“I am familiar with the name.”
“He worked for you?”
“Not in the way that you think.”
“He wasn’t an agent?”
“No. But we did use him on a few things here and there.”
“Why was he killed?”
“I don’t know. That’s something we’ve never been able to figure out.”
“So it wasn’t you guys that did it?”
Pinnacle One grinned. “Now, Luke, you know we don’t operate on U.S. soil.”
Bridge laughed. “Yeah.”
“We did not kill him. But we did approach him two years ago about working for us.”
“Why?”
Pinnacle One shrugged, not able to give away all the details. “Well, let’s just say he had a job travelling around the world, and we wanted to use that to the best of our abilities. He had a natural cover that we thought would blend in nicely with some of the things we were working on.”
“What was he doing here when he was killed?”
“Nothing to my knowledge. At least nothing for us. Just one of those dumb luck type of things that got him killed.”
“So you don’t know who did it?”
“Oh, we briefly looked into it, making sure no one knew his connection to us. But we didn’t find any leads to indicate who it was and nothing ever blew back to us. So the matter’s been closed as far as we’re concerned.”
“And the fact that it was a nice, tight, clean job doesn’t mean anything to you?”
“Like I said, just happened to be dumb luck.”
Bridge took the paper out of his pocket with the CIA address on it. He held it up to show his former boss. “And the fact that a private investigator had this in his possession doesn’t ring any bells for you?”
Pinnacle One took the paper from his hand and looked at it. “I can’t honestly say for sure how this man would’ve come across this in his possession.” He leaned over slightly. “You mind if I keep this? I would hate for it to somehow fall into the hands of someone less scrupulous than yourself.”
“Go ahead.”
Pinnacle One folded it and put it in his pocket. “Thank you.”
“So what do you think happened to this PI who was investigating Abbott’s death?”
“Can’t say I know anything about it.”
“You didn’t have him taken care of?”
“I don’t even know who he is.”
“Darren Bevell.”
“Doesn’t ring any bells.”
Bridge smiled. “You also said that before.”
“Yes, well, I can say for sure that this man’s name doesn’t sound familiar at all.”
“How ‘bout the fact that I was shot at last night coming out of this man’s home?”
“You were?”
“Yep.”
“By who?”
“Well, I guess that’s the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, isn’t it?”
“You don’t believe it was us, do you?”
Bridge chuckled. “Well, it did cross my mind. I mean, in light of all the other connections and all.”
“Now, do you really think I would have my men try to kill you over this?”
“The world of espionage is a dangerous game. Sometimes people are in the game and they don’t even know that they’re playing. And they don’t know the rulebook.”
“But you do.”
“That’s right, I do. And I also know when I’m not getting the whole truth.”
“You know as well as I do that I can’t reveal sensitive information.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m just asking that I be let in on what’s going on. Because if I start digging deeper into this, and I find out that I’m being lied to, or I start being followed, or I start being led in a different direction, I’m gonna be very unhappy. And I don’t want any bad blood to come out of this.”
“Or spilled blood.”
“That too,” Bridge said.
“Luke, Gary Abbott did not work for us. We did not kill him. I do not know who did. And we did not shoot at you last night. All of that is the truth.”
“The whole truth or just a version of it?”
“The version that I can reveal.” Pinnacle One then stood up and put his sunglasses on. “It’s been good talking to you, Luke. If you find anything else of interest on this case, I’d appreciate you filling me in on it.”
“You can count on it.”
Bridge sat there as he watched his former boss walk away. As the man did so, his other men fell in behind him as they walked back to their car. Once they were completely out of sight, Nicole came over to the fountain and sat down next to her boyfriend.
“Hear all that?” Bridge asked.
“Sure did.”
“What’d you think?”
“I think he’s lying.”
“About which part?”
“Most of it. Maybe he’s telling the truth about Abbott not being an agent. I’m not sure about that. But I think he knows a lot more than he’s saying.”
“Question is how long it takes us to prove it.”
“I can prove some of it right now.”
“How?”
“Well, I can’t say for sure whether he’s the one behind us being shot at last night. And I can’t say whether he had Abbott killed. And I can’t say for sure whether he’s behind the disappearance of that PI.”
“Then what can you say?”
“I can definitely say he knows about Bevell.”
“How?”
“You remember that guy we fought with the blond hair? The one who put you through the table?”
Just hearing it brought back bad memories for Bridge. He put his hand on his back as if he were still feeling the pain. “I’m not likely to forget it anytime soon.”
“That guy’s one of Pinnacle One’s guards.”
Bridge was astonished. “What?”
“Yeah. He was standing up there on the terrace. I didn’t notice him at first when I was there. But when I walked around and stood by the trees on the side there after they showed up, I noticed him.”
“You sure it was him? The same guy?”
“Positive. I’d recognize him anywhere. So unless he’s acting on his own, I’d say there’s one guy who sent him to Bevell’s house.”
“Pinnacle One.”
“Which means that he knows him. And he knows more of what’s going on.”
Bridge sighed. “I’m pretty sure I hate this case.”
“Not too late to back away from it.”
“Yes, it is. We’re
