Page 22 of Wyatt
“A guy was found dead out back of the bar. He was a Navy pilot. A girl was giving him a blow job right before he died. You know anything about that?”
“Look, whatever you think we are, that’s not us. Yes, we strip, and yes, we occasionally make extra money, but not one of us could or would kill a guy unless he came for us first.”
“I wasn’t accusing you,” said Ethan. He was good at telling if someone was lying to him, and these women all looked scared, but they seemed to be telling the truth. “I just want toknow if you’ve seen young women talking specifically to pilots and leaving with them.”
“I honestly wouldn’t know which one is a pilot or not,” said one of the girls. “They don’t come in here in uniform. Every guy that walks through those doors is either Navy or Marines, but I don’t ask and don’t care. We try to get them to come to our show next door, The Pony Club.”
“I see,” nodded Ethan. “Is it owned by the same people who own the Mustang?”
“Yeah. They let us come over and have a snack, and we try to get the guys to come next door. More money next door. The beer here is cheap and watered down.”
Ethan stood and waved the bartender over.
“These girls bothering you?” he asked.
“Not at all. Five burgers and fries, bring them soft drinks as well. I’ll take the bill.”
“Anything you say, mister.”
“Thank you, ladies.”
“Hey, I heard about that pilot. He was in here a lot,” said one of the girls. “Always left with someone different, although that shouldn’t matter.”
“No, it shouldn’t matter,” said Ethan.
“But the girl that was flirting with him at the bar, she’s been in here before. I don’t know her name, but she damn sure didn’t look legal.” Ethan frowned, taking his seat again.
“The girl looked underage?”
“To me, and I’m only twenty-two, so that says a lot,” she smiled. “It wasn’t even the way she looked so much. You know how someone tries to act older, saying all the wrong things, looking nervous? That’s what I mean.”
“Thank you. Enjoy the burgers.” Ethan walked toward the others, listening as they spoke to the manager.
“What do you mean you don’t have the footage from that night? You were supposed to turn it over to CID,” said Dan.
“Like I told them, we keep the signs up saying we’re monitored by Spartan Security, but it’s all bullshit. They charge too much. We’ve never really had any issues, so we kept the cameras up, but didn’t pay for any service.”
“Jesus, you’re a fucking idiot,” groaned Abe. “Do you understand that you could be held liable for what happened to that pilot?”
“I-I know. My lawyer told me I needed to get the security running again.”
“Where’s the back door?” asked Ethan. The manager walked them to the back and opened the door for them.
“His car was parked back here. Sometimes, the guys prefer to park out back than in the lot out front. I don’t mind. They don’t want their COs to know they’re in this bar,” he said with a shrug. He turned and went back inside. Abe and the others walked the narrow alleyway to see if there was any possibility of cameras from other businesses.
“These girls know what the fuck they’re doing,” said Ethan. “The strippers in there said the girl that was with Mick was underage. They’d seen her in here before.”
“What do they hope to gain from this?” asked U-Jin. “Even if they spoke of everything on the jet, no one could recreate that without the plans and specifications from G.R.I.P. Even the pilots wouldn’t know or understand the technology of building the plane.”
“You’re right,” frowned Ethan. He tapped his comms. “Hiro? AJ? Make sure that extra security is placed onSavannah, Montana, Doug, Ryan, all of them. Anyone who has touched the specs for those jets, make sure they’re hidden from public view right now.”
“Roger that.”
“What now?” asked Dan. Ethan’s phone rang, and he listened intently to the voice of Commander Morris on the other end of the line.
“We’re on our way.”
“I guess that answers my question.”
