"No. My first time in Chicago."
"Good. Then I made the right choice by bringing you here. I guess we could have arranged a handoff at night on a dark side street, but that would have been so… depressing."
Her lips curved in a slight smile. "You're more like John Tavak than you care to admit."
"Perish the thought. I didn't think you knew him that well."
"I don't, but Rachel has told me a bit about him. He's a focused and driven person, but like you, he wants to enjoy the ride."
"There's one big difference between us."
"What's that?"
He looked out at the lake. "From what I understand, Tavak never hesitates to go all the way. Before last night, I had never killed a man."
Allie looked at him. "The man on the bridge?"
Demanski nodded. "I've led a rough life, but that was one transgression I'd never committed. It felt very… strange. I've been in some pretty intense situations before, and I've never had to resort to that. I've had a price on my head on three different continents. My own casino manager once came to work one night with the intent to kill me. There have been many times I could have taken care of my problems—and ended someone's life—with a simple phone call. But I chose not to do it. It's been one of the rules I wouldn't break. Until last night."
She was silent for a moment, then impulsively put a hand on his arm. "Then I'm sorry you had to do it for me."
He smiled. "I'm not sorry. I'd do it again. I've never met a woman more worth breaking all the rules for."
Allie couldn't look away from him. The words were said very simply. It wasn't bullshit. It wasn't Demanski trying to make a score. She finally managed to tear her gaze away. "Why did you decide to hijack that mastaba wall?"
"You don't believe it was revenge?"
She shook her head. "And it wasn't the prospect of another potload of money on the horizon."
"I'd be interested to hear your take on it."
"Boredom. You've seen everything, done everything. You wanted to see if you'd missed something along the way."
"That makes me sound somewhat shallow."
"No, there's nothing shallow about you. You're smart, and you're always thinking. You're just not sure that where you're going will be enough for you."
"Then you're not condemning me for not being totally devoted to the great quest?" he asked mockingly.
"Why should I? I can understand your motivation perfectly. I haven't seen everything, and I certainly haven't done everything. I wish I had."
Demanski didn't speak for a moment. "I wish you had, too."
She glanced at him and sighed. "Oh, Lord. I've seen that expression before. You're revving up for a major pity party. I thought better of you, Demanski."
He looked away from her. "Sorry. I'll work at regaining my respect in your eyes. It was just a temporary failing. How could I forget what a tough nut you are, Allie?"
That moment had been too emotional and come out of nowhere. Time to veer away. "Where are we supposed to meet your contact?"
"He's already here." Demanski nodded ahead to a plaza in front of the Wrigley Building, located on the north bank of the Chicago River. A gray-haired man in a sports coat was watching two teenagers on their skateboards.
"He's very good," Demanski said. "I once used him to get some information on a Chicago business consortium that was trying to muscle me out of a real-estate project I had put together. He has great connections at the phone companies, and a lot of the private detectives in town use him."
One of the kids, a ruddy-faced young man with long blond hair, picked up his board and waved to the other. "Later, dude." He walked toward Demanski and Allie.
"His name is Tyler K.," Demanski said. "He's a good kid."
Her eyes widened. "You're joking, right?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
Allie watched in amazement as Demanski playfully bumped fists with Tyler K. "Good moves on your board," Demanski said. "You can still bring the magic."
Tyler K. laughed. "Aah, I was just screwing around. I haven't been worth shit since I busted up my leg."
Demanski turned to Allie. "Allie, meet Tyler K. He'll be an Olympic skateboarding champion one day."
Tyler K. shook his head. "Doubtful. I was ninth in the U.S. one year, but they'll never give medals for that." He nodded to Allie. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."
She smiled. "The pleasure's mine."
"What do you have for me, Tyler K.?"
Tyler K. reached behind him and pulled a large white envelope out from underneath his shirt. "Here it is."
"What did you find out?"
"I got phone records for his home, his cell, and his office. My source at the local phone company jacked me around on the price, so I'm gonna have to ask for an extra thousand. Cool?"
"That's fine. Did you cross-reference the numbers as I asked?"
"Dude, you just called a few hours ago."
"I know. I guess I thought you were a miracle worker."
"Aw, you're playin' me, man." Tyler K. lit up with a broad smile that revealed two missing teeth. "You wanted to know about cell-phone calls from out of the country. There are quite a few cell-phone calls in the past couple of days, but I don't know yet if they went through overseas providers. I'll work on it, but you may have other people who might be able to get you that information faster."
"Thanks. Keep on it, and I'll see what I can do on my end."
Demanski produced a small envelope that Allie assumed contained money. He then pulled out his wallet, counted out ten one-hundred-dollar bills for the extra thousand, and handed the cash and envelope to the kid.
Tyler K. jammed them into the front pocket of his shorts. "So when are you gonna set me up in one of your Las Vegas high-roller suites?"
"Anytime, my man. Anytime." Demanski bumped fists with him again.
"You'll hear from me." Tyler K. dropped his skateboard to the sidewalk and rolled away.
Allie shook her head. "Where on earth did you ever find him?"
"My director of security recommended him. As I said, Tyler K. does this kind of thing for several of the private investigators in town."
"So what do we do now?"
"We wait to see if Dawson makes contact with our professor." Demanski pulled out his iPhone, launched the e-mail application, and showed Allie a map on the screen. "Tavak and your sister have been successful."
"What's that?"
"The GPS tracking device they're using sends out an e-mail that plots the current location on a map. Tavak can also track it in real time. This tells us that Professor Wiley is still on campus."
"Do you think Dawson will really contact this Wiley?"
Demanski motioned for her to continue up the street with him. "Tavak thinks so, and he seems to have a pretty good insight into Dawson."
"But Tavak thinks he could also be in England."
"That's true. I just hope Tavak's man there is as good as he says he is."
MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND
Ben walked through the Maudslay Gallery on the museum's first floor, looking at several displays of Native American sculptures. The gallery was relatively empty except for a few college students who sat cross-legged on the floor, sketching on large pads.
Ben stopped to examine a particularly oblique object, wondering what the sculptor's contemporaries thought of it. Hell, they probably couldn't make any more sense of it than he could. He turned and was startled to see Nuri standing beside him.