An Unlikely Hero (1) (13 page)

All eyes turned her way. Zoric, the villainous looking man she’d encountered earlier in the day, smirked a satisfied “well done.” Vernon, the computer genius gave her a wink and thumbs up. Sam, the stunningly beautiful woman she’d been captured by at the elevator, only eyed her with contempt before turning her large cat like eyes back to their boss.

But it was Chase Hunter she timidly looked at for approval. His acknowledgement failed to come. She turned her eyes back to Benjamin. He went on to say the bomb appeared to have landed in Mr. Crawley’s yard near the fence. “It appears Mr. Crawley buried it in your yard, Mrs. Scott. Given that he made comments about you not leaving on vacation with your family indicates he thought it would be safe there.” Benjamin moved to the edge of his mahogany desk and leaned on the edge. “We think Mr. Crawley knew what it was and used one of your son’s toys to trick the terrorists. We suspect he’d had contact with these men before, maybe wanting advice. Why he didn’t call authorities is a little suspect.” He took a deep breath then ran his hand across his face as if wiping away cobwebs. “It’s on the way to the lab for further evaluation. At this point we don’t know for sure if there is another bomb.”

Timidly, Tessa took a step forward. “And Mr. Crawley? What about him?”

Ben nodded. “None of the agencies claim him but both the FBI and the CIA dodged our inquiries. No work history, no family, no previous address, no nothing as far as we’ve found which adds more evidence that Mr. Crawley was someone important who knew about such weapons.”

Tessa took another step. “But,” she looked up at Chase. His hard eyes fell on her like hammers at her interruption. “He moved here from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We used to talk about it since I worked there too when I was in college.” The team exchanged serious glances. “And…” Tessa felt a tingling sensation, knowing this little bit of information meant something or the Enigma team wouldn’t be staring at her.

“Out with it, Betty Crocker!” snapped Sam with a growl. “We don’t have all day. Maybe if you’d given us this information earlier we wouldn’t be playing catch up!”

Tessa withered at her reprimand. Her mouth went dry and her words came out a stutter. “I, I’m so sorry. I, I...”

Chase reached out and touched her arm. “Take your time, Mrs. Scott.” He leveled his dark eyes at Sam causing her to take a step back and frown. “And what?”

“Before that,” Tessa swallowed hard, “Mr. Crawley lived in Santa Fe.”

“New Mexico?” Chase asked. She nodded. “That’s thirty minutes from Los Alamos,” he said pointing to Vernon who sat down at a computer and began tapping keys so fast it sounded like one continuous tone. “Did he say why he moved to Tennessee, Mrs. Scott?” She seemed frozen except for the large blue eyes that looked up at him in terror.

“Yes! He worked at a lab until he retired.”

“A lab?” Chase said looking over at Vernon who nodded and began tapping even faster on the computer. “Did he ever tell you..?”

Tessa gasped. “It was Oak Ridge National Laboratory!”

“You’re sure?” Chase said as his hand remained on her arm.

“Yes. I remember thinking how close that was to my parent’s house in Nashville.” Tessa gulped. “Who was Mr. Crawley really?”

“Got him!” Vernon yelled out with pride. He turned the laptop around for everyone to see. There was a picture of a young man around thirty five and another of a man in his late fifties. “Mr. Crawley retired ten years ago and left for parts unknown, much to the FBI’s disappointment!” Vernon laughed knowing he’d bested them. “He apparently wrote a paper that was never published about the safety measures both at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge concerning isotope production.”

“Isotopes?” Tessa shook her head. “Why would isotopes be so important?”

Sam came up behind Vernon and reached over his shoulder to pull the lap top back around. Her body rested against the young Vernon’s back. Slowly she pulled back to view the screen, pretending not to notice Vernon was paralyzed at her touch. A hint of perspiration showed just under his wild red hair that fell over his forehead...

Sam casually informed Tessa of the importance. “Isotopes are used in nuclear medicine. It aids in the medical and diagnosis of disease. Some isotopes are used in the study of environmental science such as understanding acid rain, flow paths for geochemical and hydrologic modeling.”

“You’re over my head now,” Tessa said lightly not wanting to be the victim of Sam’s disgusted opinion of her.

“No kidding,” Sam said sarcastically as she folded her arms across her breasts. “In other words isotopes are used in everything from defense programs to food irradiation which makes our food safer to eat and have a longer shelf life. The U.S. now has to import nearly 90% of our isotopes because our facilities cannot produce enough.”

“The Department of Energy is trying to convince congress to build some new facilities so our dependence on Russia and other foreign powers will not put our national security in jeopardy,” Benjamin Clark added.

Tessa nodded in understanding, visualizing the big picture. “So without isotopes people go undiagnosed, and salmonella poisons our food.”

“Some 40% of all raw poultry has traces of salmonella.” Sam continued. “Then there’s E Coli which affects 7,000 to 20,000 Americans a year. The cost of this can reach a half a billion dollars. Irradiation is widely used on food items grown in or near the ground such as spices and vegetables that are dehydrated. All these items are exposed to bacteria and mold.”

“Not to mention insects and rodents that frequent growing centers,” Vernon chimed in with a shiver. “I hate rodents!”

“And,” a new voice entered the room. “Isotopes may be a possible alternative power source for longer-life space missions. If we produce enough isotopes for use in fundamental science projects it may just simulate electronic devices when exposed to cosmic radiation.” Former astronaut Carter Johnson smiled mischievously as he entered the room “Great stuff isotopes!” His eyes fell on Tessa who had now recognized him and couldn’t seem to speak. “And you must be the new girl,” Carter said with the charm of a political candidate running for president. “I’m Carter.” He stepped toward Tessa and stuck out his hand.

Tessa swallowed hard, afraid her admiration for the former astronaut would be evident. She’d followed Carter Johnson’s work at NASA over the years. Having been a co-pilot on six shuttle missions and a pilot on two, Carter had flown into space more than any other astronaut. His expertise was in aerospace and mechanical engineering.

She remembered reading an article about him in
Time
magazine after he’d suddenly left NASA to take a job in the private sector. The reporter implied he had been asked to leave because of his reckless behavior and tendency to be a thrill seeker. NASA invested a lot of money in their astronauts and didn’t need them taking unnecessary risks. His biggest mistake, the article reported, was getting involved with two women astronauts who both claimed to be his lover. Unfortunately one of those astronauts had been Russian and planned to write a book about her six months aboard the International Space Station with Carter Johnson. Both space agencies were furious. The Russians took care of their problem as only they can. It wasn’t until the second female astronaut hired a contract killer for the Russian that NASA decided to let Carter go his own way. He was a public relations nightmare.

Tessa took his hand and felt it close around hers. He gave a sensual squeeze and continued to hold her hand as he smiled flirtatiously. “So you’re the sweet thing that took our glorious captain to his knees.” His laughter sounded like a high school quarterback used to having everyone enjoy the joke. Carter lifted his eyes to Chase who seemed to be frowning more than usual. Tessa tried to remove her hand but Carter continued to hold it. “Tessa, better watch this guy,” Carter spoke to her but his eyes were clearly on Chase. “He’s a smoother talker than me. You’ll never know when this guy is lying to you.”

Tessa’s eyes darted to Chase in alarm, wondering if she’d let her guard down too much. She managed to free her hand. “Nice to meet you, Carter. I’ve followed your career for ten years. I admire all you managed to accomplish at NASA.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound like hero worship.

Chase pushed between Tessa and Carter moving her toward Vernon’s computer screen. “You obviously don’t know about everything he accomplished at NASA.”

Instead of being put off by Chase’s condescending tone, Carter laughed good naturedly and slapped Chase on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t spoil your fun with the little housewife.”

Tessa whirled around in anger. “You know I’m getting pretty sick and tired of people treating me as if I’m not in the room. I’m not a total air head! Maybe I don’t have all the degrees behind my name like all of you but I seriously doubt all of you combined have as much common sense as I do in my little finger!” Tessa reached down and turned Vernon’s computer screen around and folded her arms. “And if you think you’ve found Jericho Crawley, you’re sadly mistaken! Because,” Tessa pointed at the screen, “that’s not him!”

Chapter 9

Holding a cup of steaming coffee, Robert stood on the front porch, drinking in the beauty of Lake Tahoe. He and Tessa often wondered if there was any place on earth as beautiful as this mountain hideaway they shared each year for two weeks. The smell of pines and fresh air could be intoxicating.

He rubbed his eyes. Sleep had eluded him for a long time but dozed off only to be awakened by something around four in the morning. After checking all the doors and windows, Robert made rounds, looking out each window into the darkness for over an hour. The story about those escaped convicts forced an uncomfortable uneasiness on him. Soon he felt wide awake and pulled out a novel to read. He thought the western involving gunslingers and Indians would invite sleep. The book, lame in plot, was laid aside as he rested his head back against the rocker he had brought inside the living room from the porch the previous evening.

Honey Lynch, wholesome and sexy that one. Strange how she popped up yesterday. Her company last evening had been welcomed but a little uncomfortable. Entertaining attractive women without Tessa around made him feel guilty. He wasn’t sure why. It had been obvious that Honey was interested in his company. The trout had been delicious. The kids had eaten every bite. She had finally said goodnight when it looked like Robert wasn’t going to send the kids off to bed. Once again she’d disappeared into the woods like a phantom. He’d ask about her vehicle and shouldn’t he and kids drive her to her car. But Honey had only smiled teasingly and said she could take care of herself. After all she carried a gun. That part unnerved him more than the escaped convicts. Maybe she was a psychotic killer looking for unarmed campers. Robert smiled as he took another sip of coffee. Nothing that looked that good could be a killer. He was sure of that.

“Mrs. Scott?” Captain Chase Hunter spoke in a quiet voice as he sat down next to Tessa. She’d fallen asleep shortly after takeoff at two in the morning. Her head rested against the window with a blanket pulled up to her neck. The small pillow had fallen down on her shoulder. Even though the overstuffed leather seats were the best money could buy for this type of luxury jet, there was no substitute for a good bed. She’d turned down the offer of the one bedroom, saying she didn’t want any special treatment.

Sam, Carter and Vernon had gotten off the plane at Los Alamos. Unloading their equipment had taken only thirty minutes. Zoric continued on with Chase and Tessa to Knoxville, Tennessee. Tessa never knew they’d landed and taken off again. Chase covered her with a blanket after the second takeoff. He sat across the aisle from her facing the opposite direction so he could keep an eye on her. It wasn’t until Zoric flopped down across from him that he realized he’d been staring at the new lady in his life.

“So what do you think?” Zoric said in his raspy voice.

“Ben said that Jamaal was intercepted by three men outside Sacramento. We lost track of him after he was taken to a carwash and scrubbed down by hot jets of water.” Chase’s demonic smile showed no sympathy. “Even though we lost him after that I’d have given anything to watch that creep get his just desserts.”

Zoric laid his head back and grinned sadistically. “No, man,” he nodded toward Tessa Scott. “I mean the woman. What do you think?”

Chase glanced over at Tessa and turned back to a folded map he quickly opened. He shrugged. “Interesting.”

“Interesting hell! She’s amazing!” Zoric chuckled quietly so as not to wake her. “How can someone who looks like that get into so much trouble?” He leaned forward and smiled, revealing a chipped tooth. “She’s gotten to you, old friend.”

Chase scowled. “Got that right. That’s why I’ve developed this twitch,” he said pointing to his left eye.

“Naaah! It is something else I think,” he said leaning back in his seat. Zoric closed his eyes and remembered his wife and daughters one more time before he slept. It had been a ritual for many years now. “I think you have found the one person who can make you face the past and finally see the future.”