Danger Close by James Sumner (classic novels for teens txt) 📕

assassination was unrelated. I don’t believe the general’s coup wasn’t premeditated.”

“Based on?”

“Forgetting for a moment the issue of not knowing Tristar were even in the weapons manufacturing business, every single soldier under his command was armed and ready for that civil war. Only way that happened was if the weapons were in the country before Herrera hired GlobaTech. It couldn’t have happened after his death because the country was locked down tight. No way to get the weapons in or out. So, they were in already. That means whoever placed the order with Tristar knew General Guerrero and his men were going to need the weapons beforehand.”

Everyone in the room exchanged looks of concern.

Buchanan nodded. “I agree. Do we know if the general’s talked at all?”

Jericho shook his head. “I called for an update first thing, but I’m getting stonewalled.”

“Unfortunately, the general’s interrogation and the inevitable war crimes tribunal are outside of our sphere of influence. We’ll be lucky to get any information about what he says. Do you have a hunch?”

Jericho thought for a moment. “Honestly? I think he was played, just as we were. I think the Palugan situation was simply convenient for whomever is really pulling the strings here.”

“Ya mean Orion?” said Collins bitterly.

“Most likely, yeah.”

“Fisher, any update on the shooter?” asked Buchanan.

“Nothing,” she replied with a regrettable shake of her head. “We have a team working around the clock, monitoring satellites and security footage from all over the country. We’ll find her.”

“Still no idea who she is?” asked Jericho.

“Nada,” said Collins. “Crazy bitch is a ghost.”

“Yet you managed to sleep with her…”

Collins shrugged. “That was just some weird luck, man.”

Julie looked over and shot him a curt glance. “Luck?”

“Hey, the fact she’s an assassin doesn’t change how hot she is.”

Jericho rolled his eyes again. “Christ…”

Buchanan sighed. “Knock it off. All the shit we’ve been through this last week, and we’re sitting here with more questions than ever and no answers. That is not acceptable.”

“We know,” said Julie. “But what more can we do? Every turn leads to a dead end.”

“Then we need to start over. From the beginning.” He looked at Jericho and Collins. “Go over everything you know about Tristar. That warehouse operation you stopped—they were smuggling weapons, right?”

“Yeah,” confirmed Jericho.

“So, start looking into why they were smuggling other people’s weapons when they apparently make their own.”

“Huh. Good point,” said Collins.

“Thank you,” he said sarcastically. He looked at Julie. “You need to find the shooter. I think she’s the key to all of this. If we can get her to talk, we’ll find out who hired her and who supplied her with the guns and ammo. That will fill in a lot of blanks.”

She nodded. “Of course. What about you? Do you have anything else left to do with the U.N.?”

He shook his head. “No. For now, they’ve gone quiet. Their biggest concern was PR. Now that we’re the good guys again, there’s no image problem for them to lose sleep over. So, I’m going to track down your friend, Mr. Roachford. See if he can help us.”

Julie sighed. “Boss, I’m telling you, that’s a non-starter. When we spoke last, he was pissed at us for not helping him in New York. He also blames us for getting him involved in the first place. He won’t talk to us.”

Buchanan fixed her with a hard stare. “He’ll talk to me.”

Collins wandered across the room. “Who the hell is this guy anyway? You’re making him out to be some kind of a big deal. How come I’ve never heard of him?”

“He used to work for Tristar,” explained Buchanan. “He was involved when our guys got hit in Cambodia. He still has the information we procured from Tristar’s servers, and they’re probably the only people in the world he hates more than us.”

“The enemy of my enemy…” mused Jericho.

“Precisely.”

“Is that why he John McClane’d their office building in New York?” asked Collins.

“It is.”

“What actually happened there? Do we know?”

Julie shrugged. “It was all over the news, Ray.”

He smiled. “I know that, love. I asked what actually happened.”

Buchanan sat forward and began tapping away on his laptop. A moment later, he got to his feet and gestured to the screen. “Take a look for yourself.”

He walked around the desk. Collins moved behind it and sat in Buchanan’s chair.

“What’s this?” he asked.

Buchanan pointed at the laptop. “That’s the unedited security feed of the building during the mass evacuation and lockdown at the end of the siege.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t tell your friend at Orion you have that?” asked Jericho.

Buchanan looked over at him and smiled. “Y’know… I may have forgotten to mention it.”

Julie got to her feet. “What do you think Orion’s next move will be? Assuming the attempt at cancelling us in the media was their doing, they’ll be pissed it didn’t work.”

Buchanan tilted his head as he shrugged. “Who knows? But until we have any actionable proof to begin a formal investigation into Tristar or Orion, we have to assume they will be looking for other ways to get to us. We just need to remain vigilant and keep our noses clean.”

Jericho moved to Julie’s side. “Is their problem with us really that we started snooping around Tristar?”

“What else would it be?” asked Julie. “We’re assuming they’re behind everything. That means they know exactly what Tristar were doing. Not much of a stretch to think we would eventually uncover evidence of their involvement if we were looking hard enough.”

“Well, we haven’t yet,” said Buchanan. “But it’s only a matter of time. If we can tie all this together, we can get some real backing to take the fight to Orion. Put them in front of a few Senate hearings and see how they like it.”

Jericho nodded. “A company that size, worth as much as they are… it would be unprecedented if it came to light that they were into illegal activity. No wonder they’re prepared to do anything to protect what they have.”

“Exactly,” agreed Buchanan. “And GlobaTech isn’t