A big-haired girl in her twenties got out of the two-seater and approached him. On the other side, a young man opened the door and got out. He wore a body-builder’s tank top and had the physique to match it. Obviously he was the boyfriend along for protection. He puffed up to his full six foot height and casually leaned on the open door.
“Do you have the money?” she said.
Lobec pulled five twenties out of his pocket and handed the bills over to her. “Where was she sighted?”
“It’ll cost you two hundred.”
Lobec didn’t blink. “The offered price was one hundred. I suggest you take it.”
“It sounded on the phone like you really want this information, and by the looks of you, you can afford it. Two hundred or you don’t get it.” She held out her hand for the money.
Without moving his eyes from hers, Lobec grabbed her hand like a viper snatching its prey and pulled her towards him, twisting her arm back with his right hand. She gasped, but was too surprised to scream.
“You’ll tell me now for a hundred or you’ll tell me for nothing after I’ve broken your arm. Which shall it be?”
Out of his peripheral vision, Lobec saw the body-builder throw a punch at his head. He ducked under it and slammed his left fist into the man’s crotch in the same movement. Teri Linley began screaming. As the man doubled over, Lobec threw his elbow into the amateur’s face. Teeth cracked with the impact. The man groaned and vomited, spitting up blood.
Bern was still sitting in the car, smiling. According to the usual procedure, Bern was only to assist if Lobec’s attacker drew a weapon.
Lobec grabbed the woman’s face. “Now stop screaming.”
The woman, wide-eyed at her groaning boyfriend lying on the ground, exhaled in jittery sobs.
“Good. Unfortunately, I will now have to repeat myself. Where was she sighted?”
“B..B.Blacksburg, Virginia. Please, God, don’t hurt me.”
“You can help matters by answering my questions. Why was she there?”
Teri Linley’s words came out in a rush. “A girl said Erica Jensen saved her friend’s life and ran off before she gave her name to the police or anyone else. The girl found her South Texas ID. It had Erica’s name on it. That’s all I know, I swear!”
“When?”
“Yesterday. She didn’t say what time.”
“And you’re very sure it was Blacksburg, Virginia?”
“Yes, yes!”
“Thank you,” Lobec said, releasing her arm, satisfied that she was telling the truth. “I hope you’ve learned a valuable lesson in negotiation.”
The woman looked at him as if he were crazy.
Lobec smiled. “Never bargain when you don’t have the advantage.”
As Bern drove out of the garage, Lobec opened his cell phone and dialed.
“We going to Blacksburg?” Bern asked.
“No, I am calling Mitch Hornung.”
“What for? The girl just said she was in Blacksburg.”
“Exactly. She
After five rings, the line clicked. It switched to Hornung’s beeper answering machine. Lobec entered the cell phone’s number so that it would read out on Hornung’s beeper display.
During the next three hours, Bern and Lobec tried calling the people they had already met with for information about anyone Kevin might know in Blacksburg. Relatives, friends, schoolmates from grade school on up, anyone Erica and Kevin had ever been in contact with. The few people who were home on a Friday night were useless. Finally, Hornung answered the page. Lobec was livid. Though he was the best hacker money could buy, Hornung’s lack of dependability had always been a problem.
“Mr. Hornung, I gave specific instructions that you were to be on call at all times until this matter was resolved.”
“Sorry, man. I was with Monica.” He said it as if it were supposed to mean something to Lobec.
“That is irrelevant. Mr. Bern and I will be at your computer in fifteen minutes. Meet us there.”
“But Monica…”
“Do as I say, Mr. Hornung. I am not always this pleasant.”
When Mitch Hornung arrived at his office exactly fifteen minutes later, Lobec explained the problem.
“Man, I don’t know. This could take a while.” Hornung looked at the screen in front of him. “Says here that Blacksburg has a population of 22,921, but including all the students at Virginia Tech and the people in the surrounding area, we’re talking over 100,000.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy,” said Lobec. “But I could go to this town and never find them if I don’t know where to look.”
“So you’re saying you want me to compare every name in that town to the name of every person either of these two have ever met and see if I get a match?”
“That is the gist of it.”
“These guys must have screwed Tarnwell out of some serious cash.”
“More than even you have,” Lobec whispered into Hornung’s ear. Hornung smiled at Lobec, but when he saw Lobec was serious, his smiled faltered. He quickly turned to the computer and began tapping on the mouse.
Given the task, Lobec wasn’t expecting an answer until well into the next day. But Hornung was good, which was why Tarnwell let him get away with skimming a few measly thousand each month. At three in the morning, he said, “Bingo.”
Lobec instantly got up from the couch where he was lightly dozing and went over to Hornung’s computer. Bern followed from the chair he was sleeping on. “You have something?” Lobec said.
“I got lucky. The only reason I found it so quickly was because the name was a little odd. Theodore Ishio. Both Hamilton and Jensen are getting graduate degrees, so I thought maybe one of them knew a student at Virginia Tech. Then I broadened the search to include professors. Guess where Theodore Ishio, the new assistant professor in chemistry, got his Ph.D.”
“South Texas?” Bern said.
“Very good, Dick,” Hornung said. “That only took you a few seconds.”
Bern grabbed Hornung’s arm. “Why you little…”
Lobec held up his hand. “That’s enough.” Bern let go, and Lobec turned to Hornung. “When did he graduate?”
“This past summer. Looks like he and Hamilton went to school together for a couple of years. Ishio’s got a vita about a mile long posted on the Web. He and Hamilton are even coauthors on one of the papers cited in the vita.”
“What is Theodore Ishio’s address?”
Seconds later the address was feeding into the laser printer on the desk.
Lobec picked up Hornung’s phone. No commercial flights would be leaving either one of Houston’s airports for several hours. But he knew that Tarnwell’s plane would be returning soon. “Yes, this is Lobec. Has the Gulfstream arrived from Washington?…Six o’clock?…No, tell them I’ll need it as soon as it arrives. I want to leave Intercontinental by seven…Then get another flight crew. And find the nearest airport to Blacksburg, Virginia.”
CHAPTER 29
It was Saturday, and the sun shone brightly through a cloudless sky. The commuter parking lot was still filling
