We told the detectives everything.”
“I haven’t been briefed on that aspect yet.”
“I’m telling you this now. It proves there’s a conspiracy. We want you to help us find her son. If we find him then we could find the answer to everything. Tell us what’s going on, Lancer. You owe me that much and you owe her.”
Emma nodded.
“Did you give those passports to the Nassau police?”
“Yes, we cooperated fully.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“You know about the message on the wall?”
“What message?”
“Written in blood, ‘Erase them all.’ What the hell does that mean?”
“It could be related to everything. What about the couple, what else do you know?”
“Only that Emma learned that they were supposed to be leaving for New York City.”
“What?”
“She was told by a staff member at the child-care center that they were bound for New York City.”
“Do you know where, or why?”
“No.”
“Which staff member? You have a name?”
“No.”
A long silence passed. It sounded as if Lancer had put his hand over his phone to tell someone else something. Gannon noticed Emma was searching through her bag, as if she’d remembered something.
Gannon thought he’d lost his connection. “Lancer, are you there?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you? What’s going on?”
“I’m in Exuma Sound at a second search site.”
“What’s the location? Maybe we should be there with you, or send someone from the WPA Bureau?”
“No, it’s not safe now, believe me. And I have to leave.”
“Where’re you going?”
“Back to the States.”
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t have a lot of time.”
“Hold on, it was Emma Lane’s case that produced those phone numbers for you, Lancer, and you know it. I flew down here with her and waited for your call, just like you said, but it never came.”
“I got tied up.”
“You owe us. Tell us what’s going on.”
“Very soon the FBI will put out an alert for a wanted fugitive. I’ll see what I can do to give your wire service the jump.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Gretchen Sutsoff.”
“Who’s that?”
“The scientist Corley mentioned. She’s using several aliases. We’re still getting everything together. I really have to go.”
“Wait, where do you think the next break on this will be?”
“I have no idea, Jack.”
“Yes, you do. You said you were heading back to the States. Come on, Lancer, I’ve bled for this story and I’ve helped you.”
“I would guess New York. That’s it.”
Gannon hung up and headed for the street, scanning traffic for a cab as Emma hurried with him.
“We have to get the next plane back to New York,” he said.
Emma pulled her hand from her bag. She had the blue memory card the woman at the center had given her. “I’d forgotten about this.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, the woman at the child-care center wanted me to have it. It’s supposed to help explain what these people are up to.”
64
Off the U.S. East Coast, over the Atlantic Ocean
Long after the A330 jetliner from Nassau leveled off, the attendant on duty in first class could no longer resist.
Engaged to be married in two months, she gave in to her maternal stirrings and knelt before the little angel asleep in 3B.
“He’s such a sweetheart.” She beamed at the woman seated next to him in 3A, reading the screen of her small laptop. The attendant assumed she was his grandmother. “He’s such a good flyer. Not a bit of fuss.”
The woman closed her computer. “I gave him a little home remedy before we left.”
“It’s working, you should bottle it. How old is he?”
“He’s one.”
“What’s his name?”
Gretchen Sutsoff had chosen the name of her dead brother for the Wyoming child’s counterfeit passport.
“Will.”
The attendant caressed his little fingers.
“I bet he’s destined for great things.”
“I’m confident of that,” Sutsoff said.
“You’re so blessed. If you need help with anything, let me know.”
When the attendant left, Sutsoff looked at the baby.
Yes, this one was destined for great things. He was the ideal specimen. His DNA made him the perfect vehicle. He was too valuable for her to have entrusted him with Valmir and Elena Leeka for the final stage.
Elena was a whore.
Valmir was an idiot.
By taking stupid risks with that brazen car crash in Wyoming, Valmir could have killed this little treasure. Sutsoff was lucky those two didn’t bungle the cruise-ship operation. But when they came back demanding more money, then getting drunk at the casino, their fate was sealed.
Sutsoff erased them.
The world was better without them.
There were too many ants.
But had she jeopardized the operation?
No.
The Bahamian police would never figure it out. Besides, her work was so far advanced now that nothing could stop her. After this operation she had new plans for her prized specimen with the perfect DNA.
Her little Will would shape the new world.
Sutsoff embraced a memory of her brother.
She turned to the clouds, and for several minutes she was a terrified fourteen-year-old girl again in the panicked stadium at Vridekistan, seeing her mother and father trampled, hearing Will’s heart-wrenching squeal, feeling his little hand going limp in hers. She gazed at the ocean and took several slow breaths.
She could do this.
She would do this.
