King and Maxwell

CHAPTER 38

“HEY, WINGO!”

Tyler looked over as he was leaving school. The group of senior boys was watching him. Some had big duffels they carried over their shoulders. One held a football helmet and shoulder pads.

One of them shouted, “Heard your old man’s not dead. Heard he went AWOL. And he’s a crook.”

Tyler’s face flamed red and he shouted, “That’s a load a’ shit.”

The seniors came over to him, each towering over him. Tyler recognized them all as being on the varsity football team.

The largest senior said, “My old man told me. He’s in the Army. He should know.”

One of the other seniors shoved Tyler. “So you calling his dad a liar?”

“If he says my dad is a crook, I am.”

“AWOL, that’s like being a coward, right? Your old man a chickenshit, Wingo?” said a large, big-bellied eighteen-year-old named Jack. He shoved Tyler so hard he fell back on the dirt, which made all of them laugh. The other boys crowded around. One jerked Tyler up and held his arms, while Jack cocked his fist back and was about to punch Tyler in the gut.

“Don’t think so.”

A hand grabbed Jack’s fist and ripped it backward.

The boys all turned to see Michelle standing there. She let go of Jack’s hand and said, “You guys like ganging up on people?”

“What’s it to you?” snarled Jack.

“Tyler’s a friend of mine.”

Jack guffawed as he looked Michelle up and down. “You mean you’re his bodyguard? You need a chick to guard you, Wingo?”

The other boys all laughed.

“I can take care of myself,” snapped Tyler as he quickly got to his feet and glared at Michelle.

“I know you can. But six on one isn’t fair for anyone. So let’s see.” She looked at the other boys one by one, her gaze finally coming to rest on Jack. “You play football, right?”

“Starting left tackle,” bragged Jack.

“Which means you’re big and strong.” Jack’s smile grew larger. “And slow and fat and you have no stamina because you can’t run more than three yards without collapsing.”

Jack’s smile disappeared.

Michelle looked at Tyler. “Now, Tyler isn’t nearly your size, but he’s wiry and quick and he swims, which means he has great endurance. You fight him, and you don’t take him out fast, he’ll dance around, popping away until you get so tired you won’t be able to stand up, much less hit anything with force. And Tyler’s dad, the so-called coward, is Special Forces, and those guys are in another world when it comes to close-quarter combat. You think MMA[26] guys are tough? They wouldn’t last a round with a SEAL[27] or a Ranger. And Special Forces guys don’t just beat you up. They kill you. And I bet Tyler’s dad taught him a few things.”

She glanced at Tyler, who was staring furiously at Jack.

“And Tyler looks like he wants to take your head off,” said Michelle, turning back to Jack. “So why don’t we just let you two go at it. But just the two of you. Any of your buddies try to help you, Slick, I’ll step in, and even though I am a girl, I don’t fight like one.”

Jack eyed Tyler and Tyler stared back at Jack. Jack finally dropped his gaze and said, “Screw this. I’m not getting kicked off the football team for kicking this punk’s ass on school grounds.”

He turned and walked off with his buddies.

Michelle and Tyler stared after them and then Tyler turned to her. “Thanks for doing that,” he mumbled.

“You didn’t really need me. In fact if it were just one-on-one you could have taken him.”

“You really think so?”

“You have fire in the belly, Tyler. That jerk just has a big belly.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I dropped you off. Now I’m here to pick you up.”

“But I’ve got other plans.”

“Like what?”

“Just other plans.”

“We’ve had this discussion, Tyler. We stick together for now.”

“I don’t want to stick together.”

She eyed him intently. “What changed from then to now?” She eyed the phone gripped in his hand, and the truth dawned on her. “When did your dad email you back?”

“Just leave me alone.”

“No can do.”

“I’m outta here.”

He started to walk off but she grabbed his arm. “Let me clue you in to something really fast, Tyler. This morning Sean and I went to check a lead. It was a lead I picked up at your house and it led to a motel that your fake stepmom was using as a drop point.”

“A what?”

“Doesn’t matter. While we were there someone stuck a pack of probably Semtex on the front wall of the unit and detonated it. If not for Sean’s quick thinking I wouldn’t be here and those guys would have kicked your ass. As it was, most of the motor court burned down. Luckily, no one was hurt.”

“A bomb?”

“Yeah, a bomb. So when did your dad contact you?”

“I saw the message right before lunch.”

“And what did it say?”

“Nothing much.” Tyler looked down at the ground as he said this.

“You really suck at lying.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Okay, if it was nothing much why can’t you tell me?”

“Why would Jean have another place to live?”

“We told you we think she and your dad might not even be married.”

“Right. You said he might have brought her home so I’d have an adult to live with while he was gone. Did you change your mind about that?”

“No. But we’ve modified our opinion somewhat. We think she was a plant.”

“A plant?”

“We think she might be working for the people who set up your dad. That’s why she’s disappeared now. She got scared and took off with us back on the case. She had this address at the motor court where mail was sent. We checked the place out but didn’t find anything except nearly a fiery death.”

“But who was she working with then? Not the Army?”

“Don’t think so, but the Army is definitely mixed up in all this. We think there’s another factor. Maybe the factor that made your dad’s mission go wrong.”

His face brightened. “So you believe my dad is a good guy?”

“I think we’re both coming around to that, yeah.”

“Well, he is a good guy.”

“Even though he lied to you? You were pretty mad at him for that.”

“I guess he had to do that. He was serving his country.”

“Come on, let’s go see Sean. He’ll want to hear this too.”

Tyler’s face screwed up. “I don’t want to go with you. How many times do I have to say it?”

“So what will you do? Hook up with your dad?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“And if it wasn’t your dad who sent you that email, you’ll be walking right into a trap.”

“It was in our code.”

“Which, like we told you, we broke in a few seconds. You don’t think other people can too? This is the big league, Tyler. They have resources you won’t even see in a Hollywood film because the movie guys can’t come close to imagining what some folks already have for real.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“You mean like you did with those idiots back there? The dudes you’ll be facing by yourself will put a hole in your head and not think twice about it.”

“You’re just trying to scare me.”

“No, I’m just trying to be straight with you.”

Tyler hesitated.

Michelle seized on this. “I tell you what. We go see Sean. Let him talk to you. If you still want to go, you go. We can’t keep you against your will. That would be a crime.”

“Are you being straight with me now or is this a trick?”

“Ever since we got hooked up with you we’ve almost been killed twice. I don’t think we’ll survive another attack. So, yeah, I’m being straight with you. And you’re the client. You want to go it alone, there’s nothing we can do about it. Except attend your funeral later. Which would have been more than Sean and I would have had after this morning.”

“What do you mean?”

She put a hand on his shoulder and guided him toward her Land Cruiser. “Semtex doesn’t usually leave enough of you behind to bury.”