away, sir.” The major shook his head in deference, still wearing the guarded look as the Director held his eyes.
“I’ll tell you,” the leader said evenly. “You were arrogant, made clumsy attempts to impress this young woman. Wanted to show what a clever and powerful man you were.”
The Director studied the vaulted ceiling. “You befriended the petty officer—the one she lived with—having never vetted the young woman properly to determine whether she represented a threat to our mission.” When he finished his eyes rested on the major’s. “A long litany of inappropriate actions. In short, you failed us…failed me a second time.”
The officer sat motionless as the man behind the desk stood. A trace of perspiration glistened at the major’s closely-cropped hairline. “But, sir. At best she found pictures of our targets. With nothing more than that there’s no way she could come to any conclusions about our plans. And it wasn’t my oversight that allowed the pictures to remain in the encrypted file she hacked into.”
“Yes, Major. I suppose one could argue that point.” the Director nodded and showed a neutral smile as he proceeded around the oak desk. The Marine had ten years, twenty pounds, and two inches on his accuser. Yet despite the smaller man’s apparent agreement, the Marine wore the look of prey not predator. He had good reason.
“We tried, sir,” the major continued. “Made it clear to the girl and the petty officer. Arranged accidents to frighten them and force her to tell us what she may have found, to surrender the data. That should have been enough. The girl had more backbone and brains than we anticipated.”
“On the other hand, Major, you had far less of both.” The Director rubbed his forehead in frustration as he studied his quarry. “And now, you have no idea where they’ve gone?”
“No. Not…not yet,” the major stammered. After long years of arduous combat duty, fear should be no stranger. But raw, physical courage, the ability to run blindly into an oncoming hail of enemy bullets, was different from mental toughness. And the latter was what this task demanded. “We have men searching, sir.” The officer shook his head. “But it’s almost impossible. She has no family except her daughter. The chief she lived with has gone missing, too. I have no idea how they escaped or where they’ve gone…but I will, sir. Give me a few…”
“Enough!” The Director held up a hand, crossed the room slowly and looked down at the major as he reached casually into his pocket, retrieving something with his right hand. In a quick motion the syringe was in the major’s thick, muscled neck. He gasped and fell forward, the Director watching as his body hit the thick carpet.
“That’s all right, Major.” The words were even, without emotion as the major lay dead. “The penalty for treason is hanging. I simply eliminated the middle man.”
Chapter Fourteen
Kylie slept peacefully in the small upstairs bedroom. The first two nights she’d slept in the small bedroom at the end of the hallway off the kitchen. But Eric’s sixth sense, an intuition honed by years of combat experience, told him she should sleep upstairs. He wanted to believe that no one was following the girls or meant them harm. But after what Lip and Buzz has discovered and listening to Ashley’s vague innuendos about what Ralph might be involved in it eased Eric’s mind to know that Kylie’s bedroom was at the far end of the upstairs hall.
She’d given Eric a kiss on the cheek and a giant bear hug before running off to bed. After only a few days Eric doted on Kylie. As he watched her bounce down the hallway, her tiny hand squeezing Ashley’s, Eric marveled again at how happy and well-adjusted she seemed. He found himself reluctantly arriving at the only explanation that made sense. The one he’d stubbornly resisted. Life at Ralph’s must have been the pleasant experience the girls described…at
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