The Greatest of These by Greg Wendleton (booksvooks txt) 📕

car. They were parked so close there was no way for Chad or Jamie to get into their car.

“What the hell? Who would park like that? We can’t even get in our car!”

“Calm down Chad. They are probably inside the restaurant. We can go back inside and wait a while and see if one or both of them leave.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The words were barely out of Chad’s mouth when the driver of the SUV on the left and the passenger from the SUV on the right came around the backs of their vehicles and surrounded Chad and Jamie. It was the two biker, brawlers from the restaurant.

“Oh shit! What the hell do you…”

That was all Chad could say before their worlds went black.

CHAPTER TWELVE

At precisely 12:07am in San Antonio, I heard the sonar ping on my laptop in the home office I have set up next to our master bedroom. I hadn’t been sleeping very soundly because Chief, Chad and Jamie’s dog, was wandering about our bedroom, still trying to find mom and dad. I looked over at Fonda and saw that she was not having any problem sleeping tonight. So, I pushed back the covers and gently, quietly, slid out of our warm, cozy bed. I walked out of our bedroom and down the hall toward the front of the house and my home office.

I didn’t turn on the overhead light, instead choosing to just open my laptop and use the ambient light to maneuver around the keyboard. The sonar ping was a sound I hadn’t heard in quite some time. It was a message from Conrad, most likely an assignment. My heart raced as I opened the special email account that we used to communicate with one another.

The email subject read: URGENT ASSIGNMENT

I stared at the subject heading for several beats before I clicked on it to open the email. It was brief and it took my breath away.

CHAD WILHITE. NEUTRALIZE ASAP!

What the fuck? This had to be a mistake. Why would Conrad, and the United States government want Chad Wilhite neutralized...killed?

I typed a response:

IS THIS A JOKE? THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT!

I stared at my computer screen waiting for a reply from Conrad. After what seemed like an eternity, but actually was less than a minute the computer pinged again with the sonar sound.

IT’S REAL. JUST DO IT AND YOU WILL BE FINISHED WITH THE ORGANIZATION. PAYMENT OF $1,000,000 WILL BE DEPOSITED UPON PROOF OF COMPLETION.

Unable to respond and unable to comprehend what I had been ordered to do I just sat at my desk staring at the most incredible, most unbelievable turn of events I could have ever imagined. Chad Wilhite had become a father figure to me. How could I kill my father figure? I couldn’t do this. Something was very, very wrong and I had to get to Hawaii and figure it out.

I immediately went to my old friend, Booking.com and searched for the earliest available flight to Kahului. That was the location of Maui’s main airport. I found an available flight that left San Antonio at 10:29am today and arrived in Kahului at 5:46pm on American Airlines. I clicked the button to book the flight. I arranged to pick up a rental car as well. I didn’t bother booking a hotel, not knowing where I would be heading once I arrived. I’d worry about finding a place to bed down when the time for sleeping came.

After making the arrangements I began trying to figure out what the hell was going on that involved Conrad and Chad Wilhite. I couldn’t come to any logical explanation. I leaned back in my office chair stretching my back and trying to release the tension that was building in my shoulders. I looked down to my side and noticed that Chief was curled up in a ball, seeming to be relaxed for the first time in the four nights he had been staying with us. Did he not realize that his dad, Chad, was in danger? Or did he trust me to fix things and rescue both his dad and his mom from the danger they might not even realize they were in? Either way, I felt the weight of his expectations on my shoulders and was determined to not let him down.

I began organizing the tidbits of information I could recall from the FaceTime call we’d had with Chad and Jamie on Saturday evening. I already knew they were staying at the Inn at Mama’s Fish House, so I would have a starting point. What I couldn’t remember was where else they had said they were going. I would have to wake up Fonda and break the news to her that Chad and Jamie were in trouble and that I was leaving in a few hours to fly to Maui to try and help them. This was going to get real ugly, real fast.

At just after 3:00am I slipped back into our bedroom and gently woke Fonda from her deep sleep.

“What? What do you want? Not now, not in the middle of the night.”

“No, no. I’m sorry babe, but I’ve got to talk to you...it’s urgent.”

“What? Is Chief okay? What’s wrong?”

“Chief is okay. But Chad and Jamie are in trouble. I need to fly to Maui and try to figure it out. I have a flight this morning. It leaves in seven hours and I need your help.”

At this point Fonda was sitting straight up in bed with a completely puzzled look on her face. “How do you know they are in trouble? Did the police call from Hawaii?”

“No, they didn’t.”

“Then what is it? How do you know they are in trouble?”

I had now reached the biggest crossroad in my life. If I told Fonda the truth would she ever understand or forgive me? If I continued to lie to her, could I make up some reason that she would accept?

“I got an email.”

“An email. From whom? What did it say?”

I had