Page 13 of The 9th Man

“A habit from childhood. He was my grandfather, not my father, so I shortened his first name. The nickname stuck.”

He smiled.

“He was career army,” she said. “Thirty-five years. His last posting was to the International Military Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. He loved it here so, when he retired, he bought the house in Genappe. His second wife, Karen, died a couple of years ago, so I moved here six months back to be with him, after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Last month his doctor recommended a care facility, but he was having none of that. He wanted to die at home with me. A nurse came a few times a week, but I handled most of his care. A few weeks ago the pain became so bad the doctor started morphine, which sent him off to la-la land. He started talking about Kronos. Disjointed stuff. Stream of consciousness. Babbling. But not all incoherent.”

“About anything in particular?” he asked.

She gave a frustrated shake of her head. “He kept talking about a secret he’d discovered. It would change everything. He said that over and over. The weight of it, and how it had to be exposed.”

Her pain was obvious. She’d had a tough time.

“Until a few weeks ago I thought my grandfather was the happiest, most contented person I knew. But that was all a façade.”

Not surprising. Everybody had secrets.

Even old soldiers dying with cancer.

“Last week he let slip something about a lockbox. Eventually I found it. One of those fireproof document-sized models tucked into the floorboards under the bed.”

“Where is it now?”

“Still there, I hope.”

So did he.

“The worse the pain got, the more he talked,” she said. “He was never lucid enough to fully explain anything. Just nipped around the edges. Kronos. Secrets. Need to do the right thing. Luke, whatever this is, it destroyed him. He was top of his class at West Point, a decorated combat vet, brave, brilliant, dedicated. Everything it took to make general, he had it. But he retired out as a full bird colonel, one step below brigadier general. It hurts me to say this, but his career was never what it should have been.”

“And you think this Kronos business is the cause?”

“Without a doubt. He said as much during his ramblings.Kronos will hurt us all.A couple of nights ago it all got to be too much. He’s lying there dying before my eyes. I was angry, sad, and frustrated. So I found that lockbox, opened it, and started rifling through the contents.”

“Which were?”

“Not all that much. But I did find an invoice and a key, along with an email address on a scrap of paper with the word Kronos. I thought maybe at the other end was someone who could make sense of this for me, so I sent the email, explained who I was and what was happening, then asked,Tell me what you know about Kronos. Thirty-six hours later those guys show up at my door.”

“When you called me, you said people were coming.”

“By the time I sent the Kronos email I’d been awake for more than a day. My mind was spinning. I told Benji what I’d done, and he went ballistic. I’d never seen him that way. He seemed to grab hold of his senses and kept telling me to run while there was still time, that I had no idea what I’d done.They’re coming for us both.That’s what he said. He told me to leave and get far away. But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t leave him.” She paused. “That’s when I contacted you. Luke, I got him killed. I lost my head—something I never do—and now he’s dead. I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Those men killed him. Not you.”

“I know that. But I’m going to find out the what and why and who. I’m going to do that. I swear to God I will. Then I’m going to kill whoever is behind this. With your help, I hope. So don’t tell me to sit this out and you’ll handle it. We clear?”

“Crystal, ma’am,” he said, with a smile.

Truth was, not only did she deserve to be in on the hunt, he welcomed the partnership. But bravado aside, he knew that his training had cautioned him to be patient and make sure he hadn’t been walking into a trap. Had he hesitated too long in the car? Had that gotten Benji killed? Hard to say. But he definitely crashed someone else’s party. At the moment, though, working together was their best chance of not only making sense of this mystery, but surviving it as well.

He needed to know, “What happened in the house?”

“I actually fell asleep, which has been hard to do lately. Of course, I’ve been wearing my clothes to bed ever since Benji went freaky on me. I was lying there when glass broke in another room and brought me awake.”

“That would be me,” he said. “I thought an alert was in order.”

“It worked. I switched on a light, then realized that was stupid. Been a while since I was in combat. That’s when I heard people in the house. I had one of Benji’s pistols on the nightstand, so I used it. But they got to him. Shot him right in the head.”

“By the time I made it upstairs you were gone.”

“I grabbed my wallet and passport and went out the window. I had no idea you were there.”