Page 26 of Wyatt
“Not at all,” said Ethan. “Just don’t expect that I’m giving up my seat right now. I’m enjoying the last moments of my daughter still being my little girl.”
“She’ll always be your little girl, sir. What are you talking about?”
“Is there something that you all knew, something you all worked on other than the jets that these people might want?”asked Ulani. Wyatt frowned, thinking for a moment, and then shook his head.
“Nothing I can think of. We were working only on one thing, and that was perfecting the jet and its systems. We were in different squadrons. We’re from different walks of life, different parts of the country. Nothing else is similar.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” said Ulani. “Director Barber will be calling soon. I know he’ll want to know what we found out today.”
“And you don’t want to tell him?” asked Ethan.
“It’s not that. I mean, I think it is that. I just don’t know who to trust except all of you.”
“Trust your gut, babe. It’s usually right,” said Wyatt.
The others filtered out onto the patio, dressed, ready for the bar that night. They were all casual, jeans or cargo shorts, other than Ulani, who was wearing a sundress. When her cell phone went off, she put it on speaker.
“Director Barber, nice to hear from you,” she lied.
“Don’t bullshit me, Dunvegan. What did you find out?”
“Not much, sir. We’re going to visit one of the bars tonight to see if we can speak to anyone, but so far, nothing to go on.” He was quiet for a long period of time, but Ulani knew he was there because she could hear his breathing.
“If you’re withholding information from me, Dunvegan, I will not only fire you, but I will file charges against you.” They could see Ulani sit a little straighter with a strange expression on her face.
“I understand, sir, but just so we’re clear. If you’re withholding information from me that could help in myinvestigation of this case, I will file charges against you and go directly to the POTUS. Am I clear?”
“I’d ask who the fuck you think you are, but we both know you’d use your family to get to the POTUS.”
“I don’t need my family to point out obstruction of justice, dereliction of duty, and anything else that might come to mind. You’ve been riding me since this case started, and I can’t figure out why, other than your obvious dislike of my family. Now, I can’t do anything about that, but I have done nothing wrong. I’ve done my job and followed orders. So, unless there’s anything else, I need to get to work.”
Again, there was a long, strained silence, and then he spoke.
“No. Nothing else.” When the phone went dead, the others smiled at her. Ethan hugged his daughter, kissing her temple.
“Now, that’s my girl.”
“In case anyone wants to know,”said AJ,“your boss was attempting to record and trace your call. I made sure that service wasn’t available to him, and I placed a trace on his phone.”
“Thank you, AJ. I appreciate you more than you know,” smiled Ulani. “Well, I guess it’s time to hit the bar. Will you be portraying the lonely pilot again?” she frowned, staring at Wyatt.
“Nope,” said U-Jin. “Tonight, I get that pleasure.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
U-Jin and Moose sat at the bar just laughing, nursing their beers. Moose was far too big to be a pilot, but U-Jin was the perfect size. Even Wyatt was larger than most pilots. Too tall, too wide, and just too much.
“See anyone familiar?” asked Ulani.
“I’m not seeing anyone. I think I’ll wander and see if I can find this guy Blink,” said Ethan, giving a nod to Rush.
“What the hell is wrong with these kids that they get drugs from this guy? Random testing is done for a reason. You’d throw your whole fucking career out the window for a little high?” asked HG.
“We’re different,” said Christian. “We tend to not drink, not do drugs, all the things our parents told us not to do. I’m not sure why we complied, but it served us all well.” The others nodded their agreement, just watching the room.
“One thing is for certain,” said Ulani. “The guys come in, and women follow. Although I hesitate to say women. Some of these girls look underage.”
“There’s no one checking ID at the door,” said Abe. “I guess since the guys in service tend to be underage, they let it slide.”
