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41
Gully Hollow, Virginia
SUNDAY
Kirra and Griffin stopped about ten miles from the Greenbrier Resort at a gas station in Gully Hollow, a picturesque little town nestled in a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, not because they needed gas, but to change into the disguises Griffin had ordered delivered to them at Kirra’s condo in the morning. Griffin came out of the men’s room in a black wig, on the long side, sporting a small mustache and wearing aviator glasses. Kirra appeared a few minutes later, her wig light blond curling wildly around her face. She wore tight skinny jeans, a white blouse with too many buttons open, and a white fur jacket since the new Mrs. Hammersmith would have dressed for the mountains, where the temperature was at least ten degrees cooler than in Porte Franklyn. She wore big-framed sunglasses that darkened in sunlight and lightened indoors. The glasses and the wig really changed her look.
They looked each other up and down. Griffin had changed from a sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers to black slacks, white shirt, black leather jacket, and black boots. Kirra whistled. “Wow, your eyes look really blue with all that black hair. The mustache is good, too, not over the top, but it really does change your face. The aviators are cool, make you look sexy.”
“And you, Ms. Mandarian, look like a fluffy confection with all that thick curling blond hair and the open buttons on your blouse. The hint of cleavage will have the guys looking down and not so much at your face. If I’m not close by, count on every guy in the vicinity hitting on you. Oh yes, the black frames on your sunglasses—talk about sending mixed messages.”
She laughed, buttoned up one button. “Who says a rich matron won’t give you the eye?” She turned serious the next moment. “You think we’ll pass muster, Griffin? Melissa Kay won’t recognize me and maybe wonder who you are?”
“I doubt if she even sees us she’ll take any notice. After all, she’s there with a lover she hasn’t seen for a while. Don’t forget, the place is booked full so there’ll be lots of people roaming around, good cover for us. By the way, I know who her lover is.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“While you were changing, I got a text from the CAU, that’s the Criminal Investigation Unit. Agent Savich is the chief. I had them run facial recognition on the man Melissa posed with on her Facebook page. His name is Jared Talix, the grandson of Finley Talix, a fine fellow trafficking in human beings and importing and distributing drugs, mostly cocaine and fentanyl, from China and out of Mexico and all the way up the West Coast to Seattle. After Jared’s parents, both in business with Finley, were shot by a rival cartel, it was left to the old man to raise Jared himself. Finley Talix is still around, but he’s getting up there, near ninety now. Jared is all set to take over.”
Kirra digested this. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Do you know how he met Melissa Kay?”
“Seems likely old man Finley and Grissom did some business together and he sent Jared out here to seal the deal. He met Melissa Kay and they must have taken quite a liking to each other. Melissa Kay’s photos with him go back over a year. Oh, he’s married, has three kids.”
“That’s excellent, Griffin. Here I thought we were going to have to sneak around the reception desk and try to find his name in the computer. But you, you used your brain, found out everything about him. Show him to me again on Melissa Kay’s Facebook page when we get up to our room.”
“I’ll also show you the files Ollie Hamish—he’s second-in-command in the CAU—emailed me on Talix and his grandfather.”
“It sounds like he’s as dangerous as Ryman and Melissa Kay.” She grinned at him. “But they’re not in our league.”
Without thinking, Griffin raised his hand to touch her, dropped it. “I have no doubt they’re all like matching gloves, but no, not in our league. Still, we’re going to be very careful.”
Kirra nodded, then shuddered. Was she remembering how she’d almost died on the frontage road two days ago? Griffin didn’t shudder, but thinking about her driving on that frontage road, Winters behind her, trying to make her fly over the cliff, made his blood run cold. But Winters had been the one to go over the cliff, and Kirra had watched him die, and that had to hit hard as well. Not to mention Eliot Ness going back for her frigging cell phone.
“Do you think maybe they’re here on business, too, like cooking up some other way to kill me?”
“Nah, you’re not on their radar. They’re here to have nonstop sex.”
“So you think sex outweighs the killer instinct?”
“I imagine it always does.”
“But they’ll have to come out of their room to eat, right? Maybe walk around in the resort?” She eyed him, decided it was time to come clean. She bestowed a bright winsome smile on him and words bulleted out of her mouth. “Ah, Griffin, you should know I brought some really small high-tech bugs a friend of mine gave me. He showed me how they work, how to plant them in their room or on their luggage or whatever. I didn’t want to worry you, because, strictly speaking, that would be sort of breaking and entering, and after all, you’re an FBI agent.” She took a breath, gave him a fat smile. “So, if I’m the one who actually breaks in and plants the bugs, will you arrest me?”
Bugs? She’d brought frickin’ bugs to plant in their room? Griffin was without words. He was amazed. She’d nearly gotten herself killed two days before, but it didn’t matter. She was fired up, not about to stop. He had to laugh. “No, I won’t arrest you. In addition, you’ve got some handy friends to keep your butt out of jail.” He could have mouthed the words that as a commonwealth attorney she knew planting a bug on someone without a warrant isn’t exactly legal. But since the Grissoms were trying to kill her, he wasn’t going to say a thing. The name Eliot Ness threatened to fly out of his mouth, but he knew he had to keep quiet. “Tell me about the bugs.”
“They’re really good, Griffin. Booger, my friend, is something of a genius.”
That didn’t surprise him. “And how do you plan on getting into their room to plant the bugs?”
“Well, I asked Booger if he could get me past the key card access system they use in the hotel rooms at Greenbrier. He hacked in to their management system, broke the encryption.” She sounded like a proud mama. “He sent me over a key card this morning he says has the master access code on it. You were, ah, in the shower at the time. I thought it might be better to tell you when we were nearly to curtain time.”
Griffin stared at her. While he’d been doing facial recognition to find out Jared Talix’s identity, she’d already been planning her attack. He wondered what Savich would say, but it really didn’t matter. He said slowly, “You’re fighting for your life, Kirra. And I’m here to protect you. As to the ethics of what you’ve done, what you’re planning to do, I don’t think they’re pertinent. Don’t worry, we’ll figure out when to plant the bugs in their room.”
They climbed back into Griffin’s Range Rover and started an uphill climb with half a dozen other cars on the winding road that ran the final three miles uphill to the Greenbrier Resort. He buzzed down the window and breathed in the fresh air, noticeably cooler as they climbed. It actually tasted crisp on his tongue. The higher they climbed, the more spectacular the vistas became; distant hills and mountains seemed to roll on forever. They were thick with maples, spruce, and red oaks and what he thought were hemlocks. There were lookout points along the way, visitors lining up to look through the telescopes.
Kirra said, “Greenbrier even has a small observatory, looks sort of like a silo fastened to the side of the main building. If we’re not busy hiding in Melissa Kay’s closet, we could stargaze. You know, Griffin, the way you’re dressed and with your black hair and mustache, I swear you’re better looking. The aviators help.”
Where was she going with this? He smiled, couldn’t help it, and waited.
