began her engagement here.'
Francine went on, eyes bright with anticipation of her next revelation. 'Raoul and Paz were pals. Bosom chums. When Raoul got tired of Dorinda, he passed her along to Marty. Then Vikki came along, and Raoul gave her a big play, until he got tired of her. Then he passed her along to Paz.'
Jack said, 'But Raoul stopped coming in the club around then?'
'But definitely. He had bigger fish to fry. Don't you read the society pages, chum?' She gave Jack the once- over and said, 'No, I guess not. You're not the type. But you'd have to live in a tree somewhere not to know that Raoul's giving a big play to that stuck-up Keehan bitch.'
'I may have heard something about it,' Jack allowed. 'That's Susan Keehan, the heiress?'
'The very same. Talk about being full of yourself! She makes Raoul look publicity shy. She may not be built like Vikki or a master of sexpertise like Dorinda, but she's got her share of the Keehan family fortune to bring to the table. With a prize catch like that on the hook, why would he bother fishing around these waters? Especially since he'd already netted his limit here.'
Jack nailed it down. 'So as far as you know, there was no enmity between Raoul and Paz?'
'The reverse,' Francine said. 'If you ask me, Raoul was kind of a high-class pimp for Marty. Not that Marty can't get his own girls if he wants them; Lord knows he's not shy. But Raoul's a talent scout for him. He'd try out the merchandise, give it a test drive, and when the ashtrays were full, turn it over to Paz. Something a little sick about the way they trade girlfriends, but it takes all kinds.'
A happy thought struck her. 'Hey, who knows? Maybe after Raoul gets tired of the Keehan girl, he'll pass her along to Marty, too,' Francine said.
A uniformed cop entered the club, spotted Dooley, and hurried over to him. He passed along some information to Dooley and went back outside.
Dooley crossed to Jack and Pete, said, 'Got some news that might interest you. Looks like we've got a lead on Paz.'
5. THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 9 A.M. AND 10 A.M. CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME
Top field agents such as Jack Bauer and Pete Malo were the tip of the antennae of the military-intelligence entity that was CTU.
Just as the human organism produces antibodies designed to seek out and destroy opportunistic infections and diseases, the American nation had created in CTU a specialized defense mechanism to deter, seek out, and destroy the global pandemic of hostile terrorist cells inflamed by murderous fanaticism and empowered with the awesome overkill potential of weapons of mass destruction. CTU was a national resource with worldwide reach.
From the moment that Vikki Valence had first contacted the CTU public tips hotline and uttered the key word Beltran, the agency had begun focusing its formidable array of institutional instruments and abilities on the case. Unfortunately, the ceaseless and pervasive threat level directed from all corners of the globe against the United States prevented the agency from channeling more than a part of its energies to the developing incident.
As with all other U.S. civilian and military outfits in the new age of the War on Terror, CTU's mandate and responsibilities exceeded the human power and budget allocated it by a government whose treasury was already stretched dangerously thin from the demands of meeting its overwhelming superpower commitments.
The early morning massacre on Bourbon Street had further prioritized the Beltran affair in CTU's caseload, allowing a greater allocation of time, technology, and personnel to the matter. The ultraviolence of the would-be assassins, and the involvement of hostile Venezuelan and communist Cuban elements, threw what was already a red-flagged incident into overdrive.
In the immediate aftermath of the shootout, Pete Malo had used his cell phone camera to photograph the dead men and woman, capturing each in full-frontal and profile views. CTU already had photos of Baca and Espinosa on file, but he'd photographed them in death, too, in the interests of completeness.
The information was instantly sent to CTU's Gulf Coast Regional Center for processing by the technicians and operators of the facility's Analytical Division.
The images were examined using the latest facial recognition and identity imaging software for purposes of identification.
From here, the images were also uploaded to CTU Headquarters in Washington, D.C., for further analysis by the agency's linked national network of supercomputers — themselves cross-linked to the databanks of the FBI, CIA, NSA, the Pentagon, and all other associated intelligence services who might be able to throw some light on the case.
As House Committee on Un-American Activities ace investigator James McClain had once observed, 'These are the mills that grind so very fine and not so very slow.' And that was in the precomputer age of filing cabinets and index cards.
The bulk of hands-on investigative chores in the Beltran affair fell to CTU's Gulf Coast Regional Center under the leadership of Director Cal Randolph. Within minutes of being notified of the Golden Pole massacre, Center dispatched teams to secure the site and subject it to forensic analysis.
Long before police investigators had arrived, CTU agents had photographed and videotaped the crime scene from all relevant angles.
The ambushers' utility truck and Paz's armored limo were impounded and towed away to the Center, to be exhaustively examined by mechanics and technicians.
It was important that the limo be whisked away before any members of the New Orleans branch of the Venezuelan Consulate could arrive at the scene to claim possession of the vehicle. The consulate as yet had received no official notification from U.S. government agencies of the attack, CTU having judged that any 'premature' notification would be counterproductive. For the same reason, the U.S. State Department had also been kept out of the loop, to prevent their meddling from hampering the investigation.
Both decisions had been enthusiastically endorsed by high-level White House national security advisors.
All weapons found at the scene were collected and inventoried. One fact immediately stood out: all the attackers' weapons had their serial numbers intact and unaltered; no attempt had been made to obliterate them. This indicated that the weapons were 'sterile,' that is, probably stolen and without any paperwork or history to directly link them to the users.
All the same, the serial numbers were input into the CTU computer net for identification and determination of point of origin. Even stolen weapons could furnish potentially valuable clues for triangulation with other bits of evidence to build a profile of the assassin team and, more important, its sponsors.
CTU moved early on to secure the club building and prevent its occupants from leaving. The site was searched from top to bottom to ensure that Vikki Valence was not secreted somewhere on the premises, alive or dead. Results were negative. Wherever she was, she was gone from the Golden Pole.
A forensics team focused on her apartment, inspecting and inventorying its contents, and taking away any material that might prove germane to the investigation. This included several boxes of personal material, most of which was publicity-related photos and press releases, but also including several stacks of private correspondence and fan letters.
During Vikki's initial contact with the CTU hotline, she'd identified herself and where she could be found. Intentionally or not, she'd neglected to supply a cell phone number. The source of the call had been tracked to a pay telephone located several blocks away from the Golden Pole.
A computerized search of the customer lists of various telecom company records identified her cell phone provider and through it, her telephone number. This gold mine of information provided the ability to contact her directly, as well as to track her movements by way of the cell phone towers and substations she used to make her cell phone calls.
But this major lead was neutralized by the simple fact that, from the moment the number was identified until the present time, her phone was switched off. She might have turned if off deliberately for reasons of her own, she
