A Life Apart
Chapter 32: Standing in Light (pg. 147)
Paxton had barely
disembarked at the DC airport when an officer accosted him. “Mr. Paxton, the
general is expecting you. Please come with me.” Much to Paxton’s surprise, his escort
led him away from the exits, down lengthy corridors and out onto the tarmac
where a helicopter was stationed at ready. As they approach, it fired up its
engines. The officer assisted Paxton into his seat, and they immediately took
off for the Pentagon. There were no words spoken. His escort, the pilot, and
navigator all seemed to be acting routinely, while Paxton squirmed in his seat,
anxious to find out the reason for this dignitary-like treatment.
When they finally
arrived at the Pentagon, Paxton was whisked through a maze of hallways,
elevators and card-accessed doors into the inner sanctum of military
intelligence and command. It was only last night, he recalled, that he had told
Eli and Mirabelle about his plan to see the general. Now he was being led into
the general’s private office. In previous visits he had met with the general in
conference rooms with aides standing by. Here he found himself shaking the
man’s hand and taking a seat opposite his desk.
General Perry
presently resumed his seat and eyed Paxton in a cold, matter-of-fact manner.
“Your visit is timely. But first I want to know why you asked to see me?”
Paxton couldn’t
imagine why his visit would be considered “timely.” But he could tell by the
tone of the general’s question that he was being held accountable for
something, but for what? So far, nothing about this trip had been customary.
What had started out as his initiative was now somehow anticipated, perhaps
even expected. He decided to get to the point, beginning with the surprise
encounter he had with Millie Ward in the garage. The matter of the check
required him to elaborate on his relationship with Ms. Ward and his belief that
she was the unwitting tool of some nefarious agent. Initially, he explained, he
had believed her story about foreign investors. However, since the sabotaging
of Solvetur’s systems via its own intranet, and the
events involving his wife and son, he realized how badly he had underestimated
Ms. Ward and the people backing her. Then he showed the general the envelope
that had been slipped into his company’s mail.
While the general
perused the envelope’s contents, Paxton continued in a rather defensive tone,
“As you’ll probably agree, the check has been doctored. The amount has been
changed from what I originally wrote. Besides, I don’t carry that much money in
my checking account. I’m sure you have the capability to verify that. I already
told you what happened in the garage, so her leaning on me was premeditated for
the purpose of snapping something that at least looked compromising.”
“So this is why you
asked to meet with me: your failure to tell us about your meeting with Ms. Ward
and about this recent blackmail attempt.”
“Yes, partly, but
mainly I’m worried about my family. I’ve come to ask you for more protection
for them. I don’t care what you might do to me for my mistakes in judgment. I
know I’ve been slow to look beyond our contract—what it means for Solvetur and all.”
“So when did you come
to the conclusion that your family was endangered?”
“Yesterday,
when I received this envelope and its threat . . . well, really, when I talked
with my daughter and her boyfriend last night.”
“Interesting.” The general rose and came out from behind his desk.
Sitting opposite Paxton, he studied him for a long time, apparently assessing
him and the words he was about to utter. “John . . . may I call you John?”
“Certainly,
sir.” Paxton felt uneasy for he felt
something ominous in the general’s words and actions.
“While you were in
transit here, Dr. Eli Grey was assaulted and your daughter was kidnapped.”
Paxton stared at the
general in disbelief. He could feel his heart beating. The room suddenly seemed
to collapse around him, entrapping him in his own fear and anxiety. “’Wha’ . . . what happened? Do you have leads? Who’s working
on finding her?”
“We don’t have any
leads. In fact, we have almost no information on the events of her kidnapping.
We’ve lost several valuable hours. When our agent failed to report in, a team
was sent out to investigate. We found him in his car, dead. Dr. Grey was also
found in the garage, slumped over his steering wheel. He barely had a heart
beat when we recovered him.”
“Is he going to be
alright?”
“He should be fine.
I’m waiting for his testimony. He was shot in the back with a tranquilizer gun.
He had enough in him to put down a horse. I understand he has regained
consciousness and is talking now. But I have a question for you regarding the
condition in which we found him. Apparently, he intended to make contact with
our agent on the scene when he was attacked. We found a note in his coat pocket
with a list of items he wanted to share with us. Unfortunately, our man exposed
himself with an easily identifiable routine—his morning Starbuck’s coffee. We
found cyanide in his coffee. As a result, the kidnappers could approach Dr.
Grey and your daughter without any interference from us. They did not, however,
uncover that note. Do you know what that note contained?”
“I have no idea.”
“Did you know that
your daughter and her boyfriend had contacted Ms. Ward by phone and planned to
meet with her?”
“No, I can’t believe
that. They knew I would have opposed such an act. Mirabelle had told me she had
Chloe’s, I mean Millie Ward’s, phone number. And it’s true we discussed the
possibility of meeting with her. We thought it possible that she could be
persuaded to clear her name by coming forward and revealing who’s behind this
whole affair. But I had nixed the idea and came to you folks instead, to ask
you to beef up your security net around my family. I felt I had already
compromised my relation with the Pentagon by not disclosing my unexpected
encounter in the garage. I didn’t want to make matters worse by contacting her
on my own initiative. Also, I became apprehensive about using my daughter as an
intermediary.”
“Apparently, they
didn’t take your admonition seriously. We suspected something when they tried
to evade our agents, sneaking out the back exit of a theater. GPS tracked them
to Larkspur. But when we got there, they were scurrying back to their car. We think
they tried to make contact and were unsuccessful. They seemed frightened by
something. They may have been threatened. For we also know from Dr. Grey’s
notes that attempts had been made to discover your daughter’s health issues,
even to the extent of breaking into Dr. Grey’s office and reading her file. Do
you know anything about this?”
“No, of
course not! If they had told me,
I would have come to you sooner.”
Again, the general
studied Paxton closely. “John, I’m a father too. I feel you’re being honest
with me. So I’m going to tell you what else we found with Dr. Grey and ask for
your cooperation.” The general rose and returned to his desk. He opened a
folder marked “Top Secret.” While perusing it, he said, “On Dr. Grey’s lap we
found a package addressed to you. I can’t tell you what was in it, at least not
yet. Serious national security interests are involved here. They may compel us
to require your help in resolving this matter.”
“If ‘resolving this
matter’ means recovering my daughter safely, then I will do everything I can to
help you.” This time it was Paxton’s turn to assess the general’s intent. He
stood up and leaned forward, placing both hands on the general’s desk. “If
you’re thinking to protect whatever plans the Pentagon has at the expense of my
daughter, then I’m not your man. I want to know that everything possible is
being done to find her and deliver her safely to her family.”
“Sit down, John. You
needn’t worry. Your goals and ours totally correlate. We want to find your
daughter’s kidnappers as much as you do. Since this is a kidnapping case, we’ve
already enlisted the help of the FBI. But for national security reasons, we’ll
maintain operational control. In other words, this investigation and its
eventual outcome will be administered under strict non-disclosure rules. What
that means is that neither you nor Dr. Grey can talk about this kidnapping
until the matter is resolved. Do you understand?”
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