JT snorted slightly. “Well, I’m sure you were the best cannon fodder, Mike. Now someone tell me who you think stole my prototype. I’ve been working on that material for years. I was worried it was my chief engineer.”
“Your chief engineer is dead,” Tag said flatly.
“Yeah, he was in a car…” JT stopped. “You think someone killed him. You thought he was the one, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Drake acknowledged. “We discovered William Murphy was meeting with a man we believe works for the Reconnaissance General Bureau.”
Nina leaned toward JT because the only reason she knew what Drake was talking about was years of intelligence work. “North Korean spy agency.”
He gave her the most intimate smile. “Thanks.”
She was not going to go gooey. “But we’ll be looking for a Westerner. His name is Joe Hall. He formerly worked for the embassy in South Korea, which is where the North Koreans likely recruited him. He’s the go-between. He’s the one who met with your engineer.”
JT shook his head. “Bill and I worked together for years. Why would he do this?”
Charlotte took that question. “He was diagnosed with terminal cancer six months ago. I believe he was looking for a payout to help his family.”
The expression on JT’s face made her heart twist. “He didn’t tell me. He’s got two kids and his wife…she quit her job to stay home with them. I went to his funeral and they didn’t say anything.”
“Probably because I could arrest the wife if I could prove she was involved in his decision,” Drake mused. “I haven’t been able to yet.”
“Leave her alone.” JT pointed his way. “She’s going through enough. You leave her out of this.”
Mike put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry about Bill. I know he was a friend of yours, but he was spying.”
“No, he was in a bad place and didn’t know how to get out of it.” JT sat back, looking weary. “I should have known.”
“He should have told you, but he didn’t, and we’ll leave his wife out of it. Somehow I don’t think a housewife from Houston will be doing any spy work,” Tag offered. “Now the reason we believe one of the workers on this retreat killed him is the fact that they all had contact with the engineer in his final days.”
“We have an office in Houston,” JT explained. “He worked out of there. I would expect a lot of people came in contact with him.”
Drake was studying JT as though trying to figure him out. “But only three of them are going to the retreat.” He pulled a tablet out of his bag and flipped it around to show JT something. “Your assistant took a vacation to Hawaii a few weeks ago.”
It was a screen capture of one of Deanna’s social media pages. She was wearing a bikini, a fruity drink in her hand, with the caption “loving life in Oahu.”
JT nodded. “Yeah, she takes two weeks a year and almost always goes to Hawaii. I’m afraid my business isn’t great for fun travel. We’re in the Middle East a lot. And North Dakota. It’s not so surprising she’s goes to the islands with her friends. Friend. From what I can tell she’s only got the one.”
“There’s a problem with this picture.” Drake moved his finger over the screen to zero in on the sign behind her. The Beach Bar, established 1972. “The Beach Bar burned down six months before she posted this shot. All the other shots of her vacation appear to be from different times as well. Except for this one.”
He switched the picture to one of a plate of sushi with the caption “time for dinner.”
“I would think sushi is pretty popular in Hawaii.” There was a frown on JT’s face, like he knew something bad was coming but he didn’t want to hear it.
“I tracked down the plates and the presentation of the sushi along with the silverware and flatware and table linen. There’s only one restaurant that has all of those in combination and that’s Harold’s,” Drake explained.
Drake was a desktop investigator. She would bet he’d been recruited for his hacking skills, or he’d designed some software the Agency was interested in. She would also bet all of his experience was technical, which was exactly why Big Tag was sending in Sandra and Hutch—both military vets. But the kid was good.
JT sighed. “Harold’s is in Houston.”
“And the particular sushi she’s eating was a special from a night two days before your engineer died and the prototype went missing,” Drake explained.
“There’s a reason I stay off social media,” Big Tag said with a shake of his head.
“And the rest?” JT asked.
It was easy to see that this whole discussion was bothering JT. She wasn’t sure what to do about it. “According to the reports I’ve read, the other two were in Houston that week for a conference. The truth is all you need to worry about is giving me cover. I’ll handle the mission once we get to the island. I assume Mr. Drake will be coming with us.”
“I will,” Drake acknowledged. “Because the whole resort has been bought out by Malone Oil, my only choice is to go in as staff. I’ll be working as waitstaff. Hutch assures me we’ll be able to have eyes on the suspects at all times. I believe the North Korean asset will likely try to make the drop someplace outside the resort. You have a few activities planned off site, correct?”
“We have deep-sea fishing one day, and there’s a beach on the other side of the island where we’ll go for a picnic. There’s also hiking pretty much every day. It’s not hard to get away from the group,” JT admitted.
Tag pointed his way. “That’s why we’ll need everyone to take shifts. I would like to have Nina in a less high-profile position, but it seems like that option isn’t
