“I should think,” I said. “Our client gets the closure she was after, and the bad guys get the closure they deserve. We get paid. The universe is in order.”
She smiled. “Just like that. Too bad we lost the key. That makes the Starfire Protocol box we salvaged pretty worthless.”
I smiled. “We didn’t lose it.”
“How?” she said, surprised.“You said they plugged it in and tested it.”
“They did. But it wasn’t the real key. Kenny programmed a regular old USB key with a script that ran automatically when it was plugged in. Everything they saw was completely fake—just windowdressing. We figured if we had it just say something like ‘Calculating—please come back in eight hours for the answer,’ then Marlowe’d be happy. And he was.”
“So the real key is—”
“Still in my guitar case.”
She smiled at me. “You are tricky, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “You better believe it.”
“And the case is closed.”
“Closed,” I said. “On to the next case.”
“Is there a next case yet?”
“There will be.” I reached for her hand. “Toni, I’m so sorry. I should never have left you by yourself. I violated my own buddy rule.”
She smiled. “Don’t sweat it, Danny. Seemed safe enough at the time,” she said. “We actually thought I was out of the action. No need for buddies.”
“It must have been Holly who tipped them off?” I asked.
“I guess,” she said. “Who else knew where we were?”
“I don’t get it,” I said. “Maybe she was so scared for her brother that she felt compelled to go along.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But Marlowe’s guys handcuffed her and drugged her, too. It's weird.Maybe they thought they’d be tying up loose ends.” She thought for a minute, and then smiled. “Anyway, I’m okay. They didn’t touch me.”
“Except for . . .”I pointed to her cheek.
“Yeah, the bastards. That was a cheap shot.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, pointing to my head.
We started laughing, and we were still laughing when Jennifer walked into the room.
* * * *
“Good morning,” she said. “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.” She was followed by Ron Jennings, Marilyn Rodgers, and Ryan Freedman. “I hope we’re not interrupting anything?”
“No,” I said, smiling and looking at Toni. “Toni and I were just comparing war wounds.”
“You were both injured,” Jen said. “How are you guys doing?”
“Thanks for asking,” Toni said, smiling. “I’m fine, although I’m a little worried about Danny getting hit in the head again. He doesn’t have that much gray matter left in reserve, you know?”
“I’m okay,” I said. “I’ve been told that if you want to hurt me, you shouldn’t hit me in the head, right?”
They laughed.
“Do you mind if we take up a couple minutes of your time?” Jennifer asked. “We have some questions, but they shouldn’t take too long.”
I shrugged. “Sure,” I said. “Look at me. I think you have a captive audience, at least for a little while longer.”
“Are they sending you home today?”
“First thing this morning, I hope,” I said. “I’m ready to get out of here.”
“Good,” she said.
“Mr. Logan, Ms. Blair,” Marilyn Rodgers said, “let me start by saying we’re all very happy your injuries seem fairly minor, especially you, Ms. Blair, having been taken hostage.”
Toni nodded.
“And, our British friends were not at all displeased with the final outcome, as regards Mr. Marlowe,” Marilyn continued. “No question that he was a bad man—murder, kidnapping, extortion—nothing seemed to be beyond this guy. He got what he deserved.”
I nodded. “I talked to him in the barn,” I said. “Right before he had his guy knock me out and strap me to the rail. He met the clinical definition of a psychopath, except in his case, he was all dressed up like a European socialite. He was scary. He was a guy for whom the ‘ends’ definitely justified the ‘means.’ He gave absolutely no consideration to the emotions or feelings of anyone, aside from himself.” I shook my head. “Those concerns simply didn’t exist inside him.”
“That fits his pattern,” she said. “This case wasn’t the first time he acted this way.”
“But it is the last,” Jennings said brightly. “And that leads to a question regarding the explosive device that was detonated. Special Agent Thomas has told us what you told her about the device, but we’d like to hear it in your own words, if you please.”
So I ran them back through the whole story—the break-in, the planting of the bomb, our modification—everything. I didn’t leave any part out.
“That’s it,” I said when I finished. “That’s the whole story—nothing abridged. It was Marlowe's bomb. He made it. He planted it. He detonated it. I’m afraid that if you don’t find that satisfactory, my next step is going to have to be to contact my lawyer.”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary,” Ron Jennings said. “I speak for the bureau. Based on what we know of you and certainly based on what we now know of this Marlowe character, we believe your story. I’m convinced that you played no role in Marlowe’s death—at least none that he didn’t precipitate. You simply acted in self-defense and outsmarted the guy. If you hadn’t done so, you’d be dead now, and he’d have most likely escaped to continue his illegal activities. We’re all very glad that didn’t happen.”
“We are, too,” I said. "Especially the 'dead' part."
He laughed. “Anyway,” he continued, “well done. Like Marilyn said, justice was well served. And I might add that by closing his own chapter the way he did, Marlowe saved both governments a fair amount of money—no prosecution required.”
“Well,” I said, “at least there’s that.”
“In fact,” Marilyn Rodgers added, “the only lingering disappointment from the whole operation seems to be with Mr. Freedman here regarding the loss of the Starfire Protocol device and, particularly, the key.”
Freedman gave me a dubious look, as if he still didn’t believe me. He acted like I was somehow guilty of showing him a new toy but then not letting him play with it.
“Yeah,” I said. “Well, the good news is the real Starfire Protocol device is back with its rightful owner now. But, you’re right—it’s too bad about the key. But who knows? Maybe the company can create a new one.”
“That would be nice,” Freedman said. “But I’m afraid that without the benefit of Thomas Rasmussen’s special genius, none of us may be able to figure out how exactly he took the Starfire Protocol algorithm and split it between the box and the key. None of us will likely be able to tell exactly how the key fit in.”
"Are you admitting that the key is computationally secure?" I asked.
He didn't answer but his look confirmed what he thought of me.
“Well,” I said, “I guess that means barring another mathematical breakthrough, we stay status quo. Look at the bright side. Nobody has to worry about their private transactions being opened and snooped.”
Freedman gave me another sharp stink-eye look. “Indeed,” he said.
“Let me ask another question,” Jennifer said. She addressed Toni. “You stayed at the Woodmark night before last?”
“Right,” Toni said.
“And you were abducted from there?”
“Yes. They actually got us in our room just as we were about to leave.”
“Have you figured out yet how Marlowe found you and Holly when you thought you were safely tucked away at the Woodmark?” Jennifer asked.
“I'm thinking that it had to be Holly Kenworth,” Toni said. “She was the only one who knew where we were, other than Danny and me. But then, I can't explain why they took her hostage alongside me, and she was drugged even more heavily than I was. So, maybe it wasn't Holly after all. Now, I think we�
��re both a little confused about it—not sure what to think. She must have been the one to tell—she was the only one who knew. But I can’t explain why they’d hold her hostage then. My current theory is that it was her. At first, her being abducted was part of the deception act - along with the whole rest of her story. But later, it was real and Marlowe probably intended to kill her along with us so that he could tie up loose ends.”
“Were you held together after you were abducted?”
“I don’t know for sure—I don’t think so. I think we were in separate rooms.”
“So it’s possible she may have been treated differently?”
Toni thought about it. “Yeah, I guess it’s possible. Why?”
Jennifer said. “Would it surprise you to hear that Holly Kenworth is missing this morning?”
I turned to look at her. “Missing?” I said. “How can that be? She was brought in with Toni in an ambulance yesterday. She's here in the hospital, right?
“Yes,” she said. “As Toni just said, she was apparently drugged more heavily than Toni was. She was barely conscious when she arrived at the hospital—certainly not coherent. They admitted her immediately. Toni," she turned to look at Toni, "you on the other hand, had pretty well recovered by the time the ambulance arrived. You were treated in the emergency room and released, right?”
“That’s right,” Toni said. “Yesterday afternoon.”
“Well,” Jennifer said, “Neither you nor Holly were thought to have committed any crimes, so you weren’t technically in custody. You were both left unguarded. After talking to hospital staff this morning, we’ve learned that Holly Kenworth has somehow made a rather miraculous recovery. She apparently simply got dressed and walked out of the hospital sometime early last night.”
“You’re kidding,” I said. “Why would she do that?”
Jennings said, “It may have something to do with the fact that there were two wire transfers made early yesterday concerning Ms. Kenworth: First, at seven o’clock yesterday morning, into her account in Seattle for fourmillion dollars from a Swiss bank. Second, at about four thirty yesterday afternoon, another wire that closed her Seattle account and transferred the entire sum to an offshore bank in the Cayman Islands. We're still checking, but we believe that the Cayman accounts have also been closed now with all the funds moved somewhere else.”
“I'll be damned. There’s your answer, Toni,” I said. “She got paid for turning you—and us—over to Marlowe. She was probably promised a bonus once Marlowe got away with the device. But Marlowe double crossed her and tried to kill her alongside us.”
"A plausible explanation," Jennifer said. "Once Holly knew that Marlowe was dead, she needed to hide her complicity. She simply faked like she was heavily under the influence of drugs until she'd been admitted to the hospital. Once the heat died down, she phoned in her wire transfer, got dressed, and left."
“And now she’s gone?” Toni asked. “Can you track her?”
“We started early this morning,” Jennifer said. “But if she has a twelve-hour headstart on us, it could be that she simply jumped on the first international flight. She might be sixthousand miles away by now.”
“How about her brother?” Toni said. “She said she has a brother in Boston.”
“We started checking that first thing as well. So far, our Boston field office has not been able to identify a brother. As a matter of fact, as near as we can tell, there is no brother.”
“What? No brother?” I said. “None at all?”
“That appears to be the case.”
“Holy shit. If we’d have known that—that she continued to lie to us even after we confronted her—we’d have run this whole operation differently.”
“Don’t knock the outcome,” Jennings said.
“Well,” I said, “that’s true. I just hate to leave a loose end like this.” I shook my head. “What a bunch of idiots we’ve been! We bought her story completely. She played us like complete fools.”
“Twice,” Toni said.
“That’s right,” I said. “Twice. We even believed her the second time after we caught her lying to us the first time.”
Jennings laughed. “Nobody’s perfect,” he said. “Look at us. Half our time is spent trying to mitigate our own mistakes. But we learn from them and try not to make the same ones twice.”
“Hopefully, we’ll learn, too,” I said. “But damn! She escaped with fourmillion bucks right out from under our noses. She’s probably lying on a beach somewhere, drinking a piña colada. Man, that’s a lot of getting-away money.”
“It is, but don’t forget,” Jennings said, “she’s implicated in a conspiracy to murder Thomas Rasmussen. We’ll be looking for her—and we never stop. She’ll need that money.”
“Yes, she will,” Marilyn Rodgers said. “Ms. Blair, Mr. Logan—I believe that about wraps things up for us here, though. Ron, I’m sure you’ll continue the hunt for Ms. Kenworth from headquarters, right?”
“That’s right.” He turned to me. “Mr. Logan,” he said, reaching forward to shake my hand. “Well done. You take care of yourself.”
“I’ll catch up with you guys back at the office,” Jennifer said to the others as they started to leave. “I have a couple of things to go over with Mr. Logan.”
* * * *
After they’d left, Jennifer turned back to us. She looked at me, and then turned to Toni.
“Toni,” she said, “would you mind terribly if I spoke to Danny alone for a minute?”
“Sure,” Toni said. “That’s no problem.”She started to get up.
“Wait,” I said. I reached over and put my hand on Toni’s arm. I don’t know—I suppose I’d reached a point inside where I’d come to a decision. I liked Jennifer, and I’d certainly enjoyed our relationship together, but in the end, while we may have been intimate physically, we’d never been intimate emotionally. It was convenient, but there wasn’t much of a real connection—certainly no commitment to speak of. Besides, I could feel it getting in the way of a much bigger and more important relationship—that is, the somewhat odd arrangement between Toni and me. Strange and unfulfilled though it might have been, I didn’t want to jeopardize it anymore. I turned and looked at Jennifer. “Jen, I’d like Toni to stay. She’s my partner. We don’t keep any secrets anyway.”
Jennifer looked at me, and then she nodded. “I see. That’s okay then,” she said.
Toni pushed my hand away and stood up. I started to protest. “Shut up, Danny,” she said. “You guys talk. I’m going to get a cup of coffee.” She walked out of the room.
Jen watched Toni walk away. “That’s a pretty special woman you have there, Danny,” she said after Toni’d left.
I nodded. “Yeah.” I said. Then I added, “But I wouldn’t say I ‘have’ her. She’s not mine.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “You guys are fooling yourselves. I know you well enough to where I can look in your eyes and see things. Like I told you in the parking lot at U-Dub Thursday, I can definitely see that there’s something between the two of you. I thought you wanted to break things off between us. You say you didn’t. But I can see that you guys have something special—a connection. You two fit together—even if you do refuse to recognize it or act on it.” She walked over to the window and looked outside for a moment, and then she turned back and looked at me. “Danny, we don’t have that, you and I. You know that, right?”
I shrugged. “Our relationship is different, Jen,” I said.
She nodded. “That’s right,” she said, walking back over to me. “Different. We’re great together—don’t get me wrong—but that special connection isn’t there.”
“Well,” I said, “there’s a connection.”
She smiled. “Not that kind of connection, you hound.”
“Okay. We’re convenient,” I said.
“Exactly,” she agreed. “We’re convenient. Handy. We’re friends. But we don’t have what it takes to go beyond that, do we?”
<
br /> “I don’t know,” I said. “I suppose I’d agree.”
“Good,” she said. “Keep that in mind. Believe it or not, this isn’t the reason I wanted to talk to you, but seeing you and Toni together again helps clarify things.”
“Clarify what things, Jen? What’s up?”
“We’ve not kept any secrets from each other, right?” Before I could answer, she continued. “I found out last week while I was in Virginia that there’s an opening in Washington, D.C., in Ron Jennings’s department for a senior special agent. I get along well with Ron, and I like the work—I’d be traveling all over the country, doing counterintelligence work. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I’ve. . . I’ve decided I’m going to take the job.”
This was a surprise. I halfway expected her to break things off—but a move to Washington?“When’d you decide this?” I asked.
She stared at me, but didn’t answer.
“Jen?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a few days, but I guess I made up my mind just now,” she said.
“Jen, why?”
She turned and looked out the window. A few moments later, she turned back to me with tears in her eyes. “Danny, I don’t know how it works for sure, but I think we don’t get very many opportunities to hook up with our perfect soulmate. I look at you, and I look at Toni, and I wonder. She might be ‘The One’ for you; she’s got so much going for her. I could never forgive myself if I somehow stood in the way of that and messed it up for you. It wouldn’t be right. I like you too much. And seeing the two of you here together again this morning—well, it just reminds me of how it’s supposed to be.”
I listened, but I didn’t say anything.
“I think our little relationship is about to get too expensive for both of us, Danny.”
“How do you mean?”
“For you, I think it might be getting in the way of you finding who you’re supposed to be with.” She thought about this for a second, and then added, “Me, too, maybe. But for me, it’s also going to get in the way of my career. And you know,” she said, smiling, “that’s something I’d never allow to happen.”
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