“For some weird reason, those drugs didn’t work on me. I have a really bad headache and a dry mouth, but I faked them into thinking I was looped,” I said.
Angela filled me in on how she’d knocked out the guy in the hotel room with Croc’s help. While she was talking I made a mental note never to get Angela really mad at me.
I showed her Miss Ruby’s iPhone and told her how I’d gotten it.
“That’s great, Q!” she said.
“It’s great when we get away. I need to call X-Ray right now. He has to copy it or clone it or whatever he does. What is his number?” I asked.
Angela stared at me, a blank look on her face. “I don’t know it. The gunman forced me to smash my phone and I never memorized everyone’s numbers. They were all preprogrammed,” she said.
“Oh, boy. I hope we get out of here before they find out I’ve got it,” I said.
Just then the back door to the van opened and there was Dirk Peski, holding a wiggling Croc on the end of a catchpole. Croc was lunging and snarling and snapping at Dirk and in the glow from the van’s taillights, Dirk looked a little petrified. We knew that Croc was putting on a show. However, it appeared that Boone’s faithful companion was no fan of the Paparazzi Prince either. Dirk slammed the back door shut, no doubt relieved to have a steel barrier between him and the mutt. Outside we heard the sheriff telling Miss Ruby he was sorry for the inconvenience and was happy the “rabid” dog was no longer a threat.
Dirk opened the driver’s door and hopped in.
“Dirk Peski?” I said to Angela. I couldn’t believe it. Dirk?
Angela shrugged. “According to him, he doesn’t just help Ziv, he’s also NOC. I had to call the president. He sent Dirk,” she said.
“The president? Of the United States? Our president? J. R. Culpepper sent Dirk Peski?” I was stunned.
“Hey!” Dirk said in mock indignation.
Huh, I thought. Dirk, of all people. This was the trouble with all of this spy stuff, as I saw it: You never knew who to trust.
“Dirk, do you have X-Ray’s phone number?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said as he backed the van into a turnaround and steered it down the driveway toward the road.
I waited.
“Would you mind giving it to me, Dirk?”
He recited the number and I called X-Ray. Like always, he picked up before the phone even rang.
“X-Ray, it’s Q, is Boone there?” I asked.
“No, he’s working the crowd right now,” he answered.
“Okay, can you do some of your tech stuff with the phone I’m calling from? Keep what’s on here because it might be valuable to Malak.” I explained what I’d done, and how Miss Ruby needed to think my phone was hers.
“Yes, I can do that. What’s the serial number of the phone you have?” he asked. I recited it to him.
“Give me ten minutes,” he said.
“We might not even have three minutes, X-Ray,” I said.
“I’ll do what I can,” he replied and hung up the phone.
The driveway had a little circle in it near the house and we pulled around it and down the drive to the road. We turned right and sped away. About five minutes later my phone rang; it was X-Ray.
“The SIM cards on both phones have been overridden. Unless she’s memorized her serial number, she’s going to think your phone is hers. But I managed to save all of the data that was on her phone. We’ll be able to mine it once you get it to me. I just spoke to Boone. He says you guys are to stay at the sheriff’s station until this is over.”
I was silent a minute. Boone didn’t want us back there. I understood why. And I doubted that if the sheriff knew everything, he’d take two kids into a city that might have a huge explosion at any minute.
“Q? Did you hear me? Boone says stay there,” X-Ray said.
“Yes. I got it. Okay.” X-Ray, like always, hung up without saying goodbye. But I kept the phone to my ear.
“Yes. What do you need me to do?” I said. I was going to lie and I didn’t feel good about it but I knew Angela would understand and hopefully Dirk and the sheriff would buy it.
“We’ll do our best to get it to you,” I said. I winked at Angela. She would probably guess Boone would want us to stay someplace safe until this was over. But she was also smart and would play along.
My mom and Angela’s dad and a bunch of other people I cared about were right in the middle of a potential blast zone. We just might be the extra sets of eyes that saw the bad guys and stopped this whole thing. I had to try.
“Got it,” I said into the dead phone (and for Dirk’s benefit). “We’ll get it there as fast as we can. I’ll tell the sheriff.” Now I pretended to hang up.
“What’s going on?” Dirk asked.
“We need to get this phone to X-Ray. When he was doing the switch on the phone, he found some app or something on her phone that might be a kill switch. It needs a code to open it. If he has the actual phone he might be able to crack the encryption.” I lied like I have never lied in my life. Even Angela cocked her head at me.
Dirk was looking at me in the rearview and I held his gaze. I am a magician. Or at least I hoped I was right at that moment. Deception.
“Okay,” he said. We were a couple of miles from the ranch.
The van slowed and pulled over and the sheriff’s car stopped behind us.
All of us got out, including Croc. The sheriff looked me over.
“You all right, son?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Is anybody ever going to tell me what’s going on here?” he asked.
“No time right now, Sheriff,” Dirk said. “But Boone’s tech guy has determined Miss Ruby’s phone has got some really valuable intel on it. He needs it ASAP. And you need to get Angela and Q back right away, before their parents find out they’re missing. We’re talking lights and sirens here, Sheriff. Can you do that?”
Even though Dirk thought he was telling the truth, I marveled at how convincing he could be. Maybe being the Paparazzi Prince was good training for being a spy.
“Somebody owes me an explan—”
“It’s probably best that you don’t know,” Dirk interrupted. “We have no idea how many people Miss Ruby has here. If they find out you’re involved …”
“That’s what everybody keeps telling me,” Sheriff Hackett said. “Can’t say as that makes me real happy.”
“Sheriff, if we could tell you, we would,” I said. “But right now this phone has got information Boone needs and we need to get it to him as fast as we can. It’s a matter of life and death,” I said, holding the phone up in my hand and waving it around. I looked at Angela and she raised her eyebrows at me. I wanted to wait until the last possible moment to tell the sheriff about the car bomb. If he found out, I was pretty sure he’d refuse to take us.
He looked at me. I was a horrible liar and I got the feeling he knew I wasn’t being truthful. But Angela had told me in the van about calling J.R. and how he’d called the sheriff twice today. So he was probably not going to want to do anything that might make the most powerful man in the world upset. There were several seconds of silence. Finally Dirk jumped in and pushed him a little more.
“Right now I need you to take Angela and Q back to San Antonio. I’m sure once you get there, Boone will give you all the information he can. I’ll take the van back to your station and get my Escalade. We need to hurry. They’ll know Q is gone soon and they’ll come looking. The kids will be safer with Boone.”
“Why don’t you take them?” the sheriff asked Dirk.
“Because you have a police car. You can get them through the crowds and other places where I’ll get bottled up. You’ve got to do this, Sheriff,” Dirk said.
“What are you going to do?” the sheriff asked Dirk.
“What I do best. I’ll be watching your back,” Dirk said as he climbed back into the Animal Control van and sped away. Angela, Croc, and I got into the backseat of the cruiser and the sheriff
headed for San Antonio.
I tried not to think about anything but the fact that we were traveling toward a city where a massive car bomb was looking for a target.
And I hoped like heck that Boone could figure out a way to stop it.
Now You See Him
Miss Ruby returned to the library to find Q nowhere in sight. She hustled across the room and looked under the desk. He was gone. No matter. He had nowhere to go. Her nearest neighbor was six miles away. The ranch was massive but they’d find him.
“Robert! Sean! Get in here!” she shouted, not needing the intercom this time.
“What? You left him alone?” Sean said when Miss Ruby told them what happened.
“You saw him. He’s full of drugs. When I left him he was passed out cold in the chair and I know because I checked him. He’s probably in the house some—”
She stopped speaking, spying a playing card that had fallen off the desk and now lay propped on its side on the carpeted floor, tilted against the wooden desk.
“Wait a minute,” she said, snatching the card up off the floor. Turning it over revealed the ace of spades.
As she paced back and forth thinking, she grabbed her cigarette case off the desk. Smoking—filthy habit that it was—helped her think. The pack inside was empty and as she removed it, a tiny round piece of metal tumbled out of it and bounced on the floor. Picking it up and turning it over in her fingers, she found it resembled a very small hearing-aid battery.
“What is that?” Robert asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Way too small to have a transmitter so it’s probably not a bug. Maybe a tracking device?”
“Tracking device?” Sean said. “Why would … do you suppose the kid had it on him?”
“Maybe.” She paused a moment to consider it. “Let’s think about it. Ariel and the others snatched them at Kitty Hawk. Maybe whoever is watching them upped their security.” She tossed the tiny device to Sean, who examined it closely.
“The rabid dog. Dang it. The sheriff didn’t come here for the rabid dog, it was a setup…. He came to get the kid out without us knowing. We already reported a rabid dog once today. There would be a record of that. I’ll bet you a thousand dollars he brought another dog from the pound. Let it act up outside. Bingo, perfect cover story.”
Miss Ruby pounded her clenched right fist into the open palm of her left hand. “Somebody is onto us.”
“Hold on,” Robert said. “Let’s not panic. The sheriff is a dope. How would he …?”
“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. But he probably had help from whoever is watching those kids. Remember Ariel and her crew had the boy and his sister cold. Ariel don’t make mistakes, sugar. Whoever is watching them got them back. We’re dealing with someone smart. I think that kid was playing us.” Miss Ruby paused and picked up the playing card. “Like a magician.”
“But you shot him full of …” Sean said.
“He faked me out,” she said. “Sometimes those drugs don’t work. People can have a tolerance for them or they need a bigger dose to knock them out, even a kid. Read a book once in a while.”
“What are we going to do?” Sean asked.
Miss Ruby picked up her phone from the desk. She called the sheriff’s office.
“Hi, sugar, this is Miss Ruby Spencer. Oh no, honey. It’s not an emergency, honey pie. But I was wonderin’ if y’all could put me in touch with the sheriff. I see. Uh-huh. Thank you, darlin’.” She ended the call.
“The sheriff isn’t in. He hasn’t called in a while. My guess is he’s on his way back to San Antonio with that snot-nosed kid.”
“What do we do?” Robert asked.
“We’ve got to go grab him and get out of here. Trust me on this, boys. If Number One finds out about this, we’re all dead anyway.”
Miss Ruby pushed another button and held the phone to her ear. After a few seconds she disconnected the call.
“Marco’s phone is going to voice mail. He should be on his way back now. If he killed the girl and left, like he should have, he knows he’s supposed to answer his phone.”
“Maybe his phone died or the towers are overloaded. There’s a ton of people in San Antonio for that concert,” Robert said.
“Maybe. But what if she had the same kind of tracking signal on her?” she said. “Look at how small that thing is. What if someone came and got the girl out and then …”
“Killing a sheriff is going to bring heat. And what is so special about the kid, anyway?” Robert asked.
“Tell me something I don’t know. But if we don’t get him back, a dead sheriff will be the least of your worries. The others aren’t going to be happy if we fail again. Believe me. Let’s go.”
In the corner of the library was a large wooden armoire. Ruby opened the doors to reveal a metal gun safe built into the wall. She entered the combination and the door popped open. There was a rack full of M-4 automatic rifles inside. Sean and Robert each took one and she grabbed one for herself.
While they checked the loads in their weapons, Miss Ruby grabbed a few extra clips of ammunition and handed them to each man. Stuffing the ammo into their pockets they headed out of the library and through the front door.
Miss Ruby tried not to show her concern. She’d spent years working her way up to the Five. She didn’t want to lose her place in one night because of a stupid kid. People who failed the ghost cell didn’t live very long.
She tried thinking of a way out of this if they failed to get Quest Munoz back. And she couldn’t.
Outside they climbed into their black Suburban and sped off into the night.
Quality Time
Ziv and Eben sat in their nondescript brown Toyota Corolla on a side street on the South Side of Chicago, not far from U.S. Cellular Field. It was lined on both sides with parked cars and they blended in nicely. After they arrived in Chicago, Agent Callaghan contacted them with Malak Tucker’s location. Callaghan watched over her until they arrived. When they notified him they were in position, he drove away and returned to the hotel to sleep.
So far there had been no movement from Malak. She remained in the house as instructed. Ziv had no doubt she was nearly stir-crazy.
Eben was looking at his watch and making sure Ziv noticed. “It really is a stunning timepiece,” he said.
“As I have heard the first three hundred times you’ve said it,” Ziv groused. “It is not like it is a Rolex.”
“A Rolex is cliché,” Eben said. “Not everyone has an Omega Seamaster, personally presented to them by the president of the United States.”
“The president of the United States didn’t present it to you personally,” Ziv said. “It was handed to you by one of his flunkies.”
“Not a flunky, a U.S. Secret Service agent,” Eben reminded him.
“Yes, yes. Beautiful watch. You are so lucky. You are also making me nauseous. We are on a stakeout. I like my stakeouts to be quiet,” Ziv said. He flipped on the radio. The White Sox were playing a home game and off in the distance they could see the lights of U.S. Cellular Field, a bright and stunning beacon in the dark night.
“You are a fan of American baseball?” Eben asked, skeptical.
“I have come to appreciate it to a certain degree, though I am by no means an expert. I’ve found listening to baseball on the radio relaxes me and helps keep me focused,” Ziv said.
“You never cease to amaze me, Ziv. Who would have thought? We should be enemies. In the old days we would be trying to kill each other and now we are on the same side,” Eben said.
“Times change. People change. And I am on no other side but that of my daughter and granddaughter. Their safety is now all I care about. In fact …” The chirping of his phone interrupted him and he snapped it open. “Hello,” he said.
Ziv listened to the caller, asking a few pointed questions. Eben sat up in the passenger seat. When Ziv disconnected the call, Eben waited expectantly for the old man to speak.
“That was Dirk. The ghost cell
took Q from his hotel tonight and kept him at the Firebrand Ranch. Dirk and the sheriff were able to retrieve him, with Angela’s help. Angela managed to escape a gunman who was holding her at the hotel. Now they are en route back to San Antonio with the sheriff. Dirk will be watching their tail.”
“Angela …” Eben unconsciously rubbed his jaw where Angela had loosened a few of his teeth with a well-timed and effective kick. “She is a remarkable young woman. You should be very proud. Shall we inform Malak of this news?”
Ziv thought a moment, then shook his head. “No. You are correct. Angela is much like her mother. And in some ways a great deal like her aunt Anmar. But if we tell Malak that Angela is in danger, neither you nor I or any power on earth will be able to keep her here. No. We wait until we know Angela is safe before we tell Malak. Otherwise …”
“Otherwise what?” Eben asked, but he knew the answer already.
“Otherwise the Leopard will go on the hunt.”
“You are right,” Eben said, making a show of looking at his watch. “Now is not the time.”
Ziv groaned and slumped in his seat.
The Second Monkey
Dirk Peski walked across the sheriff’s parking lot to his Escalade. His conversation with Ziv had been brief and he knew the old man was worried. It had only been about four years since he had learned of Malak’s existence. Now his granddaughter, Angela, was in harm’s way and Dirk understood how powerless he felt.
He decided to go past the ranch and gather a little bit more intel before he returned to San Antonio. This Miss Ruby woman would discover very quickly that Q was gone, and Dirk wanted to do some on-site recon. Q and Angela were probably fine now, as it was unlikely Miss Ruby would chance a second kidnapping attempt.
But if he had learned anything, it was that you could never be too safe.
With the sky overcast and no stars or moonlight showing through, the darkness in this wide-open countryside seemed absolute. The occasional house or ranch provided some light but the headlights on the Escalade seemed inefficient in the gloom.
Dirk slowed the car as the house came into view. The lights were still on inside. But as he drew nearer, he was startled when a black Suburban, running with its lights off, appeared out of the darkness. It roared past him, heading in the opposite direction.