Fallon had extensive military experience. He had served in the United States Army for nine years, first as a paratrooper, then as a Ranger. He had served an additional four years, but whatever he had done during those years was described only as 'classified.'
Starkey said, 'What the luck does that mean?'
I knew what it meant, and felt a sharp tightness in my
chest that was more than fear. I knew how he had come by the skills to watch and move and leave no sign when he stole Ben. I had been a soldier, and I had been good at it. Mike Fallon was better.
'He was in Delta Force.'
Chen said, 'The terrorist guys?' Starkey stared at his picture. 'No shit.'
Delta D-boys. The Operators. Delta trained for hard, hot insertions against terrorist targets, and membership was by invitation only. They were the best killers in the business.
Starkey said, 'All this Army stuff, maybe he got a hard-on for you while he was in the service.'
'He doesn't know me. He's too young for Vietnam.' 'Then why?' I didn't know.
We kept reading. After Fallon left the service, he had used his skills to work as a professional soldier in Nicaragua, Lebanon, Somalia, Afghanistan, Colombia, E1 Salvador, Bosnia, and Sierra Leone. Michael Fallon was a mercenary. Lucy's words came to me: This isn't normal. Things like this don't happen to normal people.
Starkey said, 'This is just great, Cole. You couldn't have a garden-variety lunatic after you. You gotta have a professional killer.'
'I don't know him, Starkey. I've never heard of him. I've never known anyone named Fallon, let alone someone like this.'
'Someone knows him, buddy, and he sure as hell
knows you. John, can we get a hard copy of this?' 'Sure. I can print the file.'
I said, 'Print one for me, too. I want to show Lucy, then talk to the people in her neighborhood. After that,
we can go back to the construction site. It's easier when you show people a picture. One memory leads to another.'
Starkey smiled at me.
'We? Are we partners now?'
Somewhere in the minutes between the parking lot and our waiting for the file, it had become 'we.' As if she wasn't on LAPD and I wasn't a man desperate to find a lost boy. As if we were a team.
'You know what I meant. We finally have something
to work with. We can build on it. We can keep going.' Starkey smiled wider, then patted my back.
'Relax, Cole. We're going to do all that stuff. Play your cards right, and I might let you tag along. I'm gonna put this on the BOLO.'
Starkey put it on the BOLO, then phoned a request for information about Fallon to the L.A. offices of the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Sheriffs. After that, we rolled back to Lucy's. We.
The street outside Lucy's apartment was jammed with Richard's limo, Gittamon's black and white, and a second black and white with MISSING PERSONS UNIT emblazoned on the side. Gittamon answered the door when we knocked. He seemed surprised to see us, then angry. He glanced back inside, then lowered his voice. He kept the door pulled like he was hiding.
'Where have you been? I've been calling you all morning.'
Starkey said, 'I was working. We found something, Dave. We know who took the boy.'
'You should have told me. You should have answered my calls.'
'What's going on? Why is Missing Persons here?' Gittamon glanced back inside, then opened the door.
'They fired us, Carol. Missing Persons is taking the case.'
time missing: 47 hours, 38 minutes
Richard rubbed his hand nervously through his hair. His clothes were wrinkled worse than yesterday, as if he had slept in them. Lucy sat cross-legged on the couch, and Myers was leaning against the far wall. He was the only one of them who looked rested and fresh. They were listening to an immaculately groomed woman in a dark business suit and her male clone, who were seated on chairs that had been pulled from the dining room. Lucy had been looking at them, but now she stared at me. She didn't want me involved, yet here I was. Making it worse.
Gittamon cleared his throat to interrupt. He stood at the edge of the living room like a child who had been reprimanded before the class.
'Ah, Lieutenant, excuse me. This is Detective Starkey and Mr. Cole. Carol, this is Detective-Lieutenant Nora Lucas and Detective-Sergeant Ray Alvarez, from the Missing Persons Unit.'
Lucas had one of those shrunken, porcelain faces with absolutely no lines; probably because she never smiled. Alvarez held my hand too long when we shook so that he could make a point with Gittamon.
'I thought we understood that Mr. Cole wasn't going to be involved, Sergeant.'
I said, 'Let go of my hand, Alvarez, or you'll see how involved I can be.'
Alvarez hung onto my hand for a moment longer just to show me that he could. 'These are interesting allegations against you on that
