“Look at the patterns. Since you pulled me out of the apartment, there have been a ton of calls to all these random numbers, all marked as disposable prepaid phones. These are his guys, looking for us. A team at the ready to come take us out. He did the same thing here when he identified and got onto Sharp’s trail. All these calls, ending around the time Sharp was killed and not starting up again until hours later when you rescued me. There hasn’t been a call to the Trust for a few days, not since he got your files, and hence no corresponding call to the banker. These guys are all out working, there’s been a shootout, and I’m betting no money has gotten paid out.”
“Why would he payout now? Wouldn’t he offer some kind of bounty for the person who finds us and payout then?”
“He probably has, but he’s had to bring on more people. Look at the different phones he’s calling every few hours. The numbers almost doubled. He’s brought in more people. New people. They’re going to need some money to keep the hunt going, and the longer we’re in the wind, the more people he’s going to feel pressured to call in. I’m betting he’s worried, with all the activity. The Trust hasn’t called him yet, Graf’s a real proactive kind of guy. He’s going to want to have the answers they’re going to ask for before they call him. He can’t just keep bringing on people indefinitely with the promise of a bounty. He’s going to need money to pass around, and he’s too smart to keep that kind of cash on hand or to be the guy actually doing payoffs. It’s why he has a banker. There will be a call, and it will be soon.”
“So if the two call guy is his banker Graf might be calling him soon to arrange payments for people he might have out on the street. If he takes the call, it might be at a cafe where we could be on hand to find out who the banker is. There are so many conditionals in that you can’t even call it a plan. If even one of those guesses is wrong - which is likely considering how much of a leap you had to make, to get to them - then we’ll be right back where we are, now. You’d have to be insanely lucky for that to actually work out.”
“What else do we have? Sometimes, luck is all you have.”
“We are screwed.”
“What else do we have?”
“Fine, if we’re going with this insanity, then we should get moving. I’ll call Joe and see if our ride’s ready. Then we can find somewhere in that area to hole up until my friend calls.”
To Taylor’s surprise, Joe was ready for them when they called, saying the car and some supplies would be in place within the hour. If they left now, Taylor figured they’d be at the car within a few minutes of it getting dropped off.
“I’ll go pick it up and come back and get you,” Taylor said, walking towards the door of the room.
“The hell you will.”
“This could be a trap. If both of us go and get picked up, we’re done. If one of us is still out here, there’s a chance.”
“Joe’s not going to sell us out.”
“Are you willing to bet your life on that? That’s exactly what we’d be doing.”
“It’s no riskier than the rest of this plan. If you think the call is going to happen soon, then we don’t have time to wait, unless you’re ready to admit this plan isn’t going to work.”
They stared at each other, each refusing to back down.
Finally, Taylor said, “Fine. We both go, but one of us stays out of sight while the other checks out the car.”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
Chapter 12
They found the car waiting exactly where they told Joe Solomon to leave it. Taylor had half been expecting a black SUV that was the hallmark of official US vehicles everywhere, but instead, he saw a dark blue, older model Volkswagen sedan. Nice enough to not stand out as a noticeable piece of junk, but not so nice as to be noticeable for being a good car. It was, in every way, average.
They stood near a building, looking at it across a mostly empty parking lot. It was near the back of a row, putting it several spaces away from the closest car. There were enough people out and about to make it impossible to be sure none of them were waiting to spring a trap, but not so many that they could blend into a crowd.
“That sucks in just about every way.”
“We have to trust Joe, or we walk away from it. Even if it was out there all by itself, that doesn’t mean someone isn’t watching from one of the dozens of windows facing this direction with squad cars waiting down a cross street somewhere, ready to pounce.”
“So we’re back to, do we trust him.”
“I’m still saying 'yes.'”
“Fine, let's go.”
“No, you pointed out we shouldn’t both put ourselves in danger, and you were right. I’ll go get the car. If the trap is sprung, you might have a chance to get away.”
Taylor wasn’t in love with the idea, but it was hard to argue with his own words being thrown back at him.
“Fine, go.”
Whitaker walked away from him at a casual pace, heading down the sidewalk looking into store windows before wandering off, seemingly bored down a row of cars towards the waiting vehicle. It was a believable performance that would mean nothing if it was a trap waiting for them, but a good effort none the less.
Whitaker reached the car and didn’t hesitate,
