In Austin, Rick Thomas, wearing jeans, a button-down western shirt and boots, was knocking on Marty’s office door and was invited in.
“Marty,” Rick said, “I just got off the phone with Pat; they’ll be in Austin in a couple of hours.”
“I just got off the phone with her myself, Rick. I should be honest with you and say that you are not the only love interest in her life.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” Rick said, “but at least she’s not seeing a homeless guitar player behind my back and spending my money on cheap wine and funny cigarettes.”
They both laughed, and Marty told Rick he would have a car waiting when the team touched down.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to ride out with the driver. I know my wife pretty darn well, and she’ll head straight here when she reaches Austin anyway,” Rick stated.
“That’s a good idea, Rick, as long as you know I’ll want to see her as soon as I can.”
“You don’t play guitar, do you, Marty?”
Marty threw a pen at him, and they had a drink before Rick and Jeff Lambert left for the airport.
* * *
As soon as they touched down and the plane’s wheels stopped rolling, the door opened and Rebecca helped Pat down the gangway to the tarmac. Sammy and De, fully awake, brought up the rear.
“We need to get these men to a hospital right away,” said Pat.
“No,” said Sammy, while De just climbed in the back seat of the limo.
“I guess that settles that argument.” Rick held the door open on the other side while his wife and Sammy got in with De.
They were at the Capitol as quickly as traffic allowed. Even though Jeff drove around to a side door, plenty of media and some of the public managed to find a way to gawk at the group as they made their way through the door. Inside, they were escorted by a pair of Texas Rangers to the president’s office.
Blood seeped through Sammy’s bandages, De’s wired jaw was three times its normal size with all the gauze and bandaging around it, and Pat walked alongside both of them as if she could hold either of them up if they fell. They looked more like the cast of a zombie movie than a top-notch team of intelligence operatives as they hobbled into Marty’s office.
“Good gracious!” Marty exclaimed. “What happened here?”
“Nothing happened here, sir,” replied Sammy, “just had a little accident while we were on vacation.”
De bent over in pain, trying to stifle a laugh, while Pat just shook her head and laughed out loud.
“Must be an inside joke, Marty,” said Rick.
“You people are sick!” Marty grinned. “But I’m sure glad you’re on our side. You are still on our side, right?”
That brought another round of laughter, with De doing the best he could with a broken and wired jaw.
Pat told the story of her encounter with the bad guys, and then looked at Sammy, who would have to tell their tale, as De obviously wouldn’t be talking for some time.
“We got a call from one of the ladies we had questioned about ‘client’ conversations that might have anything to do with the former president’s statements about Texas,” Sammy said. “She said she needed to talk to us in person and gave us an address. When we got there, no one answered the door, so we picked the lock and let ourselves in. Someone had made a mess of the place before we got there, with drawers pulled out, papers strewn all over, and some things just tossed around the room, that kind of thing.”
Pat was hearing this for the first time because De and Sammy had slept the whole trip in the plane. “But there was nobody in the apartment?” she asked.
“No. There was an old woman in the lobby when we came in,” he said. “She was sitting on a bench by the elevator just as we got on. A young woman was sitting by her, holding the old gal’s hand, when we came back down. Nothing looked unusual, but these were pros. We should have been sharper, keener to what was going on around us.
“Three steps after we passed the women, we were tased and there must have been a dozen men on us in an instant. Guns in our faces, shackles on hands and feet, and bags over our heads in seconds. Like I said, pros.”
“Was the woman who called you to that address with them?” Pat asked.
“Not that I saw, but we didn’t have much time to look,” Sammy replied.
De reached over and picked up a note pad off Marty’s desk and scribbled, “My guess is that they wouldn’t have needed us if they had her. She was the one with the info.”
“Damn, that’s right. If she had still been in the apartment when they got there, they wouldn’t have needed to ransack the place and they wouldn’t hang around waiting on us or the cops to show. She’s still out there somewhere!” Pat exclaimed.
Sammy stood up. “Is that plane still available? I have to find her before they do!”
“None of you are going anywhere but to bed!” Marty barked. “You have done more than me or Texas could have asked, and I’m sure there will be more to do when you’ve all healed up and haired over. Oh, yeah, and I’m sure Rick is close to hurting me over all the stuff Pat’s been through.” He glanced over at Rick, who glowered threateningly at him.
Sammy opened his mouth like he was going to protest, but the look on Marty’s face stopped him.
“There’s someone else on our side in Washington,” Marty said. “That someone has been keeping us informed about everything you’ve been doing, so he’s good. He called to tell us you were on your way to the airport before any of you could let us know. He said he would call back after you got here, so I’ll have him search for her.”
“The Arab!” Pat and Sammy yelped in unison.
“He didn’t have an Arabian accent,” Marty replied, looking puzzled.
Sammy and Pat looked at each other, baffled, but then a light came on for Pat. “The Arab and my young Marine captain are one and the same!”
Sammy spoke up. “The guys in the warehouse when Pat was brought in aren’t all of them. The Arab smoked four of them there, but there were four more, counting the ones who brought us in. It’s important for everyone to know there are at least four more of these vipers still out there.”