Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (detective books to read .TXT) 📖

“WELL, DID YOU see him?”

Trinity was waiting at the door for us, and I could hear the anxiety in her voice. We’d left her and Mama D at a motel/campground outside of Estes Park while Mac, Jonas and I went to scope out the Agency and attempt to verify if Matthew Hughes was still on site.

We’d been lucky finding the campground. Set back from the road, it provided hook-ups for campers and RV’s, along with small log cabin units scattered along the river.

Mac and I were in a cabin, with Jonas, Mama D, and Trinity staying in the RV. It was close quarters, but no one was complaining. We were all a little jumpy, and I know I felt better knowing that there was someone handy with a gun at each location. Checking my watch, I couldn’t blame Trinity for being nervous. We’d been gone a little over four hours, and the shadows were starting to grow long.

“Yes, he’s still there,” I answered her, throwing my pack onto the floor. “He looks like Barney Fife in Lederhosen.”

“You’re kidding?” she laughed, relief evident on her face. It was hard to be afraid of Don Knotts, especially in shorts.

“Who’s Barney Fife?”

I snorted in amusement at Mac, as I unrolled the map that had been lying on the table. We had stopped that morning at a mountaineering store and picked up maps of the area, backpacks, binoculars, and scopes, along with what seemed like a trillion other things that Mac and Jonas had determined were absolutely essential. That was one of the great things about Colorado. You could pick up all sorts of stuff for spying, and no one thought a thing about it. It was the Rockies after all. God’s country. Of course, you’re going to want to see it up close and personal. Mac and Jonas had enjoyed themselves immensely, taking what I thought bordered on the realm of forever arguing the merits of this scope over that one. By the time we finally left, I was about ready to shoot myself, but Trinity just opened the door for the guys, clutching her new leather purse, smiling and nodding as they loaded their loot into the car. I assumed some sort of strange kinship between shoppers. I’d never understand it.

Shaking my head, I was intent on the map which insisted on rolling itself up every time I took my hands off it. Frustrated with it, I finally glanced up to see he was serious about the Barney Fife thing.

“What? You’re seriously telling me you’ve never seen the show? You know, Andy, Opie and Aunt Bee?” I was incredulous. It may have been way before my time or his, but I thought everyone had seen the reruns on television. At the shake of his head, I went back attempting to flatten the map out as I explained. “Barney was the bumbling, goofy deputy in the town, played by Don Knotts, the original nerd. Hughes is a dead ringer for him.”

“Well, he may look like him and nerd he may be, but Hughes is anything but bumbling and goofy.”

“Consider me warned.” I looked up to find Jonas and Mac watching me struggle with the map, indulgent looks on their faces. “What?” I snapped out, completely irritated by this point with the map and getting no help whatsoever from the onlookers.

“There’s a bag in there with weights for holding down the map.” Mac pointed to a sack sitting on the floor next to the tube the map had come in.

Disgusted, I let the map roll up and flop off the table. What was wrong with these people in Colorado? Maps came in a book. Flat and labeled, not rolled up in a tube. It was a little disconcerting to find myself so totally out of my element and didn’t appreciate being a source of amusement.

“Is there coffee ready?” I asked, turning away to the little kitchen in search of a mug. They could roll out the map themselves.

“Of course there’s coffee, honey.” Mama D bustled over and was now pouring me a cup like I was an invalid. I ignored the snorts of laughter behind me and thanked her. Trinity caught my eye and threw me a wink. She apparently thought I mishandled the map on purpose. Fine by me. I wasn’t about to tell her otherwise. Sad as it was to admit, the guys needed this. Needed confirmation of the fact that they weren’t just along for the ride. That there were some things they knew that I didn’t, even if it was something as trivial as unrolling a map. I could tell them a million times, but there was nothing like seeing it in person to convince a man he was needed. I was immensely grateful to have Jonas and Mac along, even if they were the occasional pain in the rear.

I looked over at them, absorbed in the map, now spread out perfectly on the table before them and felt a fast clench of my heart. Dear God, don’t let me get them killed, I prayed. I felt Mama D’s arm snake around my waist for a quick hug before she wandered into the living area and settled down on the sofa with a book. It was exactly what I needed, and I found myself smiling, thinking not for the first time, that I wasn’t the only one here with psychic ability. I shook off the feeling and went to pull out the computer to download the photos I had taken. We had some answers. Now we needed a plan.

* * *

“IT’S JUST A mountain lodge,” Trinity said as soon as she saw the photos. “A big one, but it’s nothing like I expected.”

“It looks like a lodge because it is,” Mac said, coming over to the coffee table, where we’d set up the computer. “Or it used to be. As far as the locals know, it’s an exclusive resort for executives. The sort of place used for training, seminars, that sort of stuff. Makes the perfect cover for the Agency. The Clients are housed in the lodge when they come for training, but it’s only a small part of the complex. The rest of the structure is underground. There are entrances from the main lodge, and three of the outbuildings.