prints in files Tod Peoples was in a unique position to index.
“Fax me a copy of the brochure and start working on Eve’s travel options. We need to get ahead on her itinerary.” He turned. “Sherry. Give Joe the address in D.C. of the Lux lab from the Rolodex.” He waited until she lifted the phone. “Great work and keep me posted,” he said before he hung up.
“What is it?” Rainey asked, standing. “Martin?”
Paul slapped his hands together. “They got three Martin Fletcher prints-two partials and one complete.”
“So where is he?”
“The prints were on a brochure. Junk mail.”
“You were right. How did you know?”
“It was what I would have done. What maniacs would fingerprint junk mail? Watch FedEx and UPS, sure-but junkers? Prints were in a pamphlet from a condominium development in Colorado. Denver office says the development has been sold out for two years, so he picked up the brochure and envelope at least two years ago.”
“What a fox,” Sherry said, the admiration evident in her voice.
Paul cocked his head and stared at her.
She blushed again. “I meant ‘fox’ as in ‘smart.’ ”
“It was mailed from Pueblo, Colorado. Three days ago.”
“Government information center’s there, isn’t it?” Sherry asked.
“So we go to Colorado?” Rainey asked. “Wait for Eve to come. Get into position.”
“No.” Paul said. “We wait. There was no message they could see in the brochure.”
“Maybe that’s what he wants you to think,” Sherry said.
Paul nodded. He had already considered that possibility. He would have helicopters and vehicles ready for his A team in both places. He would handle the logistics no matter how many cities might be thrown into the mix by Martin and the old lady.
“That just means the signal was a prearranged one. I doubt very seriously that he was in Pueblo long, if he was there at all. He might have paid someone to do that, or he may have been passing through. He wouldn’t mail it from a home base. When Eve Fletcher moves, we’ll be there. In the meantime we do what we’ve been doing and ignore the confetti he’s throwing. We’re running out of time.”
Paul rubbed his hands together and opened a box of pictures. The first one illustrated the magnitude of the task. The photo showed a grainy TV-screen image of fifteen people carrying briefcases and suitcases, moving into the airport lobby. The faces were hardly larger than an infant’s fingernails. “Great,” Paul said as he thumbed through the stack of pictures and looked at the other boxes yet unopened. A twist of his wrist sent the stack across the table in a fan. “Fuckin’ great.”
Then he had a thought. “Get the airport tapes overnighted to Tod Peoples. Let his people look and see if they can identify anyone they know.”
“This guy, Peoples. Do his guys know what everybody in America looks like?” Sherry laughed at the absurdity.
Paul looked at her. “Don’t tell me you think that’s not possible.” Then he laughed and shook his head. “We’re cooking with gas,” Paul said.
Sherry left the room.
Rainey was staring at the back of Paul’s head. “It’s coming down,” he said. “I can feel it.”
Sherry opened the door and stuck her head back into the room. “Paul, there’s a call for you. You might want to take it.”
“I’ve got a lot to do,” he said. “Ask them to call back later?”
“It’s Reb Masterson.”
The color drained from Paul’s face as he stared at the telephone.
“Later, Paul,” Rainey said as he hurriedly left the room.
As Sherry left, she saw that Paul, although he had a hand on the receiver, seemed to be studying the telephone’s blinking light. When she pulled the door closed, he still hadn’t taken the call. As she sat at her desk, she saw the blinking light go solid, indicating that he had opened the line.
Paul lifted the receiver to his ear and pressed the button opening the line. “Yeah?” he said. His ears felt as if they were burning; his stomach was hollow.
“Paul, it’s Thorne. Reb’s here in the watch room. He insists on speaking to you. I told him how-”
“Put him on.” Paul didn’t want Thorne to miss the displeasure in his voice.
After a second had passed, the small voice came on.
“Hello?”
“Hello,” Paul said.
“Is this my daddy?”
There was a long silence before Paul could speak.
“Adam?”
“It’s Reb,” he said. “Don’t you remember? Reb. Nobody still calls me that.”
“Sure, son. What do you need?”
“I want you to tell me why you have these people watching us.”
“Because a very dangerous man is-”
“Killing people. I know all that.”
“Well, Mr. Greer can tell you. This man is very dangerous. You have to do what Thorne says. And everything will be all right.”
“I have a question.”
“Okay,” Paul said. He put a cigarette in his mouth and lighted it nervously, conscious that his right hand was trembling.
“If we’re in danger, why aren’t you here in New Orleans?”
“I’m in Nashville, Reb. I have a lot to do here. Really. It’s important for me to be here.”
“Why don’t you love us? Is it because of Mama and Reid?”
“No, Reb. You don’t have any idea how much I love you guys. Don’t I always remember your birthday and Christmas?” Paul’s voice was wavering slightly.
“Mama says words are cheap. You can’t say things if you don’t show ’em. And two things a year don’t mean anything, ’specially if you send things we don’t even need. And you don’t even write or call ever. I know kids whose parents are divorced and they see them a lot.”
“This isn’t about love and this isn’t the time for this discussion. Afterward we can-”
“After what? Erin and me are growing up without you, and you don’t even know how hard it is not to have a father. If it was you in danger, we would be there to help you and not get strangers to watch you.”
“I would be there if it was best,” Paul said slowly. “What I’m doing here is more important to the whole operation.”
“How’re you gonna feel if we get shot dead and you’re far away someplace? What if it was only you that could have saved us? You took a love-and-cherish oath with Mama. Death do you part, and you aren’t dead! And you made a deal with God to get us… children. Mama told me. You swore to God you’d love us and protect us and make sure we were raised right. Did you lie to us or to God?”
“Adam, that isn’t fair.”
Paul was startled when Reb screamed into the telephone. “It’s Reb, dangit! It’s Reb, and if you weren’t so stupid selfish, you’d know it! You don’t know us! You’re my daddy and you’re just like nothing at all!”
“Adam… Reb. I can’t come right now. Someday soon…”
“Don’t come, then. If I die, I’m gonna haunt you till you never sleep again!” The child seemed to calm a bit. “You come here right now, or you just stay away from us for good and ever. That man wants to kill us, and it’s you he oughta be trying to kill! We don’t even know him. What did you do to him?”
Paul fought to keep his voice level, to remain calm. Inside it was as though his internal organs were being twisted. “Reb… it’s more complicated than that. Listen to me for a minute.”
“You listen to me. I hate you, and I won’t let anybody say your name to me again, ever! You’ve always hurt us, and we never did any stuff to hurt you.”
Paul’s frustration and insecurity were replaced by anger, and he exploded. “Dammit, Adam Masterson, what
