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Paths Not Taken – Chapter Fourteen

Welcome to Paths Not Taken, the thirteenth Operation Quickline story. When a sting operation is set up on the resort owned by Lisa Wycherly’s father, she and Sid Hackbirn find themselves revisiting their high school jobs. And hoping their covers don’t get blown. You can read the first chapter here.

Sid and I did not get a lot of sleep that night. By the time Friday had dawned, we were bleary-eyed. We ate breakfast in the apartment after running down the local road.

“Alright,” said Sid. He pulled out a legal pad and one of his Mont Blanc fountain pens, then sat back down at the small kitchen table. “I think it’s time to lay out every possible scenario and suspect and see if we can’t figure out where this is coming from.”

I winced. “Should we even? What if it was Clint doing the shooting for some reason? We don’t know where he’s at on his little sting operation.”

“For that matter, it could have been our mole.” Sid scribbled on the pad. “Have you seen Clint doing anything since he checked in last week?”

“No.” I thought about it. “I haven’t. I’ve seen Dierdre and the kids around occasionally, but him? No. I wonder where he’s been.”

“That is a good question.” Sid sighed. “And there’s Hattie to consider, too.”

“Why would she be shooting at Dusty? She needs him to set up the phony plans.” I got up and began pacing.

“Which we still have, but not the real ones.” Sid twirled the pen in his fingers.

“Honey, if Dusty doesn’t have them, and Desmond is pretty sure he doesn’t, could it be that’s why Dusty got shot at?”

“Then the person doing the shooting has to be the mole we’re looking for.” Sid frowned. “But who could it be?”

“There’s that Yuri Voskoff guy, but if he’s an assassin, he wouldn’t be interested in buying illegal technology, would he?”

“I suppose it’s possible. Just because our side knows about him, that doesn’t mean he’s that easily recognizable. Not to mention the shooter was wearing a mask.”

I sighed. “I wonder if Judy Osbourne was involved. Bracha said that she’d seen Voskoff in the Video Stop last week, and Judy’s the one who showed me the trap. She could have wired it or told Voskoff about the TV being moved. She’d probably heard about it while delivering tapes.”

“Okay.” Sid wrote that down. “But she’s only one more possible suspect.”

“Then we have the guests.” I bit my lip. “Brian Lane was checking out when Lipplinger was killed, but could have set the trap. Plus, he heard Lipplinger going on about moving the TV, so he would have known to set it for Dusty. But he wasn’t at the resort, or even in town as far as I know for when Dusty’s room got broken into.”

“We also have Ms. Sanchez in the room on the other side of Lipplinger’s, and she’s been at the resort this whole time.” Sid scribbled again. “In terms of body-size, she could fit, except that she does have some rolls on her. We also know that she’s from Cuba, which might mean that she’s working with the Soviets. It might not.”

“What about Avery DiNovo?” I went back to pacing. “He and his family have been here the whole time. He and his wife are practically strangers, nor does he interact well with their kids. I can’t remember how big he is, though.”

“He also could be connected to the Soviets through his time in Saudi Arabia. Or it could be his wife.”

“That’s a possibility, too.” I paused. “I’d suggest the Winslows, but they’re ongoing regulars. On the other hand, they’ve been here the whole summer, and their daughter may have a pot problem.”

“And if there is a connection to drugs, then we have to consider Marina, who had some hidden on her.” Sid looked up at me. “You said you got them from her. Do you still have them?”

“Somewhere. It tested positive for cocaine. What about Donna? She would have known about the TV.”

“Apparently, she and Dusty have a bit of a thing for each other.”

“Possibly.” I frowned. “She likes to party, though, and she is thinking about leaving school.”

“Any other possibles on the staff?”

“Lee Whitney, although with his pot habit, it doesn’t seem like he’d be that effective.”

Sid nodded. “We can suspect everybody. The problem is we have no way of figuring out who was where last night.”

“Wouldn’t Lee have been at the restaurant?” I flopped into the kitchen chair. “The shooting happened before nine, and they were still serving, weren’t they?”

“Something to consider.” Sid sat back. “Okay. Why don’t you see what you can find out from the DiNovos, Sanchez, Donna, Lane, and… Hattie? I’ll take the rest of these, including the Fosters.”

“Sounds good.”

My walkie-talkie squawked and Mira wanted to talk to me in the housekeeping office.

“I’ll be right there.” I sighed, then bent and kissed Sid. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

I saw Dierdre Foster lounging near the playground, while her grandkids played on the swings, and was grateful. Lita and Pedro were sunning themselves while their kids played as well. But they were about the only ones doing so. I was shocked to see the line at the front desk. Families were everywhere, trying to leave.

“It’s not safe here!” snapped an indignant woman as Lyle scrambled to get her paid up.

“Ma’am, I have been here for forty years, and this is the first time something like this has happened.” Lyle smiled, but the woman was not satisfied.

I hurried downstairs.

“We’ve lost half our occupancy,” Mira told me. “Do I have permission to call some of the others in?”

“Half?” I groaned. “Yeah. Get them here pronto, and let’s go over the room assignments, too. At least we’re only losing one night.”

That’s what I’d thought. Turned out we’d gotten a few cancelations that morning. How people coming in had heard about the shooting, I do not know, but that was why they’d canceled. I tried not to fret about it as I helped with the check-outs and did spot checks on the freshly emptied rooms. I was so busy, I didn’t realize that I’d missed lunch. In fact, I was eating a hamburger and fries with Sid watching me in the break room at close to two p.m. when Hattie and Clint came in with Dale O’Connor.

Sid and I were on our feet in a second.

“What are you guys doing here?” Sid asked.

“Dale finally called back.” Hattie glared. “He came over and asked your father for someplace he could have a small conference. Your father sent us here.”

“Damn skippy, I did,” said Daddy, coming in from the kitchen and shutting that door. “Why don’t we get settled and have ourselves a little chat?”

He was really mad. I swallowed.

“Anybody want any soda?” Sid asked, getting the tumblers from the cupboard. “Coffee?”

Daddy poured himself some coffee as the others made their requests. Sid had the tumblers and mugs filled and distributed within a minute, and everyone settled into chairs around the table. I stuffed some more French fries into my mouth.

“Now, O’Connor,” Daddy growled. “I want you to explain to me what the fuck you’ve got going on at my resort.”

I gaped. I knew Daddy’s language got a little coarser when my mama wasn’t around. Mama really hates foul language. But I had never heard him use that word before in my life.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Bill.” Dale smiled expansively. “I’ve got it under control.”

“Like hell you have!” Daddy snapped. “I just had an employee get shot at last night, and now half my occupancy is running like scared chickens because there were two bullet holes in the playground slide. And Nick told his parents that the shooter was wearing a mask. You’ve got something going on involving your little so-called travel club, and damn it, you’re going to tell me what it is.”

Dale took it calmly. “I have an operation going. It’s critical to our national defense.”

“It’s a simple sting operation,” Clint said, then glared at Hattie. “We just have to figure out who our target is and how it’s going down.”

Dale looked confused for a second. “You know who the target is. That’s why we have the fake plans.”

Clint glared at him. “You didn’t tell me.”

“Yeah, I did. In June.”

“That is neither here nor there!” Daddy snapped.

Dale shrugged. “This seemed to be the safest place to stage it. You’re well covered here.”

“Which is why you wanted my daughter and son-in-law here this summer.” Daddy shot daggers at Sid.

“They are two of our best operatives, Bill.”

“No!” I yelped, leaping to my feet. “Dale, you can’t tell him that.”

“Honey?” Daddy asked.

“Daddy, if you know about us, then you’re part of it.” I furiously blinked, trying not to cry, then turned on Dale. “You can’t recruit my father! You leave him alone!”

Dale smiled smugly. “He’s already been recruited.”

“The B-one clearances,” Sid grumbled.

“What?” I gaped at Dale.

Daddy also gaped. “What the hell are you talking about, O’Connor?”

“You’ve been doing favors for me for years, Bill.” Dale took a sip of soda, then leaned back in his chair.

I looked at Hattie and Clint.

“I’ve used this place as a safe house,” Clint said, for a change, looking rather abashed. “I didn’t know it was without your permission, though, Mr. Wycherly.”

“It’s like this.” Chuckling, Dale leaned forward. “When Sid picked up Lisa and recruited her in September, nineteen eighty-two, it was my job to check out her parents. Adrienne and I got a room here, and I almost got caught, Bill, when I was searching your office. That’s when I knew Sid had hit the jackpot for us with Lisa. I was retiring from the army. We needed a new congressional liaison on the House committee, and the rep here at the time was running for re-election that year, promising that if elected, it would be his last term. We could have found another way to ease him out, but it worked out. I needed a place to settle, and it had to be someplace where I could legitimately get elected to Congress. There were a couple other guys doing the same thing. I’m the one who won in eighty-four. That’s why I got Lisa’s clearance on a rush that fall of eighty-two.”

“Henry told me that went through very quickly,” Hattie said.

“It sure didn’t seem like it,” Sid said.

Hattie chuckled. “It usually takes months.”

Daddy turned his glare back on Dale. “So, those folks you asked me to put up were in hiding or something?”

“They were.” Dale grinned. “And in eighty-three. Remember the drug ring funneling their product through your store? They were using several stores, but I knew what I had in Lisa as an asset and wanted to see what I had in you. So, I got Fletcher Haddock to investigate the drug ring and told him to let you help him.”

“That was you?” I snarled.

“Yeah. That’s why I called you and Sid in.” Dale got another sip of his soda. “Fletcher’s our DEA liaison. He’d discovered that someone was also shipping secrets along with the drugs.”

“It would have been nice to know that.” Sid folded his arms across his chest.

“You figured it out on your own and without alerting Fletcher in the process.” Dale smiled at my dad. “I told you, they’re good. And so are you, Bill. Fletcher really liked working with you.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Daddy got up slowly, then leaned on the table over Dale. “I am not doing another favor for you, Dale O’Connor. You got that? I can’t stop you from sending a guest my way, but I’d better not know about it and I am damned well not paying for it.”

“Bill…” Dale leaned back and, for the first time, looked nervous.

Daddy shook his head. “You have no right to use me and my business any old way you please. I’ve had five cancelations this morning. Do you have any idea what that is going to do to my bottom line? I need my summer traffic to keep this place profitable. I have spent almost thirty years building this business, bit by bit. I have worked my ass off, building a reputation in this community as an honest and solid businessman, and among my guests as a good host. You cannot come in here and put all of that at risk, not to mention the families that come here! Now, you get your ass off my property and do not come on it again, or I will get my shotgun. You probably know what a dead-eye my little girl is. Well, I taught her.”

Daddy pulled back just enough to let Dale get up.

“I guess it’s time to leave, then.” Dale smiled, then hurried out.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Wycherly,” Hattie said. “I had no idea how far out of the loop you were. I only knew that Lisa was worried about her cover, which made sense. You are only a B-one, and that’s not usually high enough to know much of the personnel.” She looked at me and Sid. “We still have a job to do. I can work it off-site, if you’d rather.”

“Don’t bother,” Daddy said, sinking into his chair. “It’s too late now.”

“I’ll be standing down,” Clint grumbled. “But I’ll have to stick around. Dierdre wants another week here with the kids, and it looks like we’ll have it.” He put his hand up. “I’m paying for it, Mr. Wycherly.”

“Can’t say no to that.” Daddy shook his head, defeated.

Hattie and Clint left. I fell into my chair and let the tears I’d been holding onto fall. Sid patted my arm.

“I’m so sorry, Daddy,” I sobbed. “I really didn’t know that he’d gotten you into this. I really didn’t.”

Dad glared at Sid. “I knew you were trouble.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Sid shook his head. He looked as miserable as I felt. “The problem is, when I recruited Lisa, I had no way of knowing what that would mean for her family. And I had no idea that Dale was behind any of this. I hadn’t seen him or heard from him in years.”

“You knew him?” Daddy asked.

“Not as Dale O’Connor, but, yeah. He was the SOB that roped me into intelligence when I was in the army.” Sid didn’t say SOB.

“Daddy, you don’t hate Sid again, do you?”

“I never hated Sid and still don’t.” Daddy sighed, then looked at us. “But I am pretty pissed at you two. Couldn’t you have told Dale no?”

“I tried to,” I said, sniffing. “But he’d already set everything up. He is one of our bosses.”

“And we can’t quit,” Sid said. “Once you’re in this business, you’re in it for life.” He looked up at Daddy. “I have no idea what that means for you.”

Daddy shrugged. “We’ll make the best of it. Somehow. What about Dusty?”

“He’s in his room for the time being,” Sid said. “It’s his day off, anyway.” Sid glanced up at Daddy, then sighed. “And it’s being monitored, so he’s more or less safe. However, whatever our next steps are, I think Lisa and I had better figure that one out on our own. I realize what the stakes are for you, Daddy, but you don’t really have the clearance.”

Sid began cleaning up the tumblers while I took my lunch plate back to the kitchen. Daddy was still there when I returned.

“I shouldn’t have made that crack about you being trouble,” he was saying to Sid. “What I was trying to say was that I was on to you all along. That first Christmas you joined us, I’d catch you and Lisa looking at each other, and I knew something was up. It wasn’t just where Lisa was living, either.”

One of the conditions Sid had placed on my coming to work for him had been that I live at his house. However, for a lot of reasons, I couldn’t tell my parents where I was, some of which involved Daddy being incredibly jealous of Sid and worried about him, too.

Daddy looked over at me. “Then that fall and the drug thing, and Fletcher made a crack about you being a spy, that’s when I figured it out.”

“You said it was ridiculous,” I said.

“I know, and your mother still thinks it is. But then I realized that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. And as the years passed, I could see more and more signs that you had a secret that you were keeping.”

I sniffed. “I didn’t want to hide it from you, Daddy, but it was safer for you not to know anything.”

He smiled softly. “I understand. I trust you, Lisle, baby. I wasn’t happy about it in some ways. Had to figure it was dangerous. Every time you or Sid got hurt, I couldn’t help worrying about the two of you.”

Sid shook his head softly. “Daddy, we’ve survived because we’re good at what we do.”

“That I believe, son.” Daddy patted his back.

“Daddy…” Sid took a deep breath. “I realize that there have been serious consequences for you and the family because I took Lisa in. But I’ve got to be honest. I do not regret that I did for one second. Because of Lisa, I have my son. Because of Lisa, I reconciled with my aunt and not only have her, but Sy, as well. But most of all, because of Lisa, I have become a part of your family. I can’t tell you what that has meant to me. I love your daughter more than I have loved anybody in my entire life, and along with her, Nick. And I am so grateful that includes loving you.”

Daddy wrapped his arms around Sid and held him. “I love you, too, son.”

My tears started falling again. Daddy and Sid pulled apart, both sniffing. Daddy wrapped me in another hug and just held me for several minutes. Then Sid and I had to leave.

[When your mother first insisted that I call her and your father Mama and Daddy, I did because, well, it was your mother being who she was. But it didn’t feel natural to me, and I always got the feeling from your father that he was a little uncomfortable with it, too. That afternoon at the resort, it finally felt natural. Not having a father, I’ve had many father figures in my life, including Sy. But that day, I finally had a real father in yours, and I still can’t say what that means to me. – SEH]

I turned off my walkie-talkie as Sid and I hurried back to the apartment. Sid double-checked his bug finder, just in case. Desmond and Esther were working in the common room as we came in with Frank hanging out next to them, softly playing his guitar.

“How’s he doing?” Sid asked, nodding in the direction of Dusty’s room.

“He’s fine,” said Desmond. “Shook, but fine. You two look like you’ve had a shock.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t expect him to say anything, but be extra careful around my father, please.”

Esther guffawed. “He figured you guys out, didn’t he?”

“I do not want to talk about it,” I said, flopping onto the couch.

“Esther, have you found anything on a Yuri Voskoff?” Sid asked, pacing.

“Oh…” Esther shook her head as she picked up her legal pad. “He’s not a very nice fellow.”

“You have to expect that from a KGB assassin,” Frank said, chuckling.

“However astute that assessment is,” said Sid. “It’s not a help at the moment.”

“Too bad we don’t have a fax machine,” Esther said. “We could get a photo of this guy.”

I shook my head. “We have one in the resort office, but it’s not a secure line and I don’t want anything connected to this case going through there anyway.” I bit my thumbnail. “Our first objective is to keep Dusty safe, and hopefully, by extension of that, keep the guests safe and unaware of any potential danger.”

Frank grinned. “Kathy and Jesse wanted to come up for the fun of it. Why don’t we call them in? Kathy will be able to use the modem on the computer in our room and Jesse can help with surveillance.”

“Sounds good,” I said. I looked at Sid.

“I agree.” Sid thought for a minute. “We’ll do that. I also think Lisa should talk to Dusty. It shouldn’t blow our cover. After all, he told us that there was someone shooting at him.”

“I’ll take care of it now.” I got up.

The door to Dusty’s room was shut. I knew he was in there because none of the trip wires had been tripped. Even Sid and I couldn’t get past that kind of setup, so we doubted Voskoff could. I knocked, and Dusty’s response was almost too soft to be heard.

“Can I come in?” I asked.

“Sure.” A moment later, the door opened.

“How are you doing?” I asked, going into the room.

The window had been blacked out. A lone lamp shone on the desk, and the monitor glowed with orange type. Dusty offered me the desk chair and slumped onto the side of his bed.

“You’re here to fire me, aren’t you?”

I sighed. “It’s not up to me.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t have someone shooting at me here. There’s kids. They’ll get hurt!”

“We probably need to do something to make sure you’re safe. If you’re safe, then the kids will be safe, don’t you think?” I paused, but he didn’t say anything. “Dusty, do you know why somebody was shooting at you?”

He swallowed. “I can’t say. It’s just bad, you know?”

“Okay.” I frowned. “Do you have any place you can hide?”

“Not really.” He sniffed.

“Alright.” I reached over and patted his arm. “Let me see what we can do.”

Somehow, I was not surprised to see my father in the common room, chatting with Desmond and Esther about their progress on the new computer system. As soon as I came into the room, though, he smiled at the two of them, then nodded at the apartment. Sid was already there.

“I just thought,” Daddy said, settling onto the couch. “If that kid Dusty was the target for that gunman, we probably need a way to hide him.” He looked at Sid and me. “I’m guessing he’s part of this whole thing you’re working on.”

“Yeah,” said Sid. “We’re trying to work that out now.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like Dusty has anywhere he can go. Where he’s at is currently the easiest to monitor. The problem is, the gunman knows which room he’s in.”

Daddy nodded. “One of the advantages to having Dusty at the house is that it’s not as likely to affect the rest of the resort as much.”

“What about Nick and Janey?” Sid asked.

“Maybe we can move them over here, and your friend Desmond can stay at the house with me and Dusty.”

“You figured him out, too,” I grumbled.

Daddy chuckled. “He used to tend bar at the Keno lounge at Harrah’s. I’d seen him plenty of times when Dale would invite your mother and me to drinks at the casino. He turns up here as your friend? Had to figure there was a connection.”

Sid cursed. “Daddy, you are too damned good at this. Now, if you can hold off speculating about the rest of our friends, that would help.”

So, we spent the rest of the evening getting everybody moved around. Janey ended up in the apartment, sleeping on the front room couch. We left Dusty’s room empty and put Nick upstairs in an empty room next to some of the older college girls. I prayed the girls would behave and that Nick wouldn’t take after his father that way.

Thank you for reading. For more information about the Operation Quickline series, click here.

Please check out the Fiction page for the latest on all my novels. Or look me up at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Vroman’s, in Pasadena, California.

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