Hidden Threat (15 page)

Again, Amanda giggled.

Riley stood, and so did Amanda. “Not so fast, young lady, we’ve still got ten minutes. I want you to read something for me. Classwork, you know,” she said looking down her nose. Riley handed Amanda a legal document. “Have you ever seen this?”

She eyed the first sentence that read: CASE #0456 MELANIE GARRETT PLAINTIFF vs. ZACHARY A. GARRETT RESPONDENT. “No, I don’t think so. What’s a plaintiff?”

“
The plaintiff files for divorce. The respondent, your father, is the one who didn’t want it.” It was a leap, and it was a liberal interpretation, she knew, but it was a subtlety that Riley felt was important.

“
That’d be about right. If my dad was abusive, Mom would have been the one to put her foot down and get out of it.”

“
We’ll get to that later, dearie. There you go, getting ahead of yourself. Now, turn to page two and read paragraph one.”

Amanda shuffled the pages and remained silent as she read.

“
No, out loud, please. I want to hear it too.”

Amanda looked at Riley and then back at the document. “Captain Zachary Garrett cedes all financial assets to include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and present savings accounts to Melanie Garrett. The estimated sum of these accounts totals $98,042.00. In exchange for the lump sum grant, Melanie Garrett agrees to full joint custody of their daughter, Amanda Garrett, and that in addition to every other weekend, and every other major holiday visitation, Captain Garrett is granted, authorized, and awarded sixty days of residential custody in the summer months, provided there is no conflict with Amanda’s schooling.”

Amanda rested the paper in her lap.

“
What do you think, sport? Did you know any of that before?”

A long moment of quiet passed between them. Amanda dabbed at her eyes with a few more tissues. Riley sat in the chair, allowing Amanda to have her moment.

Amanda’s eyes moved to Riley’s. “I cried,” she said.

“
Excuse me?”

“
I screamed and cried, ‘I want my daddy!’ ‘I want my daddy!’ That’s what happened in the back of that car!” She was sobbing now. “I can’t believe they did that to him.” She was convulsing. “I just wanted to spend some time with him, and all they wanted was money.” She was heaving. “I just wanted my daddy. Why couldn’t they let me be with him? And now he’s dead. He’s gone. He’s really gone.”

Riley moved over to the couch and pulled Amanda close to her. She was crying too.

A half an hour had passed when they heard a knock on the door. Riley stood and opened it.

“
Hi, ma’am. I’m Jake, we spoke in the parking lot—”

“
Yes, Jake, come in.”

“
Is everything okay? Her mom’s freaking out, calling me every five seconds, telling me she’s going to report Amanda as missing. Then her grandmother called, demanding to know where we were and who you are.”

“
I understand. Why don’t you have a seat?”

Jake sat next to Amanda, whose head was in her hands. He could see she had been crying. “You okay, babe?”

Amanda lifted her head and slowly turned toward him.

“
My father’s dead. How could anything be okay?”

***

Nina Hastings drove
her minivan hunched over the wheel, speeding up I-85. To an outside observer, she would have looked like Cruella De Ville with her silk scarf fluttering in the breeze from the open window.

She whipped onto I-485, then I-77, and shot like a rocket into Dilworth, finally screeching into the parking lot of Riley Dwyer’s office building. She took a moment and gathered herself, checking her makeup in the visor mirror, eating her rage as she did so. Still simmering, she stepped outside of her van and gained her composure, pulling down on her turquoise top, straightening her shell necklace, and smoothing her satin white Capri pants.

She then marched into the building, found the office, and breezed into Riley Dwyer’s office as if she held the deed.

Riley, Jake, and Amanda all looked up from the sofa, tissues littering the floor like peanut shells in a bar.

“
We’ve had about enough of this nonsense. Amanda, get your things. Let’s go,” she barked.

“
I’m sorry,” Riley said, standing and placing herself between Amanda and Nina. “This is
my
office, and I don’t believe you’ve got an appointment.” Riley was moving slowly toward Nina, who stood her ground.

“
Don’t give me any of that crap, lady. Amanda doesn’t have to be subjected to this. You will be hearing from an attorney in the morning.” Nina was trying to look past Riley, but the therapist was doing a good job of cocking her head, blocking Nina’s view.

“
He’ll have to make an appointment, too,” she laughed.

Nina stood motionless, years of poison and Old South genetics boiling around inside her. Always get what you want. Damn the torpedoes. Leave no prisoners. If the truth doesn’t give you what you want, create a new one that does. A lie is simply a truth waiting for the right opportunity.

The aphorisms rushed from her calculating mind like horses from the opening gate at the Preakness. They were off and running, racing toward a destination that only she knew. Nina Hastings had sniffed a vector from the moment she read the will and every other document related to Zachary Garrett’s death she could obtain. She had taken them from Melanie, spent an hour at Kinko’s, and made two copies of the will, the survivor benefit plan, the life insurance, the death gratuity, and the statement of action that Zachary had outlined in the event of his death.

Nina had not been prepared for his thoroughness. Having spent the better part of the morning combing over the documents, she became alarmed as she read the details. Her expectation had been that the $500,000 would go to Melanie with some weak provisions about her having to partition some of the money to Amanda over the years. With Amanda’s eighteenth birthday nearing, she had believed Melanie would be able to get control of the money immediately.

Yet, Zachary had outmaneuvered them, at least for the moment. How hard could it be to do an end run on a dead guy? She had already energized her attorney to file a motion to stop the counseling sessions with the enigma standing before her. And she had hired a private investigator to begin digging into Riley Dwyer’s background. She needed to know her enemy. That spade work had already produced one pearl, one juicy nugget.

“
Listen you little tramp, I’m not sure what your angle is here, but just because you had an affair with that loser, Zachary, before Melanie’s divorce was final doesn’t mean you can lay claim to the insurance money.”

Nina could see she had gotten the attention of the group. Riley Dwyer was speechless. Amanda Garrett shot up out of her seat, grabbing at Riley’s shoulder.

“
Is that true?”

Riley looked at Amanda, and then she looked back at Nina, who was wearing the smug, satisfied look of an attorney who had just introduced surprise, damning, and irrefutable evidence in a capital case.

“
Is it true?” Amanda demanded again.

“
Amanda, it’s complicated, and I was going to—”

“
You bitch!”

Amanda stormed out of the office, her boyfriend racing behind her.

Nina Hastings remained behind. This was the opportunity she was seeking. She walked a step closer to Riley, pouring stale breath into her face. “You have no idea who you’re messing with here. Your life is about to become hell unless you decide to give up this little pop psychology garbage with Amanda.”

Riley had regained her composure. “Lady, it’s clear to me that you are a domineering, selfish woman. You only want what is best for you in this life. Your life is an alternate reality that somehow has placed you at the center of the universe. You do only enough good to fool people into thinking that, as they begin to see the real you, maybe there’s hope that you’re not the evil bitch that you are.”

“
Don’t you ever talk to me like that, slut, or I’ll take you down!”

Riley’s slender arm lifted and pointed toward the door, like an arrow poised on a bow. “I think you better leave now, before you do something you regret.”

“
I can’t remember the last time I regretted anything.”

Nina Hastings’s wicked smile gave the brief impression of a haunting jack o’ lantern. None of the information she had announced was true, but she knew that the best lies were built around a kernel of the truth.

“
Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“
I’d be looking over my shoulder, if I were you,” Nina squawked before turning and departing.

***

Riley closed the
door behind her and pressed her back against it. She so clearly envisioned first meeting Zachary that the images seemed almost lifelike.

Zachary had been leaving the courthouse after the hearing. Wearing his class A green uniform, he looked like an Army recruiting poster. Riley was coming down the steps of the courthouse, two loads of papers and books carelessly stacked in her arms after completing testimony as an expert witness in a different case. Without even looking at her face, Zachary instantly offered her some help, which Riley readily accepted. After getting everything into her car, she insisted on buying him a Starbucks, which he accepted.

Zachary had been up front with her. He was devastated about the divorce and could only focus on his daughter. Riley totally understood, gave Zachary her card, and said, “If Amanda ever needs anyone to talk to, you have her call me, no charge. I prefer doing pro bono for the right cause.” She had shrugged and smiled. “I’ll never get rich, but my soul will feel good.”

Pulling out of the memory, Riley stared through her window, watching the old woman shake her finger at Jake. She saw Nina grab Amanda by the arm and pull her out of Jake’s truck.
This might turn uglier than it already is,
Riley thought.

Jake came around the front of the truck and confronted Nina. The young man, she figured, had courage in confronting a woman who had so ferociously laid down a marker. There was no scenario where he could wind up the victor. Amanda was already in the passenger seat of the minivan, and, frankly, Riley believed that Nina would welcome Jake getting physical. More ammunition for the image, the big lie, the alternate reality.

She watched Nina step toward Jake, who wisely backed away and returned to his truck. There it was, Riley figured. Nina had provoked Jake, and the young man was able to keep his cool enough to walk away from what she knew to be an unbelievably frustrating situation.

Riley turned away from the window as the minivan pulled away. She crossed her arms, her bracelets rattling against one another. What could she do? What would Zachary want her to do?

She lifted the photo of her and Zach.

“
Please help me,” she whispered to him.

CHAPTER 16

Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan

Early Wednesday Morning

The whipping rotor blades from the MH-47 helicopter pushed warm air against Sergeant Eversoll’s face as he stood on the airfield tarmac. Next to him was Matt Garrett, dressed in army combat equipment. Eversoll had on his standard army combat uniform, body armor, and helmet. He carried a rucksack full of radios, batteries, and ammo. Matt held an M4 carbine in one hand and a ground position locator in the other. He wore clear Oakley sunglasses and a small, form-fitting helmet that cut above his ears.

“
Ready?” Matt said.

“
Roger that, sir. Born ready.”

They boarded the Special Operations helicopter as the sun dipped below the mountains to the west. Inside the aircraft they removed their headgear and donned communications headsets. Two other men, Army Special Forces commandos Hobart and Van Dreeves, were already seated in the back. Matt gave them a wink.

“
Team, how we doing?”

“
Good to see you, Matt.” Hobart was first.

“
Rog’.” Van Dreeves was second, and always a man of few words. Matt, Hobart, and Van Dreeves had participated in the Ballantine takedown in Canada two years ago along with then-Colonel Jack Rampert. Matt looked at Eversoll, who was watching the three comrades. He could see that he might feel like an outsider.

“
Okay, Sergeant, you know we’re going into Pakistan, right?”

“
Roger that.” Eversoll turned toward Matt from across the helicopter.

“
Our plan is to land and hit a cave complex where we picked up some communications intercepts. The helicopter will circle while we do our mission. We are to be on the ground for no more than thirty minutes.”

“
Yes, sir, I understand.”

“
And, Sergeant?” Matt’s eyes drifted from Eversoll back to Hobart and Van Dreeves, who were both staring at Eversoll, and then locked onto the sergeant.

“
Yes, sir?”

“
We are going in light, because the Pakistanis don’t know what we’re doing. And they will never know. They’ll just know something happened. We’ve got no air cover and no way out except this helicopter. These bastards killed my brother. I want to kill all that we find. You are rear security. Hobart and Van Dreeves have left and right, respectively, as we go into the tunnel. I have the center.”