Bobby moved the video forward.
In all the times Tamara had watched it at normal speed, she had been unable to spot anyone who might have shot her brother. Her fear was that slowing the footage down wouldn’t change that.
“Wait, wait,” Joe said. “Play that last part back.”
“What did you see?” Tamara asked. Whatever it was, she had missed it.
“It may have been nothing.”
Bobby played the segment again, this time going super slow.
“There,” Joe said. “That guy.”
He was pointing at a man behind Gavin. The guy’s eyes were clearly fixed on Tamara’s brother. Something bright popped into view near the man’s waist for just a couple of frames, then the man disappeared behind Gavin. Two seconds later in real time, Gavin would be shot.
“What was that?” Tamara asked, referring to the bright spot.
“Gun, I think,” Bobby said.
“Then that’s him.”
Bobby froze the video. “This is right before your brother gets shot.”
“The man’s barely on screen,” Joe said. “No wonder we didn’t notice him before.”
The video didn’t actually show the man shooting Gavin, but it was clear to all three of them he had.
The question for Tamara now was, what was she going to do about it?
28
The plane arrived two and a half hours later, landing on a private airstrip on ranch land about a half-mile from the Lodge. It was a Gulfstream G250 business jet, outfitted for four passengers plus crew. After it was checked and refueled, Matt led Ash and Chloe aboard.
The main cabin wasseparated from the cockpit, so while Ash knew the flight crew was up front, he had no idea who they were. The cabin itself boasted four comfortable-looking leather chairs. The forward two had tables in front of them, while the back two did not. Chloe immediately went for one in the back, while Ash chose a seat up front, tucking the messenger bag that now served as his suitcase under it.
Ash was cleaned up as best as possible, but still looked like he’d been in a major accident. Rachel had cut his hair so it was now a uniform quarter-inch all the way around. She then did a quick bleach job making it and his eyebrows about three shades lighter than they’d been. The final touch had been contact lenses that changed the color of his eyes from blue to brown. He had two extra pairs in his bag as backups.
One thing was for sure: No one who used to know him would recognize him now.
“Pax will fly out with you, but this is as far as I go,” Matt said, holding out his hand. “You’re a good man, Ash. Get them back.”
As Ash shook with him, he said, “Thanks for all the help you’ve given me.”
“I’ve posted a message for our person on the inside, telling him you and Chloe are coming. He might get it, he might not. Even if he does, he might not be able to do anything to help, but…well, I’m sure he’ll try.” He paused. “Pax will give you a number to memorize. Any time you get in trouble, you call that, now or in the future, and we’ll do what we can to help.” Matt smiled, then glanced toward the back of the plane. “Chloe, good to see you again. Stay safe.”
“No such thing,” she said.
She was calmer than any of the other times Ash had seen her, but he could still sense a cloud of nervous tension hovering around her.
“The window shades will be automatically lowered before takeoff,” Matt told him. “It’s not that we don’t trust you, but we have certain procedures we need to stand by.”
Ash shrugged. He didn’t really care where Matt and Rachel’s ranch was. He was focused on his destination. On his children.
Matt hung in the doorway as if he had something more he wanted to say, but he finally just gave Ash a nod and got out.
When Pax climbed in a few minutes later, he was carrying two cases-one a normal-sized briefcase, and the other a metal-sided container that could have easily fit a small microwave oven inside. He stored the metal container in a cabinet up front, then put the briefcase on the seat next to Ash. After securing the outer door, he gave the entrance to the cockpit a double tap and returned to his seat.
“Hold this,” he said, handing the briefcase to Ash.
As he buckled himself in, a low hum filled the cabin, and hard plastic shades lowered over the windows. To compensate for the loss of sunlight, the interior lights brightened.
Pax leaned over to take the case back, but then stopped. “Might as well do this now.”
Outside, the dull roar of the engines grew in intensity.
“Open it up,” Pax said.
The plane started rolling down the runway. It was slow at first, but quickly picked up speed. There was no taxiing here, just get on and go.
Ash popped the latches on the briefcase and flipped it open. Inside was a padded envelope and two file folders.
As Ash removed the envelope, the vibration caused by the runway suddenly ceased, and like that, they were in the air. He leaned back for a moment as their angle of ascent increased.
A year earlier, he had taken his family to a small amusement park in Virginia. The park had one of those rides where you were basically in a box that went up and down and side to side, but didn’t really go anywhere. The sense of travel was conveyed by the combination of the movement and a video that played on a front screen. While they’d been on the ride, something had gone wrong with the projection system, and for several seconds they only had the walls to look at while the box kept jumping around.
Taking off with the windows closed reminded him of that.
As soon as they were settled into a comfortable climb, Ash opened the envelope and emptied the contents into the briefcase. The thing that stood out first was a small stack of cash. He quickly thumbed through it. Three grand. With the money he already had, that made five thousand total. Not exactly a windfall these days, but it definitely could come in handy.
“Thanks,” he said.
“You run out, you call us. We can get you more.”
Not that Ash was looking for an answer, but he wondered for the umpteenth time who these people really were.
“I’ll…I’ll pay you back.”
“No need.”
Ash didn’t argue, but he wasn’t conceding the point, either.
He looked back into the briefcase. The other two items from the envelope were a piece of paper and a wallet. He picked up the wallet first. Inside were three credit cards, a membership card for AAA, and a Florida driver’s license, all under the name Adam Cooper.
“The credit cards are all good,” Pax said. “But use each only once. If I were you, I’d avoid using any of them at all. Cards leave trails.”
Ash thumbed out the license and looked at the picture. It could have been him, or it could have been someone else entirely.
“We had to do a bit of fancy Photoshop work on that,” Pax said. “But it’ll pass for now. When that new face of yours settles in, you can get a real picture taken.”
Ash put the license back, then picked up the piece of paper.
“Why is this here?” he asked. It was the pink slip for a 2009 Honda Accord.
“You don’t want to walk everywhere, do you?” Pax asked. “It’ll be waiting when we land. Registration will hold up even if you get pulled over.”
Ash stared at the cash and the cards and pink slip. “What do you guys want from me? You can’t be giving
