Deluge (The Best Thrillers Book 2) by James Best (top romance novels txt) 📗

As they walked to the Raptor, O’Brian said, “You were in army intelligence?”

“My question exactly. You called it a government pension.”

“Less questions. Less resentment,” O’Brian said. “I seldom mention I’m retired army, and I never mention that I worked intelligence.”

“How does the sheriff know then?”

“We had concurrent duty at the Pentagon,” O’Brian said. “He was with the military police. Our paths crossed. You serve in D.C.?”

Evarts laughed. “That’s a diplomatic way of asking if I saw combat. But in answer to your question, yes, I served at the Pentagon, but I also led a surveillance penetration team in Iraq. I retired a captain. You?”

“Probably your boss … somewhere up the food chain. I retired a major general after thirty years’ service.”

“Yup, that explains Gaviota. A retired major general would garner a hefty pension.”

“I suspect it pales in comparison to a major city police chief.”

Evarts did some quick mental math. “Actually, comparable. You said you did repo in Lompoc. Know the town?”

“I know the neighborhoods. Lompoc is a happy hunting ground for people in my line of work.”

“Enlisted men?”

“Yup, but spare me the lecture.”

Evarts said nothing more. He just got into his truck, and they drove out of the park. It irked him that a retired army general officer would prey on enlisted men. Some level of loyalty should follow a man into retirement. Perhaps O’Brian couldn’t find other employment in a beachside bedroom community. With distaste, Evarts realized that O’Brian’s familiarity with enlistees’ habits gave him a leg up in his job. Plus, no enlistee or junior officer would resist him for fear that he could easily get them thrown into the stockade. But … O’Brian said he seldom told anyone he was retired army.

“Bullshit,” Evarts said suddenly.

“What’s bullshit?” O’Brian asked matter-of-factly.

“Your cover. You’re still in intelligence. You live close to a secretive air base. One that shoots spy satellites into polar orbit. A prime target for foreign intelligence services. And how do you penetrate a secure base? By recruiting enlisted men or junior officers. You do that by finding a point of weakness, and in this age of no-holds-barred sex, crushing debt probably works just fine. Did you come up with that repo man idea?”

“I suggest you speed up along here. It’s a forty-minute drive, but we could run into bad traffic.”

Evarts edged the gas pedal down. He wished he had grabbed a dashtop police revolving light before leaving Santa Barbara. Evarts would have been disappointed if O’Brian had acknowledged his question. An answer would have violated his training. But it didn’t matter. The lack of denial was acknowledgement enough. He decided to ask a different question that O’Brian might feel free to answer.

“Why SAR? Seems pedestrian for a major general.”

“SAR does most of its training by marching though brush. Up and down hills, lugging heavy equipment. Exercise and comradery in the great outdoors. Just what the doctor ordered.”

Made sense. Evarts wondered how long before O’Brian made an excuse to make a private phone call so he could get someone to pull his service record. He’d do the same in O’Brian’s shoes. In fact, he made a mental note to check out Major General O’Brian in the days ahead. He wondered if he was still in the army or double-dipping his pension by working for a civilian intelligence agency.

Just then, O’Brian pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Mary, would you pull the service record for Captain Greg Evarts, retired. Yes. Thank you.”

He stayed on the line.

Evarts was impressed. O’Brian had figured out that Evarts knew he would take this action, so subterfuge would be pointless. Evarts liked the man better already.

“Yes, still here.” O’Brian listened for about five minutes. When he terminated the call, he said, “You squeezed a lot into four years. Hazardous duty, performed admirably. Stellar reviews for your stint at the Pentagon. Thank you for your service.”

“Likewise. Things must have improved if she can instantly pull up my records by name and rank.”

“Things have improved.”

“Were you my boss?” Evarts asked.

“During your entire enlistment. I remembered you when she read me the key points of your record. I don’t think we ever met, but I heard about you. If you had stayed in, you might be brigadier by now.”

“I almost reenlisted, but I love surfing too much. In fact, I love my whole life … and my wife.”

“What does she do?”

“College professor. She’s an Abraham Lincoln scholar.”

“Married to a cop. You must have fun at the faculty social events.”

“I imbibe more than usual,” Evarts said. “Are you married?”

“Of course. Almost a prerequisite for a career military officer. Superior officers get jealous if a subordinate brings a string of different women to army social events.”

Evarts remembered that senior officer wives learned to enjoy the perks of rank. “I presume your wife’s not enamored with your new vocation.”

“Time to change the subject.”

“Of course.” Evarts hesitated before asking a question that had been nagging him for hours. “The body you tagged, was it a young girl?”

“No.” Now O’Brian hesitated. “But they’ll find her. Eventually.”

As they came up on the 101, Evarts saw a roadblock and readied his badge. The officers were allowing people to go north or south, but turned them away from Buellton. When he got to the roadblock, they waved him past without further examination, but Evarts stopped opposite the policeman.

“What’s the situation in Buellton?”

“If you came to help, head back to Solvang. They got the brunt of it.”

“We just came from there. On our way to Lompoc. We heard Route 246 is closed beyond Buellton. What have you heard about Highway 1?”

“Highway 1 is open, but you’ll find another checkpoint. We’re trying to control lookie-loos.”

“Thanks, officer,” Evarts said, and drove away.

After a moment, Evarts asked, “How do you know Captain Standish?”

O’Brian remained silent a long time. Finally, he said, “She apprehended me once. Thought I was stealing a car. We didn’t go to the station or anything. It was fine after I showed her the paperwork.”

“What are you