Since he’d already backtracked the trail of the previous antivirus shots, all he’d had to do was trace the last few steps, which he’d done after the guy had been spotted outside the club.
He’d had the address before the shooting started.
The chase was a stall. They could have picked the hacker up back at the disco club — Jay had worked hard figuring out how to stage the scene so the hacker would believe he’d really gotten away on his own — but Jay needed to track him back to his safe house, and they needed to get there before the guy either launched the new virus or destroyed it.
There were other ways he could have handled this, but he had felt this was the best way to both preserve the chain of evidence and involve the locals in a meaningful way.
Besides, he thought, grinning again, it was more fun this way.
So when the hacker threw another bomb and Jay swerved into a light post, which stopped the chase cold, he didn’t mind.
He just hoped that Julio remembered to take a picture.
He
22
It started out okay.
The congressman, a California representative named Wentworth, had wanted to meet somewhere private rather than in his home or office. Junior had agreed — it didn’t matter to him where they met, as long as they got their business done. Wentworth gave him directions to a little dirt road that ran into the Joshua Tree National Park. Junior wasn’t sure, but he thought the congressman’s district included the national monument and maybe the Marine Corps base to the north. That didn’t matter to him, either. A park in the desert was fine with him.
Wentworth had been an easy blackmail. Like Senator Bretcher, Junior had used Joan to set him up. They had played this one a bit softer, though, no confrontation, no threats to call the cops, no lies about Joan’s age. Instead, Junior had simply hidden in the closet with a digital camera. He’d gotten some highly detailed photos, and had e- mailed a few of them to the good congressman, along with a request to meet. The congressman had agreed, as Junior had known he would, and Junior had flown out to California to conclude their business.
He drove the rental car from LAX out I-10, past San Bernardino and Banning, and then cut north on State Road 62 at Palm Springs. He passed several small towns — Morongo Valley, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree — then he started looking for the dirt road, which Wentworth said would be off to the right, between Park Boulevard and the Boy Scout Trail. If he got to Indian Cove Road, the congressman had told him, he’d gone too far.
He passed the park entrance sign, and almost missed the dirt road, but he didn’t. He pulled off, and wound through the dusty and dry country, looking for the congressman. Hot out here, it had to be pushing a hundred, hundred and five. If the car broke down, it was going to be a long uncomfortable walk back to civilization. Junior knew enough about riding through the desert, even the high desert, to carry a jug of water, just in case, but he still didn’t like the idea of having to walk ten or fifteen miles in the summer sun.
Why would anybody want to make this a national park anyway? There was nothing to see but more of what was on the other side of the road, which was nothing to get excited about. Still, Junior was always careful and thorough, when he had the time, and he’d done his research on the area. Most of his information had come from the Park Service, which had told him the park covered eight hundred thousand acres. So far it was all rocks and sage- brush. Full of African killer bees, too, according to the Park Service, and you didn’t want to mess with them.
National monument? A waste of the taxpayers’ money, that’s what it was.
A couple miles along the very twisty road, he spotted a clump of stubby trees and more creosote bushes. Must be some kind of water there, a spring or pond or something. A black Lincoln was parked in the shade, the motor running, and the license plate matched the congressman’s car.
Junior pulled over into the shade and killed his engine. The hot engine ticked, and even in the shade and through the tinted glass, the reflected sun was fierce; he could feel the car getting warmer even though he’d just shut the AC off.
Well, might as well get to it, he thought.
Junior opened the door. A blast of arid desert wind hit him like a blanket right out of the clothes dryer. He broke a sweat immediately. But he was used to heat
He walked over to the congressman’s car. The window rolled down, and the congressman looked up at him. Junior peered inside and checked the vehicle out, taking no chances. Unless somebody was hiding in the trunk, in which case they’d be cooked by now, the representative of the great state of California was by himself.
He was a thin man, pale, about forty-five or so, his hair too long and foofy. He wore a short-sleeved button- up shirt and khaki pants. His hands were in plain sight, one on the steering wheel, one resting lightly by the side mirror.
“Hey, how y’all doin’?” Junior asked.
“Screw you,” the congressman said.
“Congressman Wentworth, I’m surprised at your language, you being a gentleman and a Democrat and all.”
The congressman glared at him. “I’m not some jailhouse trash like you’re used to dealing with. Just say what you have to say.”
“All right, you want to play it hard, here it is. We got us a nice collection of X-rated pictures of you and that sweet young
Wentworth didn’t say anything.
“So the deal is, you give us a little help, we’ll give you a little help.”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to do you a favor. Something illegal, right? Or what? You’ll blackmail me with those pictures?”
Junior frowned. He didn’t like the tone of that at all. That had the sound of something a man would say if somebody was listening and he was trying to get an admission of criminal intent. So far, Junior hadn’t done that, he’d just mentioned some pictures, and he wasn’t about to go any further until he checked some things out.
Junior leaned down and looked into the car. The congressman leaned back away from him.
“You wouldn’t be wearing a wire, now would you, congressman?”
“A wire? No!”
Too fast and too hard, Junior realized.
Junior stood up straight and looked around. Could be a hundred feds hiding in the rocks out there, waiting to jump him, and he wouldn’t know it until it was too late. All of a sudden, the sweat started bothering him.
The power window started to go up, and he saw the congressman reaching for the gear shift at the same time. What the hell?
Junior reacted without thinking. He shoved, hard, caught the window with the heel of his hand, and shattered it. The safety glass broke into hundreds of little squarish bits, showering the congressman with sharp glitter.
Junior reached in, grabbed the latch, and opened the door — Wentworth scrabbled across the seat toward the passenger’s side door. Trying to get away—?
Nope, he wasn’t. He was going for the glove box. It fell open and Wentworth reached in—
It could have been a cell phone. Maybe an envelope full of money. But where Junior came from, a scared man who went for the glove compartment?
He was looking for a weapon.
Junior went for his revolver on the right side. Good thing, too, because the congressman came out of the glove box holding a little silver pistol, trying to get it up and pointed at Junior—
