“A lot better than I expected. I turned him. I got everything on tape, in exchange for a guarantee of immunity for anything our girl Barbara has done, plus for any testimony he gave at her previous trial.”
“That’s great news, Dave.”
“I’m going to the D.A. first thing tomorrow morning. You got any idea where the girl is, Cupie?”
“First of all, it’s dangerous to think of her as a girl. Think monster.”
“C’mon. How tough can she be?”
“Well, the first time I ever set eyes on her I followed her out of a hotel, and she turned into an alley. I called out to her, and she turned around and shot me.”
“No shit?”
“None at all.”
“I assume you recovered.”
“A couple of inches lower and this would be a very long-distance call,” Cupie said. “Then there’s what she did to Vittorio.”
“What’d she do?”
“We had her on ice, taking her back to the States. We were on the top deck of a ferry across the Sea of Cortez, leaning against the rail, basking in the sunshine, when I had to go to the can. In the two minutes I was gone, I later found out, she hustled Vittorio into giving him a blow job, and while she was at work, she grabbed the bottoms of his jeans and tossed him into the drink.”
“Holy shit.”
“Worse than that-did I mention that Vittorio doesn’t swim?”
“How’d you get him back?”
“He found something to hang on to, and a few minutes later a fishing boat picked him up. You see what you’re dealing with now?”
“I think I’m getting the picture. Any idea where she is?”
“She’ll end up here in Santa Fe,” Cupie said, “because she’s got this wild hair up her ass about killing Ed Eagle. She might be in Los Alamos.”
“Nah. The Feds went to the Los Alamos house to serve the extradition warrant, and she was gone. They claimed not to know where.”
“Well, she won’t go back to Long’s house,” Cupie said. “He threw her out, and she’s already taken care of her L.A. business, so she could be anywhere. Remember, she uses the Eleanor Keeler name sometimes.”
“Yeah, that’s on my aka list. You got any other names for her?”
“She’s used a lot, but I don’t remember any of them right now.”
“How come you’re still in Santa Fe, Cupie?”
“Vittorio and I are still on the Ed Eagle thing. We screwed it up once already, when Bart Cross got to him, but this time we’ve got the local cops to help.”
“If she turns up there, shoot her for me, will you?”
“It would be my pleasure, Dave, but she’s very, very smart, and I wouldn’t give you odds.”
“Well, I’ll start all over tomorrow,” Santiago said. “Good night, Cupie.”
“Night, Dave.” Both men hung up, and Santiago went home.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING Todd Bacon got up early, went to his computer and did a flight plan for Sedona, then called Flight Services, got a weather report and filed.
He ordered some breakfast from room service. Then, as he was about to start packing up his laptop, he thought he’d check his agency e-mail. There were two messages, the first from Holly Barker.
Message received. Good luck in Sedona.
Then he clicked on the second message, which was from Lance Cabot.
Report to this office Monday, nine a.m., for reassignment.
Apparently Lance and Holly had disagreed on what his next step was. He started to compose a message to Lance requesting more time, but then he thought better of it. If he got more time and failed again, that could reflect negatively on his future at the Agency. After all, he was dealing directly with the DO.
Todd’s instinct was to go on to Sedona. The events of last night had not put him off. Indeed, they had added anger to his motive for finding Teddy. Still, one did not ignore a direct order from the DO. Todd started packing his things.
TEDDY AND LAUREN were having a good breakfast at their new Santa Fe home.
“You’re humming,” Lauren said.
“Am I?”
“You only hum when you’re very happy,” she said. “Why are you happy? Does it have something to do with whatever you were doing last evening before dinner?”
“You might say that,” Teddy replied. “I was out neutralizing Todd Bacon.”
“Do you really think you can neutralize him?”
“I worked it from two angles,” Teddy said. “I sent him an e-mail from Lance Cabot, recalling him to Langley for reassignment.”
“Well, that might get him out of Santa Fe for a few days, but do you really think that they will stop looking for you?”
“They just might. I sent Lance a note about that very thing a few days back, and by now he’s had time to see the wisdom of my suggestion. Lance is a practical fellow. When I used to equip him for missions, he always displayed that. Some of the boys and girls who went out were dreamers, but not Lance.”
“I hope you’re right,” Lauren said. “I like it here, and it would be nice if we didn’t have to leave.”
“I know you do, sweetheart, and I’ll do everything I can to see that we stay here.”
She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “That’s good enough for me,” she said.
55
Barbara slept late and had breakfast in bed. She felt wonderful, having had a good dinner and a fine roll in the hay with Charles Grosvenor the evening before, but something was nagging at the edges of her brain, something she couldn’t put a finger on. She didn’t feel safe.
Mexico, she decided. At some point Pedro Alvarez was going to screw up. It was in his nature, and sooner or later someone above his pay grade was going to find out that she had flown that particular coop. She put aside her breakfast tray, picked up her new lawyer’s card, called his number and was immediately connected to him.
“Good morning, Mrs. Keeler,” Waters said. “I hope you’re feeling well today.”
“I am, Ralph,” she replied, “but I have a question for you.”
“Anything I can do,” he said.
“Who would be the best lawyer, besides yourself, to fight an extradition to Mexico?”
“For whom?”
“For me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Is this conversation covered by attorney-client privilege?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Some months ago I was falsely accused of a crime in Mexico, and after a sham trial I was sent to a women’s prison there. I managed to get out and back to this country, but eventually they may come after me. Now, please answer my question.”
“We have a partner in this firm who would be ideal to handle that,” Waters said.
“If you were in my position, would you choose him above all others?”
“I would, most certainly,” Waters replied.
“What is his name?”
“Raoul Estevez. He was born in Mexico and has been a naturalized citizen for more than thirty years, and he has the advantage of the Spanish language, which can be helpful in these matters. He also has a number of contacts in the Mexican government.”
“Would you ask him to come and see me this afternoon?”
“At what hour?”
“Four o’clock would be convenient.”
“I will see that he is there,” Waters replied. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“This is less urgent, but I have reason to believe that someone in this country wishes to charge me with a crime. I hope that won’t happen, but if it does, then I will need the best criminal lawyer in this city.”
“I believe Raoul Estevez would fill that bill as well.”
“Good. I’ll see him at four.” She went to Walter’s computer and fired it up, and in a very few minutes she had opened an online brokerage account. She wrote the account number on a card and tucked it into her purse.