Sean started the Land Cruiser. “Your logic is overwhelming, but logic is not going to cut it this time. We are going to attack this thing, though. Only not head-on.”
“Why not?”
Sean pulled out of the parking lot. “Three guys at the mall. They weren’t Feds. They looked to me like ex-military. They had the beef, the buzz cuts, the firepower, the veneer of authority.”
“Ex-military. What would ex-military be involved in here?”
“Well, Sam Wingo wasn’t in the reserves. He was regular Army. The DoD built a subterfuge and put him on a mission to deliver something. That mission got screwed and Wingo is off the grid. He contacted his son to tell him he was sorry. So, what was he delivering and who has it now?”
“Do you think Wingo took it?”
“I don’t know. You vet a guy for a mission like that, you must feel he’s pretty solid.”
“So maybe the mission was a setup from the get-go and Wingo the fall guy. That might explain the email to Tyler.”
Sean nodded in agreement. “The man Tyler described to us does not sound like a traitor. But if the mission had gone off as planned, what would the Army have told the Wingos? That Sam was KIA? MIA?”
“If that was part of the plan,” said Michelle, “I’m betting a dad like Sam Wingo would have wanted someone there to be with Tyler. They don’t have any other family, so…”
“So enter Jean Wingo as the stepmom.”
“Which would explain the weird circumstances of the wedding. Tyler not even being invited. It being before a judge and all.”
“Hell, they might not even be married,” pointed out Sean.
“Right. I doubt Jean is even her real name.”
He said, “So much deception, whatever that asset was it must’ve been really important.”
“But now we have possible former military in the mix. What could they want?”
“You think they might have the asset?”
Michelle shrugged. “Maybe. But if so, do they also have Sam Wingo?”
“He got the email off to Tyler. What if he escaped and is now on the run?”
“Then he has the military and these other guys on his butt.”
“Lucky him.” Sean looked out the window. “We almost bit the bullet today too.”
“I know. It was close.”
“So these guys are good.”
Michelle said, “More than good, I’d say.”
“But we can take them. We did take them, in fact.”
She glanced at him. “In the future it depends on how many of them there are. I left my superpowers back on my home planet.”
“Well, they have three fewer bodies to throw at us after today.” Sean rubbed his swollen jaw.
“When General Brown hears all the facts, Sean, he’ll be sorry he punched you.”
“I seriously doubt that. The next time the guy might just shoot me.”
“So how are we going after this if we can’t hit it straight-on?”