Today’s
excerpt is from Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of the Bader Trilogy. After flying all the way to Berlin and
bluffing the fence into telling what he knew of the killer, Greg is
disappointed in what he is given…though as it was to turn out he got one piece
of information that would help solve the case.
Enjoy and have a great day.
m.j.
In less than a
minute, the three were in the car driven by the other NCIS agent, who was not
introduced to Ebert. Ebert sat in the
rear with Ruth. He looked her over, and
decided she was quite attractive, with a very nice figure. Ruth, for her part, felt dirty to have Ebert
eyeing her, knowing what he was—and what he had been involved in.
There was no
conversation in the car except for Greg giving directions to the driver. When they got to the park, Greg told the
driver where to pull over. When the car
stopped, he said, “This will do. Take a
walk with me to one of those benches.”
Ebert and Ruth
followed Greg to the bench he wanted.
Greg took out a device to check Ebert over for any signs of a recording
device. When he came to Ebert’s cell
phone, the device registered. Greg held
out his hand, then handed the phone to Ruth, who slipped it into a bag she had
earlier been instructed to carry. Next
was Ebert’s watch, which was also placed in the bag. Greg looked at Ruth. “Have a seat over on the next bench, please.”
“How about I
wait in the car, Greg? It’s too cold out
here.”
“Yes—please
do. You’re showing better sense than I
did by coming here without an overcoat.”
As Ruth headed
for the car, Greg sat on the bench. He
again invited Ebert to do the same. Once
both were seated, Greg smiled, “Okay, I’ve got a deal for you. You give me the information I want, I give
you two things in return. I am not here
to arrest you, no matter what you do.
That’s between the FBI and you…though we both know extraditing you from
Germany on a receiving stolen property charge is not likely.”
“What are you
offering?”
Greg rubbed his
ear. That was a sign to Elmer to zero in
on the chest of Ebert with the laser light of the riflescope. Elmer had walked down nearly all the way to
the lake, then moseyed along a paved path, to the greenery Greg had pointed
out. After reaching it, he had snuggled
into the foliage to make himself comfortable.
His one hope—other than not freezing to death—was no one would be up so
early in the morning, and stupid enough to come out in this cold.
On Greg’s
signal, he energized the scope, then took careful aim. Soon the little red dot appeared on the chest
of Ebert, who didn’t notice, until Greg pointed to his chest. “First off, I will let you live. You should know I’m one miserable
son-of-a-bitch in a very angry mood because a national hero was killed over
those diamonds. I don’t always play by
the rules. You should also know Admiral
Crimmins, early on in his career, was a Navy SEAL. The man pointing the fifty-caliber sniper
rifle at your chest is also a Navy SEAL.
Now then, if you answer my questions to my satisfaction…as I said, I
will let you live. If the information is
suitable to my needs, I will give you the second part of the deal, which I am
not prepared to explain at this point.
Do I have your attention?”
Ebert had been
looking at the red dot on his chest. He
had no doubt his life could very well hinge in the balance. He nodded.
Greg asked, “Who did you buy the jewelry from?”
Ebert swallowed,
“You must believe me when I tell you I do not know. Worse for me, I can only give you information
on him you no doubt already have. He
was, by your way of measuring, about five feet, ten inches tall. His weight was roughly one hundred and eighty
pounds. I can tell you nothing else
about him, as he was heavily disguised.”
Greg had the
feeling Ebert was telling him the truth.
“How did you two manage to get together in the first place?”
“Through two
cut-outs. My cut-out did not know the
name of the other cut-out—nor did the other cut-out know the name of mine. As to how I was contacted in the first place,
there is nothing there that would help you identify the man you seek. Rest assured if I knew, you would know. I value my life. There is
one thing. When I gave him the money I
gave him, he made some strange clucking sound with his tongue.”
“What?”
“A sound with
his tongue…sort of like a clicking noise.
Something I had never heard before.”
Greg filled his
cheeks with air, expelled it, then rubbed his ear again. “You don’t value your life very much to give
me that crap, but I guess you’re telling the truth. Thanks a heap.”
Ebert saw the
dot disappear, and sighed deeply. “Thank
you for believing me. I know I have given
you nothing…or next to nothing. But it
is really all there is.”
Greg frowned,
and nodded. “One more thing…about the
news report out of Paris about the robbery being a terrorist attack by
al-Qaida. You behind it?”
“Admitting to it
would be more likely to get me extradited than receiving stolen items. Therefore, I will neither confirm nor deny
it.”
“Well, we both
know you just told me it was you…good enough.
Let’s go. Oh, the other thing I
promised as part of the deal. I wouldn’t
be heading for England San Francisco
Ebert shook his
head, “I think not,” as he stood and followed Greg to the car.
No comments:
Post a Comment