Page 53 of Fighting for Tawny

“And this new guy?”

“Nothing on him yet, but beware, Tawny. He’s probably connected to the organization.”

“Got it. What about Joy and Precious?”

“Cameron said Stoltz threw them in solitary. He doesn’t know for how long.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” She paused. “How’s my man?”

“Worried sick about you. No one is happy that your cover was blown with Yolanda and Terrin. Jiena wanted to pull you out, but Marcus convinced her to trust you. Don’t prove him wrong.”

“I won’t.”

“Macintosh is staring at us. Gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

As Tawny drew near the redwood picnic table, Macintosh approached her. “You and Captain Finnigan looked pretty chummy. Somethin’ goin’ on between you and her?”

“Yeah. She’s my captain, and I’m her Number One, you know, like in Star Trek: The Next Generation? She trusts me to look out for the crew when she’s not on deck, you know?”

“Fuckin’ idiot,” he muttered as he stomped away from her and returned to his post outside Bunkhouse B.

“You wish.”

Tawny went inside the main bunkhouse and played Monopoly with the others until they grew sleepy and called it a night.

Finnigan, Jiena, Justice, and Hutch gathered around the computer screen at LA SWAT’s command center and greeted Tex as he came online.

“I did a deep dive on Gary Colfer. Turns out after his stint in the Army, a private, well-funded security company snatched him up. Guess who?”

“Oh, my God.” Jiena shook her head. “Tex, are we talking about the company Maverick Stone works for?”

“FILO. First In, Last Out. They’re mad as hell that he went rogue and got himself killed. But your theory was right. He was related to one of the women at CIFW who disappeared. Nixie Carmichael.”

“No wonder we didn’t make the connection. They have different last names.”

“Colfer was fifteen years older and had a different father. Nixie and Gary’s mother was a train wreck before she died of alcoholism. You can assume that’s how he learned about his younger sister. His father either kept Nixie a secret, or he never knew about her in the first place since Gary was a teenager when she was born. The mother didn’t marry either man,” Tex revealed.

“Whoever murdered him covered his tracks well. No fingerprints on the rock, and so far, no DNA hits.”

“I’ll keep digging. No one can remain a ghost forever. It’s possible one of the rescue workers was an imposter.”

“Tex, do you have any information on the guard named Macintosh?” Finnigan asked.

“I’m running the name, but it would be helpful if we could get a license plate number. There aren’t any traffic cameras up there.”

“I’ll tell Moira to snap a picture.”

“Keep me posted, and I’ll do the same.” Tex ended the video chat.

The Wendy Corrigan/Director Dickinson angle came up, and they discussed why he lied about her being his niece.

“This beating around the bush is fucking nonsense,” Finnigan complained. His frustration over their lack of progress colored his tone. “Why can’t we just ask him why he lied? He already knows Tawny is undercover, and how the hell did he recognize her, anyway? We scrubbed her online presence. Is Wendy Corrigan undercover, too? I mean, Jiena, is there another op we aren’t aware of? Like the DEA, for example.”

“I don’t know. Cameron’s brother should be able to answer that question for us.” Jiena pressed Cameron’s number on her cell phone, and a moment later, they heard a ringtone behind them. They turned to see Cameron striding toward them with a grim expression, phone in hand.

Justice stepped forward to meet his father-in-law. “What’s wrong? Is it Brielle? Is she in labor?”

“No, Justice. Brielle is fine. I was just informed that Joy and Precious overdosed and died. They were discovered in the greenhouse after they missed lunch. The needles were still in their arms, and packets of heroin were found in their cells.”

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