“I don’t have time.”
“If you want to get paid, sit down.”
The man sat down. “You’re a pain in the ass,” he said.
Bart slid the menu across the table. “The money is under it,” he said. “Put it in your pocket.”
The man did so. “Nice doing business with you,” he said.
“We won’t be doing any more business,” Bart said.
“Fine by me.” The man got up, got in his car and drove away.
The waitress appeared. “Is anyone joining you?” she asked.
“No. I shooed away a hooker, and some guy mistook me for somebody else.” He ordered lunch and sat, basking in the sunshine, feeling great.
BARBARA DROVE BACK to Bel Air, to Jimmy’s house, thinking hard all the way. She had to have a backup plan. There was simply no way she was going to put all her eggs in a basket named Bart Cross.
She was still thinking about it when she walked into the house.
“Hey,” Jimmy called from his study.
She walked into the room and fell into a chair. “I know how early it is, but I need a drink.”
Jimmy got up and made a martini for her. “Here you go.”
“I met with Bart,” she said.
“Everything go all right?” he asked.
“Seemed to. Do you think he has any guts?”
“Guts is something Bart has never been short of,” Jimmy replied. “I saw him take a bigger guy in a bar fight in Long Beach once. Bart was smaller, but he was meaner, too.”
“I hope you’re right,” Barbara replied.
Jimmy shrugged. “Worse come to worse,” he said, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
And like that, she had her backup plan.
26
Todd Bacon sat at his computer, composing a report to Holly Barker. He was embarrassed to have so little to tell her. He pressed the send button and sat, staring at his computer screen, wondering what to do next. As he watched, an e-mail notice appeared in the lower right-hand corner. He checked his inbox.
Call me at this number, the unsigned message read.
Todd called the number.
“Sounds like you’re coming up dry,” Holly Barker said, without preamble.
“So far,” Todd admitted. “I believe he was here, but now I think he may have left town.”
“I understand why you believe that,” Holly said, “but don’t believe it. If he was in town he’d want you to think he’d left.”
“Well, then, he’s pretty convincing,” Todd replied. “I don’t know what to do next.”
“Stop looking for him,” Holly said. “Find Lauren Cade. After all, she’s what got you where you are.”
“I don’t even have a photograph,” he complained. “All I’ve got is the description you gave me.”
“That has already changed,” Holly said. “She’s no longer a blonde, I can promise you that, but she can’t change her body. She’s a slim girl with impressive breasts and a skinny ass. I know the tits can be bought off the shelf, but not the ass. Look for the combination. Go where people go-restaurants, grocery stores, shops. She’s in a new town, and she’s going to want new clothes. Everybody in Santa Fe goes to the Plaza sooner or later. Go there and look. You’re a good-looking guy. When you see someone with that combination who’s not a blonde, try and pick her up. You might get lucky.”
“They didn’t train me for this at the Farm,” he said, referring to the Agency’s training facility in the Virginia countryside.
“Then you’ll have to train yourself,” Holly said. “When you find her, you’ll have found a new skill.”
“If I were an older guy with a younger girl, like him,” Todd said, “I’d stick close to her.”
“Maybe he will,” Holly said, “but don’t expect him to look his age. He’s good at changing his appearance, and he’s not going to make himself look like an old man while he’s with someone as great-looking as Lauren. If he’s sixtyish, look for a man who looks fifty or younger.”
“Are you sure I can spend the Agency’s time on something as ephemeral as this?”
“The boss has already made that decision,” she said. “He has, in effect, cut you loose. You’re just going to have to get out there and give yourself a chance to get lucky. Gotta run.” Holly hung up.
Todd hung up and sat there, thinking. Holly’s suggestion seemed crazy, too random. He was convinced he had a better chance of finding Teddy’s airplane than he did of finding Teddy himself.
He brought up his flight-planning program on the computer and looked at the Santa Fe area. Maybe Teddy had just moved his airplane to a less conspicuous spot. Todd thought about what he himself would look for if he were deciding at which airport to land. He’d want fuel, certainly, so that would eliminate some little backcountry dirt strip. He’d want maintenance services, too. Small aircraft needed taking care of, and he’d want a mechanic, maybe an avionics shop as well. The field should be within easy driving distance of Santa Fe, say fifty to sixty miles.
He looked at all the surrounding airports. There was Albuquerque International, but that was too big, and fuel and services would be too expensive. There were a dozen or so small airports, mostly shown on the map as red circles, but many of those wouldn’t have the necessary services. There were two general aviation airports marked in blue: Double Eagle, outside Albuquerque, which was fifty miles or so away, and Las Vegas, to the east, about the same distance.
He checked his airport guide: Las Vegas had no services, except a restaurant, but Double Eagle had a full-service FBO, with both mechanical and avionics shops.
Todd thought about flying down there, but it was only fifty miles; it would be almost as fast to drive. He got his car from the garage and drove south through town to I-25. He set his cruise control at five miles an hour under the speed limit and tried to stay awake.
TEDDY AND LAUREN LEFT their rented house and drove out Old Pecos Trail.
“How long a drive is it?” Lauren asked.
“An hour or so. Then it will take you at least two hours to drive to Las Vegas and pick me up.”
“I’m sleepy,” Lauren said, moving her seat back to a reclining position. “I’m going to take a nap.”
Teddy set his cruise control at five miles an hour over the speed limit and let the SUV take care of itself. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, and soon he began overtaking a red Taurus ahead of him, driven by a man alone. He moved to the left lane and let his car overtake the other. As he passed it, he caught a glimpse of the driver’s profile. It was the young Agency man, Todd Bacon, whom Teddy had seen at Geronimo a couple of nights before. He put on a baseball cap and increased his speed.
TODD WATCHED the Jeep Grand Cherokee sail past him and thought nothing of it. If there’d been a couple inside he would have been more interested.
TEDDY KEPTHIS speed up all the way to his exit from the interstate, and by that time Bacon’s car was out of sight. It was unlikely that they’d be heading to the same destination. He drove to the airport and, in the parking lot, woke up Lauren. “We’re here,” he said. “Do you want some coffee before you start for Las Vegas?”
“No,” she replied, stretching. “I’m fine.” He got out, and she moved to the driver’s seat. “See you there,” she said, then pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward the interstate.
TODD REACHED HIS EXIT and turned toward Double Eagle Airport. Halfway there he passed the Grand Cherokee he’d seen earlier, but this time it was driven by a woman. The two cars passed too quickly for him to get a good look at her.
AT DOUBLE EAGLE, Teddy went to the paint shop and found his airplane sitting on the ramp. He inspected the paint job on the new tail number, then went into the office and paid his bill, getting a five percent discount for cash. He went back to the airplane, did a quick preflight, checking the tanks to be sure the fuel he’d ordered was aboard, then Teddy got into the Cessna, started the engine and began running through his checklist.