John turned and went over to his computer and pressed some buttons, and a grid of security camera boxes appeared on the screen.
Being in the high-end, ever vigilant security biz, Barber had a string of state-of-the-art motion detector cameras set up all over his remote compound.
He clicked on the keyboard. They watched as a car came up his mile-long driveway. It was a small new shiny blue Nissan.
“Looks like a rental,” Gannon said from over Barber’s shoulder. “Is that a woman driving it?”
Barber clicked another button and stilled the image and zoomed in.
“Hey, look,” he said, shocked, as he tapped at the screen. “It’s the FBI agent from the hospital.”
“The agent?” Lynn said.
“The lady FBI agent who was shot along with Owen,” Gannon explained. “Agent Hagen. We saw her in Jackson at the hospital.”
“What does she want?” Lynn said.
“I don’t know, but I guess we’re about to find out,” Barber said as he clicked off the screen and stepped out his office door.
The car had pulled to a stop in the circular drive by the time they all came out onto the porch.
They watched Agent Hagen get out wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. She seemed solid enough on her feet though her color was a little pale.
She certainly didn’t look like she was on official business, Gannon thought.
“Hi, you’re John Barber, right?” she said as she walked over, extending her free hand. “Do you remember me? I’m Kit Hagen. You visited me at the hospital in Jackson.”
“Of course,” Barber said, shaking her hand. “Nice to see you again, Agent Hagen. Especially up on your feet.”
“Me, too,” she said, smiling. “Believe me. And there’s no agent. I’m just Kit. Please just call me Kit.”
“Okay, Kit. This is my wife, Lynn, and this is my buddy, Mike.”
Kit peered at Gannon as she shook his hand.
“You were there at the hospital, too, right? I think I remember you.”
Gannon smiled.
“I’m surprised that you remember anything,” he said. “You were pretty groggy.”
“Groggy,” Kit said rolling her eyes. “I’ll say. I was high as a kite. I actually just chucked the last of the stuff they gave me for the pain. It was making me cross-eyed. I think I’ll stick to Advil from here on out.”
“Please come in, Kit,” Lynn Barber said. “Get out of this heat. I’ll put on some lunch.”
“No, Lynn, please. I don’t want to bother you guys. I didn’t even call. I just came by for a second.”
“Sorry, Kit. This is off-the-grid Eastern Utah,” Lynn said, waving her toward the front door. “No one is allowed to come by for just a minute. It’s a county ordinance.”
“How did you get here? Salt Lake City Airport?” Barber said as they went in and sat in the family room.
“Yes,” Kit said. “I just went to visit Owen’s grave, and before I left I wanted to come by and say hi. I’m truly sorry I missed your brother’s funeral but they were burying my partner, Dennis, the same day.”
“No worries, please, Kit,” Barber said. “We’ve all been through so much with this. We’re all doing the best we can.”
“I actually needed to come by,” Kit said as Lynn Barber came in with a tray of iced tea and glasses. “I wanted to tell you about what your brother did for me.”
“Kit, honestly. You don’t have to get into all that if you don’t want to,” John Barber said. “I know it’s all still so raw for you.”
“No, thank you for that, John. But I’d like to,” Kit said. “You guys should know how Owen saved me. When the shooting began, I saw my partner get killed, and I went into shock. I was completely useless. But Owen wasn’t. He immediately hid us both behind cover and then he came up with a plan. He figured out where the shots were coming from by using the sheriff’s cell phone. Then he fired at the suspect to give me a chance to run.
“Your brother was a...a hero. Truly, a hero. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here right now. I just wanted to tell you. I wanted you—I needed you—to know how terrific he was. He died trying to save me five minutes after we met.”
They sat in the room for a long silent beat. John Barber stared at the unlit fireplace.
“Owen was...” he finally said as he shucked away a tear with his thumb. “He wouldn’t let down a friend no matter what. Wasn’t in him. He must have considered you a friend, Kit.”
Kit suddenly stood, wiping at her own eyes.
“Anyway, I’ve taken up enough of your time. It was nice to meet everyone. Thanks for seeing me.”
“Not so fast,” Lynn said, standing up as she offered Kit an iced tea.
“But,” Kit said.
“But nothing,” Lynn said. “Tea.”
Kit finally took it. She smiled and sat down.
“Good,” Lynn said, smiling. “Much better.”
“As you can see, my wife here likes everyone to be comfortable,” John Barber said, laughing. “She insists on it.”
“I can attest to that,” Gannon said. “I recommend you just go along with it, Kit. Resistance is futile.”
“Exactly,” Lynn said, smiling. “I already started lunch. We actually run a resort here, you know.”
“Oh, yes,” Kit said. “I saw your website. Hotel Juliet Bravo. Survival training, right? You’ve got great ratings on Yelp.”
“That’s right,” Lynn said. “Yelp doesn’t lie. At least about us. So it’s no trouble at all to put you up in one of the bungalows. Coming all this way, you’ll have to stay at least for the night.”
“Well,” Kit said as she took out her phone and looked at it. “I do have a flight tomorrow. I was going to stay at the airport hotel.”
“Plans just changed,” Lynn said, heading back for the kitchen. “I’ll go get my kids to help me fix up the presidential bungalow. We’re not the Plaza, but if we can’t beat an airport hotel, we need to put out the for-sale sign.”