“No, that’s all,” Joe said, studying him. “Is there something wrong?”
“No. Nothing at all. Sorry.”
Joe gathered his purchases and left the store. As he passed through the doorway, he glanced back and caught the clerk staring again. The man abruptly turned and walked to the rear of the shop out of sight.
Something about the man’s look made Joe uneasy. He glanced up and down the street but saw nothing that might arouse his suspicion. A young couple, baby in a pouch, passed by him, the father giving him a polite nod. The mother smiled.
Farther down the street, children played on the sidewalk, completely oblivious to anyone watching. He looked the other way and saw an empty street, two cars passing him, heading for the center of town.
His eyes searched for any danger, anything that might warrant a closer look. Nothing. A relaxed, laid-back afternoon. He walked toward the restaurant just around the corner.
Once inside, he tried to relax at a table in the back that allowed him a view of anyone entering the establishment, and-through a picture window-anyone outside who might be following him. Again, only a normal afternoon outside. Still, he couldn’t seem to relax. The clerk’s eyes raised a flag in Joe’s mind. What could have possibly warranted such a look? Maybe he was imagining all this.
After the waiter took his order for fish and chips, Joe pulled out his laptop and found a strong wireless signal. He tapped in his password, which simultaneously opened and decrypted his files. Joe opened up his e-mail account. No messages. He opened up a new e-mail format and typed a quick message to Willy before closing it up.
A half hour later, after finishing his meal, Joe checked one last time for any messages. Seeing none, he closed it up, gathered his packages, and prepared to leave the restaurant.
Nightfall had finally descended. Joe hurried outside and made his way toward the bed-and-breakfast. He might be able to get in a few more hours studying Kane’s computer system before calling it a night. If he couldn’t find out anything more useful by tomorrow, he would reach out to his contacts here in the United Kingdom and attempt a closer visual search of the complex. He hoped to get good news from those in New Mexico.
A young man held on to an older woman’s arm as they approached a quilt store Joe just passed. The woman seemed to walk with difficulty and the man patiently supported her, matching her slower steps.
Joe rushed ahead and held the door open for them. The couple swept pass, the man giving him an appreciative nod. Joe let the door close and turned toward the sidewalk just as he felt something jam into his neck.
His body began to convulse as an electric shock coursed through him. It was the last thing he remembered.
“We got him, boss.” Richard listened to one of his men over the telephone. “Nobody spotted a thing. We were able to get him to the car as if he’d had one too many drinks. What do you want us to do with him?”
Richard thought for a moment before responding. “Put him under and dump him into a large crate. Bring it here like you’re transporting equipment. Move it downstairs and we’ll put him in our interrogation section.”
“You got it, sir.”
“Did he have anything with him?”
“A laptop and a few bags of personal items. Clothes, toothbrush, that kind of stuff.”
“Bring it all here-particularly the computer.”
He hung up and clapped his hands together. Finally, he’d gotten his hands on the man who had eluded him all these years. Everything was coming together.
His source came through at the last moment. Joe and Willy were very cagey, and they’d built a system that could easily trap anyone trying to send a message to Richard. The source used old-school contact points, messenger and courier services that hand-delivered messages to Richard. Time consuming, but much safer. This time, Richard learned O’Rourke was on his way, although the message wasn’t delivered until the man was already in country.
Richard had one ace in the hole. The source had been able to tag O’Rourke before his trip. Though the message got here late, Richard’s people were able to use the tag identifier to track the target’s location. No matter how many disguises the man used, he could not beat the long arm of technology unless he’d scanned himself and knew what to look for.
O’Rourke made one fatal mistake. He trusted his friends.
How brazen to be walking around in Richard’s backyard here in Harrogate. Actually, stupid might be a better word. After all, he knew Joe and the others followed Gerrit here. And to just saunter around like Joe owned the place. Well, now the man would pay the price for his arrogance. After all the trouble Joe’s band of idiots caused Project Megiddo, Richard looked forward to making this guy suffer.
Now, with Collette and her crew set up in Albuquerque, they might just get lucky and scoop up the whole group.
Joe woke up, slouching in a chair, his hands handcuffed behind him. His body felt like he’d gone twelve rounds with a heavyweight boxer, his head pounded to a painful beat. His mouth felt dry and his brain sluggish.
A single beam of light above him beat down, leaving the far corners of the room in darkness. He sensed someone nearby.
“We finally meet, Joe. After all these years.” Richard Kane stepped from the darkness, letting the light catch his silvery mane of hair. The man moved closer. “Ever since my men paid you a visit in Chicago, you’ve been a hard man to catch-until now.”
Joe tried to appear calm, although his heart raced. He knew what this man had done, including the deaths of his own brother and sister-in-law. Hope began to fade as his situation slowly became clear.
He was mad at himself for ignoring the danger signs. “That clerk tip you off?”
“You think I am going to give away my secrets?” Kane curled his lips back in a sneer. “The sheer arrogance. To think you can just waltz in here undetected and do what? Spy on me? Take my organization down?”
“I got this far, didn’t I? With all your money and all your connections.”
“And look at you now. Deep underground. Tied up in my interrogation room with nowhere to run.”
Joe straightened in the chair, trying to convey confidence. “You think I’m alone? That others don’t know where I am?”
“You mean like the rest of your team back in Albuquerque? The ones my guys are moving in on right now as we speak?”
Fear made Joe’s pulse spike. They knew where Gerrit and the others were hiding? He lowered his head for a moment. No, they couldn’t know that because they couldn’t track the probes Willy sent out. Joe was sure of that. He’d built the protections into that program himself. “You’re just blowing smoke, Kane. My people are too smart to get caught.”
“And yet, here I am looking at their leader, Joe O’Rourke, aka Joe Costello, aka Frank Malone. The guy they thought too smart to get caught. In handcuffs. In my cell.”
Almost involuntarily, Joe pulled the cuffs. They rattled as he tugged. “You didn’t track me down through technology, Richard. You used plain old-fashioned bribery. Somebody snitched on me right here in town.”
Kane leaned over, inches away from Joe’s face. Looking him in the eye, Kane whispered, “And how do you know I don’t have somebody on the inside? Somebody keeping watch on your band of do-gooders right now?”
Joe glared back. The man seemed very confident. Did they have a Judas in their midst?
He tried to rid himself of that thought. He knew the people he worked with. They had eluded Kane and his henchmen for many years. Each of them had been tested by fire and passed unscathed. They could not be traitors.
Then he thought of Gerrit and the contact Beck sent. Jack Thompson had been used in the past, and he always checked out. Joe was the one who sent him to Beck.
Could he be wrong? If so, Joe had put Gerrit and the others in harm’s way. Kane and his people would finally be able to wipe out all resistance.
He prayed that Kane might be bluffing, that the team in Albuquerque might be protected. All he could do for the moment was hope for deliverance. He didn’t know how long he could hold out.
Joe knew from bitter experience his lack of courage. Chicago had taught him that disappointing lesson a long time ago. He hoped time and resolve might have changed him. He would know the answer very soon.
