there for a moment, then lifted him up.
Max said, “The next time you speak to investigators, you better tell them everything. Because we know the truth. And we’ll come back for you if you don’t.”
Chapter 33
A week later, Max and Renee were back in the Poconos. Max had rented a lake house near the Carpenters’ home. He decided that Renee and he could use a vacation — a real one. Max stood on the upper deck, directly above a boat slip. He could hear the sound of water sloshing around below. Waves from the Jet Skis and pontoon boats motoring by.
Renee sat in a lawn chair, wearing a bikini, a towel wrapped around her bottom half. She was sipping a cold beer, a lime wedge tucked in the long neck of the bottle, taking in the carefree scene below. The setting sun cast long shadows over the surrounding mountains. This was the only time of day she partook in sunbathing her fair skin.
Trent had brought Josh Junior to meet them for the afternoon. He and his delighted nephew had spent most of the time jumping off a ten-foot deck into the water. Now they were fishing for sunfish, using mushed-up Wonder Bread as bait.
Renee was reading him an article about the senator’s recent confession. “The Justice Department has been very pleased with how cooperative the disgraced former senator has been, however disturbing the details. He has confessed to multiple counts of espionage, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder.”
“Nothing else? Any complaints from the senator or anything?”
“What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know. Two men. Head dunking. Nothing. Just curious.”
Renee frowned. “What will happen now?”
Max used tongs to turn over bratwurst, making sure each one got an even brown. “With what?”
“With the drug ring? All those people, involved in that conspiracy… ”
“Many of the ones responsible are already dead. Williams and the ISI saw to that. But there will be countless investigations, I’m sure. Senator Becker was a politician, so Washington will be chewing this up for the next few years. Caleb and his team are already moving on some of the information they uncovered. My understanding is that there are a whole host of punishments waiting to be dished out. The State Department will be announcing sanctions against Pakistan. The Treasury Department is freezing assets of several lobbying firms and Jennifer Upton’s political nonprofit.”
“Oh, I did read about that. It was Jennifer Upton’s nonprofit that much of the foreign political contributions were coming through.”
Max nodded. “There are also more than a dozen executives in some overseas pharmaceutical companies that are being brought up on criminal charges.”
Max placed the brats on a paper plate, next to a tinfoil-covered plate of roasted peppers and onions.
“Dinner’s ready,” he called down to Trent, who gave him a thumbs-up.
Renee said, “What about the cartels?”
“Ironically, that may be one of Senator Becker’s only lasting policy ideas. There’s talk that our military may start deploying larger numbers of special operations personnel into Mexico to crack down on some of the cartels. From what I understand, Becker had proposed it to a few congressmen, and they’ve begun drumming up serious support after all this mess has come to light.”
“That sounds like it’ll be even more messy.”
“It probably will be. But we’ve got to do something.”
Max grabbed a beer out of the cooler and sat in the lawn chair next to Renee. He leaned over and kissed her, then rested his head back in the chair, enjoying the view over the lake.
Max smiled at Renee. “You know, we really should teach you how to land.”
About the Author
Andrew Watts is the USA TODAY bestselling author of Max Fend thrillers and The War Planners series. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2003 and served as a naval officer and helicopter pilot until 2013. During that time, he flew counter-narcotic missions in the Eastern Pacific and counter-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa. He was a flight instructor in Pensacola, FL, and helped to run ship and flight operations while embarked on a nuclear aircraft carrier deployed in the Middle East.
One of the highlights of his Navy career was flying a TH-57 helicopter from Pensacola to Oshkosh to be a static display aircraft for the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation, in 2011.
Today, he lives with his family in Ohio.
From Andrew:
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Also by Andrew Watts
THE WAR PLANNERS (Book 1)
THE WAR STAGE (Book 2)
PAWNS OF THE PACIFIC (Book 3)
THE ELEPHANT GAME (Book 4)
GLIDEPATH
THE OSHKOSH CONNECTION