“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 twi
ce. 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.”