Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (60 page)

For the fourth time Ponder got the error
message trying to connect to Trapper’s phone.

“Shit,” he grumbled.

Half of his men were already back. He’d need
to bring the rest home soon. The helo wouldn’t be able to fly in
the coming blizzard.

Where the hell were Trapper and Upshaw?

+++

Trapper regained consciousness slowly. He
looked around the room then tested his arms and legs. They were
bound behind the dining room chair he was sitting on. The former
military policeman was pretty sure he could get out of the
restraints as long as he could force some blood flow back into his
limbs. There were benefits to being somewhat of a contortionist.
The problem was he didn’t know what he was up against. He was sure
his captors would make an appearance soon enough. Meanwhile, he’d
bide his time, work his arms and legs, and figure a way out.

+++

“This guy’s not the smartest is he?” Cal
asked Daniel as he continued to watch the live video feed from both
holding rooms.

Daniel shrugged. “He’s smart enough to keep
his trap shut. At least we know they were keeping an eye on us. You
okay with me laying into him a little more?”

Cal looked up from the video screen. “If it
gets us closer to Neil, do it. I’d prefer not leaving any marks on
these guys…”

“I don’t think it’ll come to that. I’ll be
subtle.”

“Do what you need to.”

Daniel nodded and headed back in to talk to
Upshaw.

+++

Daniel took his seat in front of Upshaw and
stared at the man for a minute. To his credit, Upshaw returned the
stare without flinching.

“Where are you from, Lance?”

Upshaw hesitated. He didn’t remember
anything about not talking about his personal life. There couldn’t
be anything wrong with that, right?

“I’m, uh, from Dallas.”

“You play football down there?”

Upshaw’s eyes lit up at once. “I did,” he
said with pride and almost puffed out his chest before remembering
that he was tied to a chair.

“Thought so. I’ll bet you tore it up on the
field. Linebacker?”

“Running back,” Upshaw said with a grin.

“Really? You’re a pretty big dude to be
dodging tackles.”

“I’m fast, and I can run over most
guys.”

Briggs whistled in admiration. He would
honestly love to see the man in action.

“You play college ball?” Daniel asked,
already knowing the answer.

“Nah. Didn’t have the grades.”

“So you went in the Corps instead.”

Upshaw nodded his head. Although it’d taken
some studying with his recruiter, he’d finally passed the military
aptitude test and was allowed to go to Parris Island.

“So when did you get out of the Corps?”

Lance scrunched his face thinking. Numbers
and timelines sometimes got jumbled in his head. His mother always
said that God could only give a person so many gifts and that Lance
had gotten a lion’s share of physical ability. In exchange, God
couldn’t give him as much intelligence as other kids his age.

“I think a couple years ago.”

“What did you do after you got out?” Daniel
asked.

Upshaw hesitated again. His mind tried to
process whether answering would be right or wrong. It was hard to
keep it straight.

“Went home for a little bit.”

“Just hung out with your family?”

“My ma raised me as a single mom. I hadn’t
seen her in, like, a year. Stayed with her for a while.”

Briggs could feel the walls coming down.
“Did you get a job down in Dallas?”

Upshaw shook his head. “No. I just helped Ma
and some of her friends. Got free food and a place to sleep.”

Daniel nodded thoughtfully. He didn’t want
to have the guy clam up again. It was important to get him to keep
answering questions. Briggs said a silent prayer that God would
guide him to the answer.

“Your mom still live down in Dallas?”

“Yeah.”

“You still see her?”

“I fly down one or two times every
year.”

“She pay for your flight?”

It was another one of those funny questions
Lance wasn’t sure about. Why was he asking?

“Um…no. I pay for my tickets.”

“Oh! So do you have a job up here?”

“Yeah.”

Briggs noticed the drop in Upshaw’s
demeanor. He had to keep it light.

“Cool. It must be pretty awesome living up
here. It’s beautiful.”

Lance nodded as enthusiastically as a little
kid. “You should see it when the leaves change. It’s really pretty.
All the moose and bears come out too. I like the bears.”

“You ever see one?” Briggs asked with eyes
wide open.

“All the time! Right now they’re really
coming out. People are saying they’re more hungry than other
years.”

“That’s what I heard too. You ever get
charged by a bear?”

Upshaw was suddenly serious. Briggs thought
that maybe he’d gone too far and delved into a memory that would
end the man’s cooperation.

“Just one time. Damn grizzly was huge. We
were hiking back down to Phelps Lake and all of a sudden this bear
was just sitting in the middle of the path soaking up some rays. I
tried to scare it away, but it got up and roared at us. Before we
knew it the thing was charging.”

“Holy crap! Was your buddy in the next room
with you?”

“Nah. Trapper was back at HQ. I was with
some of the other guys.”

“So what did you guys do?”

“The only thing we could do. We shot the
fucking thing!”

Daniel whistled again. “Wow. Did you kill
it?”

“Damn right. It was him or us.”

“Can’t you get in trouble for killing a
grizzly around here?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t stick around. Would’ve
moved it but those things weigh a ton.”

“I’ll bet. So you work with some other guys
at one of the ranches around here?”

“Yeah, sort of,” Lance answered quietly.

“So you do guided hikes, trail rides, that
sort of thing?”

Upshaw hesitated again. He’d already made
one decision in his mind: that this guy asking him questions was
actually a nice guy. Lance didn’t think he’d tell his boss if he
said anything.

“No, we do some security work.”

“Really, that’s cool. I kinda do the same
thing. Who’d you say you worked for?”

“I…uh…didn’t.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be easier if I talked
to your boss about all this instead of bugging you? The sooner you
tell me where you work, the sooner I can give them a call and get
his whole thing straightened out. You seem like a good guy, Lance.
I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Trouble was the last thing that Lance
wanted. What could it hurt? As long as they didn’t say anything
about him telling.

“You promise you won’t tell them I told
you?”

“I give you my word as a Marine, Lance.”

That was good enough for Upshaw. “I work for
The Ponder Group.”

Chapter 11

Camp Spartan, Arrington, TN

8:37pm CST, September 27th

Travis hadn’t left the office since Neil
disappeared. He’d commandeered one of the large suites at The Lodge
so he could stay close by. The phone on the bedside table rang just
as he dozed off for a quick nap.

“Haden.”

“Sir, I have a call for you from Mr.
Stokes,” the operator said.

“Patch him through, please.”

Luckily, all the phones at The Lodge were
highly encrypted and therefore highly secure. With the number of
VIPs SSI courted, it was important to have a way for guests to
communicate with their offices while away. It was one of the many
improvements Neil Patel had instituted over the years.

“You there, Trav?”

“Yeah. What’s going on?”

“You ever heard of some company called The
Ponder Group?”

Haden sat up in bed. “Yeah, why?”

“We’ve had a tail since we got here, and we
just found out that they work for this Ponder Group.”

“How do you know?”

Cal hesitated. Even though the line was
supposedly secure, he still wanted to be careful just in case
someone was listening.

“Let’s just say we have two more guests at
the house.”

“Invited or uninvited?” Travis asked.

“They were…invited. Daniel made it
a…personal invitation.”

Travis correctly deduced that they’d somehow
apprehended the men.

“Tell me you’ve used kid gloves on the
guys.”

“You know me, cuz, always trying to do
things the right way.”

“I’m not messing around here, Cal. Tell me
you didn’t put the screws to these guys.”

Cal laughed at his cousin’s unease. “Of
course not. Briggs just had a little chat with one of our new
buddies. So you wanna tell me who this Ponder Group is?”

Travis swept his hand back through his dirty
blonde hair. Where to start?

“SSI has a little history with The Ponder
Group,” Travis started disgustedly.

“What kind of history?”

“The CEO of The Ponder Group is a prick
named Nick Ponder. The guy is former Army. Mean son-of-a-bitch.
He’s as crooked as they come. So anyway, back in the nineties, he
and your dad…”

Travis told Cal the story of the conflict
between Cal Sr. and Nick Ponder.

“How come you never told me about this?” Cal
asked indignantly.

“There was never a need to. It happened a
long time ago. I’ve heard rumors about him over the years, but he
knows to stay clear of us.”

“Looks like that’s not the case
anymore.”

“Yeah. The only good thing I can think of in
this whole situation is that Ponder is just a thug. He likes money
and inflicting pain and not much else.”

Cal was fuming. He didn’t know how his
cousin could stay so calm. “I’m having a hard time understanding
what in the hell you’re talking about. While we’re sitting here
chatting about this asshole, he’s probably torturing or even
killing Neil!”

Travis took a slow breath. “Look, now that
we know WHO has Neil, we can actually do something.”

Cal knew his cousin was right. A couple
hours ago they had nothing. Now they had a name.

“How can we find out where this guy lives?”
Cal asked.

“Let me call you back. With a possible leak
here at home I’d rather take care of this myself. I’ll do some
digging and get you the details in a few minutes.”

It wasn’t good enough for Cal, but he wisely
held his tongue. Venting his frustration on Travis wouldn’t
accomplish a thing. He needed to focus on one thing: Nick
Ponder.

+++

Travis hung up the phone and stared at the
wall. Where to start? He hesitated using any of the computer guys
until he knew where the leak was. There was always the Council of
Patriots, an ultra-secret group of retired (and one active)
politicians. Typically, the Council came to SSI for help in going
operational on intel. This was a different story. Travis had never
contacted the Council for help. He’d put that on hold for now.

He picked up his cell phone and speed-dialed
his head of security, Todd Dunn.

“Dunn,” answered the former Ranger in his
gruff tone.

“Todd, I need to talk to you in person.”

Travis could hear Dunn getting up from
whatever chair he’d just been sitting in. Once set in motion, Todd
Dunn was never moved off track.

“What’s up?”

“Cal just found out that Neil might have
been taken by an old friend.”

“Who?”

“Nick Ponder.”

“I’ll be right up.”

Travis placed his phone back on the bed and
looked up at the ceiling. It was going to be a very long night.

Chapter 12

Teton Village, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

9:55pm, September 27th

Daniel hadn’t gotten anything else out of
Lance. It had probably finally sunk in the large man’s brain that
he’d divulged a little too much information.

“You want me to go talk to the other guy?”
Briggs asked Cal.

Cal had already told the rest of the team to
get some rest. They might have to leave soon, and he wanted them to
get any sleep they could. It was one of the many things he’d
learned in the Marine Corps: sleep whenever and wherever you
can.

“Let me go see if I can get anything out of
him. I’m starting to think you were right, though. Looks like a
tough nut. Wish we had Doctor Higgins with us. He can make anyone
talk.”

“Just be careful, Cal. He’s tied up pretty
good but don’t take any chances. You want me to come in with
you?”

“Nah. Why don’t you just watch the monitor.
If anything happens, you can come to my rescue.” It was meant as a
joke, but neither man was laughing. As men of action, they felt
stifled. Better to be moving than to remain static. Without the
information on Ponder’s whereabouts, they couldn’t do a damn
thing.

Daniel took a seat in front of the video
display and settled in to watch.

+++

Cal stepped into the second holding room and
closed the door. He looked at his captive. The man looked
bored.

Ignoring the look, Cal grabbed a chair,
positioned it six feet from his prisoner and sat down.

“So, Trapper, you wanna tell me what your
deal is?”

Trapper seethed inside. Apparently Lance had
opened his big fucking mouth. He’d have a little talk with the dumb
shit soon.

Instead of answering the question, Trapper
started laughing. It started off as a chuckle and escalated from
there. Soon, the man was almost convulsing with laughter.

This guy’s a
lunatic
, Cal thought. He glanced up to the
camera and shrugged at Briggs.

Soon, Trapper settled down and sat taking in
brief breaths of air between giggles.

“What’s so funny, Trapper?” Cal asked, not
amused.

“Ha…ha…ha!...You…you’re…funny…” Trapper spit
out in the middle of girlish snickering.