Option to Kill (Nathan McBride 3)

by Andrew Peterson

  Lauren seemed confused, but he didn’t feel like explaining it further.

  “San Diego has a latitude of thirty-two degrees,” he said slowly. “That’s one of the numbers, but its longitude is one-seventeen west.” He smiled when he saw it. “They’re reversed.”

  “What?”

  The answer had been staring at him the entire time. Using the grocery pad, he wrote the oddball column of numbers in reverse. Starting with 32, he ended with 4871.

  32 34 4702

  116 37 4871

  He inserted the symbols for degrees, minutes, and seconds and then added decimals to 4701 and 4871 and found himself looking at a beautiful set of GPS coordinates.

  32º 34' 47.02"

  116º 37' 48.71"

  “The numbers work now?”

  “Yes. San Diego’s at thirty-two degrees latitude, but it’s one-seventeen west longitude, so these coordinates are east of us. Not too far, though. Grab your plate and follow me.” He took her into his study, turned on the computer, and opened the Google Earth program. Zooming in on the San Diego area, he moved the mouse east. He watched the longitude side of the GPS coordinates increase until it reached 116 west, then kept going until it read thirty-seven minutes.

  “How do you know where to go?”

  “See those numbers at the bottom of the screen? See how they change as I move the mouse?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “All I have to do is move the mouse until both the latitude and longitude numbers match the numbers on the paper. If you move off the satellite image, you can drag it using the mouse, like this.” He showed her how to scroll across the picture and use the directional and angle features in the upper-right corner. “To zoom in or out, use the wheel on the mouse.”

  “This is supercool. Can you spy on people?”

  “It’s not a live feed. You’re looking at an older compilation of pieced-together photos.”

  “Can I do it?”

  He leaned over her shoulder after she sat down. “Keep going south until you see the number next to thirty-two switch to thirty-four. Then move east until the longitude numbers start to align.” He ate a few more bites.

  She was a quick study, but he had to remind her to zoom with the mouse wheel. Within thirty seconds, she had the coordinates located.

  “They don’t match perfectly.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I have a GPS reader that’s accurate to under one meter.”

  “What is this building?”

  “Judging from the size and shape, I’m guessing it’s a motel. Only one way to find out. You up for a little road trip to Tecate?”

  “I’m not going like this.”

  “Do you know how to use MapQuest? I need to check the dryer.”

  “Not really.”

  “Type ‘mapquest dot com’ in the address bar. Hit ‘get directions,’ then type in ‘La Jolla, California,’ in the first box and ‘Tecate, California,’ in the second box. I’ll be right back.”

  He opened the dryer and felt Lauren’s pants. They were still damp, so he closed the door, added five minutes to the timer, and returned to his office.

  “It says it takes an hour and five minutes.”

  “Good job. We’ll make it there a little faster than that.”

  “Can I drive?”

  He half laughed but realized she was serious.

  “I have no doubt you could do it, but your presence behind the wheel would be difficult to explain to a CHP officer. ‘I’m sorry, Officer, but my daughter wanted to drive’ isn’t going to be an adequate explanation.”

  She looked disappointed.

  “Trust me.”

  “Can you really get my mom to call?”

  “With absolute certainty? No.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t want you worrying about that right now. We’ll be facing a big set of unknowns in Tecate. I want you to think about everything I’ve taught you tonight.”

  “Like being superquiet.”

  “Yes. I may ask you to stay in the car when we get there. If I do, don’t argue about it, okay?”

  “I won’t. If you were going to ditch me, you would’ve done it already.”

  “That’s right. So there no need to worry about that anymore. Your mom wants us to stay together. And thanks for making the chow.”

  “I thought you liked it.”

  “Chow isn’t a derogatory term.”

  “Oh, it made me think of dog-food ads on TV.”

  “Lauren, honestly, it was the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had.”

  She crossed her arms and smiled.

  “Did you wash a towel? I saw one in the dryer.”

  “If you put a dry towel in with a small load, it speeds up the drying process.”

  “I didn’t know that trick, but it makes perfect sense.”

  They ate the rest in silence. He liked that about her — she didn’t fill their conversational voids with small talk.

  Nathan nodded toward the laundry room. “Why don’t you try on Angelica’s shoes and check on your clothes. I’ll take care of the dishes.”

  Before leaving the house, Nathan checked the duffel for the GPS reader and found it next to the handheld thermal imager. He’d show Lauren how to use them during the drive to Tecate. He hoped she’d get some sleep. Sooner or later she’d hit a wall, especially after being physically drained from multiple adrenaline rushes. They’d run for their lives more than once, and the evening was far from over. Nathan didn’t like retreating from danger — he’d prefer to face threats head-on — but Lauren’s presence forced a change in tactics.

  He thought about leaving her with Angelica, but based on everything he’d learned about Lauren’s personality, she’d never accept it and would probably leave, even if it meant being alone on foot with no place to go. She might even walk down to her La Jolla Shores home — right into Voda’s hands. Besides, Jin had made it clear she didn’t want Lauren out of his sight.

  Fully dressed, Lauren walked into the living room wearing Angelica’s shoes. “They’re a little loose, but I don’t think they’ll come off.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded.

  “I need to make another stop at First Security to pick something up. You can wait in the car. It shouldn’t take more than two minutes once we get there.”

  “Okay.”

  “I meant to tell you this earlier, but you did a good job at your stepdad’s warehouse. You handled yourself well, didn’t panic.”

  “I was really scared.”

  “You did fine.”

  “It’s weird — I thought about myself like you said. You know, like, having a tough girl inside me?”

  “Works, doesn’t it?”

  “Sort of. I think it takes some practice.”

  “That’s one thing we’ll try not to practice too much.”

  Chapter 19

  Nathan made the detour to First Security brief. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt for Lauren to be similarly protected, he grabbed a smaller ballistic vest. She asked about the big case he placed in the backseat. He told her it was for surveillance once they arrived in Tecate.

  When he thought back to the GPS coordinates, the way they were listed on the piece of paper wasn’t initially obvious, but they also weren’t concealed all that well. Nathan was reasonably sure the reverse order was a simple stopgap measure to disguise the coordinates from prying eyes, nothing more. Guys like Voda often didn’t trust their own people. Betrayal from within was always a concern.

  Nathan had no idea what awaited them in Tecate. The columns of numbers could mean anything. But what if the numbers weren’t columns? What if they were rows? Thinking about them as line items made more sense. If that were the case, he could reasonably expect to find ten objects at the coordinates. Ten objects covered a lot of ground. They could be anything from trash bags full of illegal drugs to who knows what. Depending on what Nathan found, he might be able to use it as leverage against Voda
.

  He also couldn’t dismiss the idea that the GPS numbers could already be disguised with a mathematical cipher. They could be chasing a proverbial wild goose and find nothing at all. Even though Google Earth pointed them toward their current destination, he knew accuracy could be an issue. The coordinates on the paper might take them to a completely different destination than Google Earth indicated. He should’ve confirmed that before leaving the house.

  “Lauren, do you know how to access the Internet on an iPhone?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Okay, I want you to check something for me.” He handed her his phone. Type ‘Wikipedia dot org’ — that’s o-r-g — into the address bar.” He had to spell ‘Wikipedia’ for her. “Then type ‘Tecate, California,’ into the Wikipedia search box.” He also gave her Tecate’s spelling.

  “Okay…hang on. It’s loading.”

  “Let me know if you see any GPS coordinates. There should be a little map.”

  “It’s still loading. Okay, it shows a picture…I see the map.”

  “Does it list coordinates?”

  “Yes.”

  He handed her the pad. “Do the degrees and minutes match?”

  “Yes, but the last numbers aren’t the same.”

  “Don’t worry about that.” At least this confirmed they were going to Tecate’s general locale. “Now, open a new Safari page and type this into the search box: ‘Google Earth a-c-c.’ You should get a dropdown line that says ‘Google Earth accuracy.’ Start there and check out a few entries. Let me know what you find.”

  “Okay.”

  That ought to keep her busy for a few minutes. He wanted to know the general margin of error. He glanced in her direction and saw she had the phone about twelve inches from her face. Give it thirty years, he thought, and she’ll be holding it at arm’s length.

  If the general location was a motel, as Google Earth indicated, the coordinates on the paper would most likely lead to a specific room. It made sense. Nathan tapped his knowledge of GPS. At the equator, one second of longitude was just over one hundred feet in length, so, at their current latitude of thirty-two minutes, one second of longitude ought to be around sixty feet, which meant one-hundredth of a second would be just over half a foot. Having coordinates showing hundredths of a second should take them to a specific motel-room door. He wouldn’t know with certainty until they arrived. A drive by the motel would tell him if he had the right building, but he’d need to determine the precise coordinates on foot.

  He had to consider the strong possibility that the room was already under surveillance by either good guys or bad guys — or possibly even both. If he was wrong about the piece of paper being the only copy, all bets were off. There could be a small army of Voda’s thugs waiting to ambush him, or a squad of federal agents waiting to intercept him.

  “Okay, it says accuracy can vary a lot, depending on a bunch of stuff.”

  “I figured as much.”

  “It can be really accurate down to one meter, or it could be way off by, like, a hundred meters or more.”

  “Good work.”

  “Your phone’s vibrating. It’s Harvey Fontana.” She handed it to him.

  “Harv.”

  “I’m boarding a nonstop flight in thirty minutes. It’s the fastest way to get there.” Harv’s tone lightened. “I booked a business-class seat. If I’m going to be miserable, I may as well be miserable in style.”

  “Well said.”

  “What’s your status?”

  “We’re on our way to Tecate. The piece of paper Lauren had contained GPS coordinates.”

  “I saw them too. That’s why I’m calling.”

  He told Harv about the note from Jin attached to Grant’s collar.

  “Do I need to say it?”

  “We’ll be careful, but this definitely confirms your suspicion about Jin. She knows where I live. Not only that, she managed to staple a note to Grant’s collar.”

  “That’s no easy trick without knowing the stand-down command. You do practice with your dogs in the yard. It’s possible she got it that way.”

  “That’s the most reasonable explanation.”

  “Are we on speaker?” Harv asked.

  “No.”

  “We have to be concerned about something else as well. She said she’s going after Voda. If he bags her, she could give us up under torture.”

  “Yeah, I thought of that, but there’s nothing we can do about it right now.”

  “She hasn’t called you back?”

  “No.”

  “Then he might already have her.”

  “You’re raining on my parade again.”

  “What are friends for? How’s Lauren doing? Has she been asking about her mom?”

  “Not too much, which is a little surprising.”

  “What do you think?”

  He glanced at Lauren and winked. “Lauren said her mom disappears for days at a time, so our current situation isn’t especially alarming to her.”

  “It should be alarming to you. I also feel compelled to remind you you’re heading to a Mexican border town in the middle of the night with no backup, and Holly said Voda has known ties with coyotes.”

  “Why doesn’t that make me feel good?”

  “Nate, this is serious. You need me for this operation.”

  “There is no operation. I’m just gonna have a look around.”

  “Like you did at the warehouse? I seem to recall you mentioning being shot at. Again.”

  “I appreciate your concern.”

  “I’m seriously considering pulling executive override.”

  “Harv, don’t do that.” Executive override was a blood oath between them. If either of them ever felt what they were doing was downright reckless, he could use executive override to call things off. To date, neither of them had ever invoked it.

  “Give me a good reason.”

  “Every minute Voda’s loose, innocent lives are at stake. He might already have his next victim.”

  “Then again, he might not.”

  “Suppose it was Lucas or Dillon?”

  “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  He didn’t respond. Didn’t need to. Harv was a father and knew the score.

  “Dammit, Nate.”

  “I promise, no unnecessary risks.”

  “If you get your ass killed, I’m going to kill you again in heaven.”

  “I stopped by the office and grabbed a vest, if that makes you feel better.”

  “It doesn’t. What’s your ETA to Tecate?”

  “About an hour.”

  “At least I have the exact coordinates of where you’re going. I’ll be able to tell the authorities where to collect your bodies.”

  “You sure know how to boost a guy’s confidence.”

  “Use the radios. Lauren can keep on eye on your back.”

  “I was planning to. Thanks for not pulling EO. I would’ve honored it.”

  “Don’t make me regret this decision for the rest of my life. I expect to hear your cheerful voice again right after you look around at the motel. No firefights.”

  Nathan signed off and tucked his phone away.

  “He really cares about you,” Lauren said.

  “He cares about both of us.”

  “I don’t have any friends like that.”

  “Some friendships take a lifetime to develop. Others can happen in a few hours.” He smiled. “Try to get some sleep.”

  An hour later, they arrived on the outskirts of Tecate. Harv was right. Without bona fide backup, reconnoitering the motel was dangerous. If he didn’t see any bad guys before they saw him, the situation could get ugly in a big hurry. He’d have to play this cat-and-mouse game carefully. If anything happened to him, Lauren’s fate would fall into someone else’s hands — not acceptable. Until he had a better idea of what was going on, he’d move cautiously at the motel and thoroughly assess the situation before taking any action.

  But first th
ings first. He needed to determine where the GPS coordinates led. If Holly’s people had also discovered the coordinates, this might be over already. There could be FBI or ICE agents in play, which added a layer of complexity and brought the potential for friendly fire into the equation. A quick call to Holly could remove that variable, but it would also tip his hand. He decided to call after conducting a reconnaissance.

  He didn’t know a lot about coyotes but knew they weren’t model citizens. The very nature of what they did made them human traffickers, and their core motivation was the pursuit of money. Human rights meant nothing to them, and that made them fair game in Nathan’s eyes. Anyone willing to sell human beings or aid in that practice was morally bankrupt at best, downright evil at worst.

  “Lauren?”

  She blinked a couple of times.

  “We’re coming into Tecate. I need to go over some stuff with you.”

  “How long was I asleep?”

  “About forty-five minutes. I’m going to show you how to work the radio and the handheld thermal imager. They’re both easy to use. I’ll handle the GPS reader. According to Google Earth, our coordinates should be on the left side of the road.”

  Before driving into Tecate, Nathan pulled to the shoulder. The city lights on the south side of the border were clearly defined by a straight line — the international boundary. He gave Lauren a quick lesson with the radio and HHTI. “To talk, all you do is press this button. Press it to talk, then let go. Don’t say anything unless you see something I should know about. If I say something to you but don’t ask a question, press the button and let go. I’ll hear a click, which means you heard me. It’s called an acknowledgment click.”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “We’ll go over that in a little bit.”

  Nathan held the GPS reader in his left hand and continued south along the road. He slowed to a crawl at the motel and confirmed this was the location. It was an L-shaped, single-story building with a small office on the corner near the road. The neon sign indicated vacancy. He kept going south, turned onto a side street, and made a U-turn. No traffic was present — a double-edged sword. He liked the lack of activity, but if anyone were watching the motel, he couldn’t cruise past more than twice without raising suspicion. He scanned for a place to park where Lauren would have a clear view of the motel’s parking lot. A good tactical location looked to be across the street on a vacant lot. He could park among several unconnected semi trailers. It also allowed for a quick exit, should it become necessary.