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They all sat silently, then the tattooed lady, Danielle Callister, said, “Ah, well.”
And Foss said, “We’ve got barbeque sauce if you don’t want catsup.”
6
The fastest route to Albuquerque went through Atlanta from Reagan National. Greet got them on scattered seats in the business class section, and since they wouldn’t be able to talk much on the plane, Lucas, Rae, and Letty mustered in a sparsely used gate at National to talk until the first flight boarded.
Lucas said, “We gotta get that MI5 guy here soon as we can. We need to know if Scott has friends in the States and where they’re located. Greet says Scott hasn’t left the country, legally, anyway. Any old Oxford pals here in the States anywhere? He could be in Key West or Alaska by now, even driving. We need phone numbers.”
“Scott’s supposed to be very smart—he’s gotta be using burners,” Letty said.
“Yeah, but if we can get a number…burners only work if youthrow them away. If you keep using one, or even have it turned on, we can track it.”
“Your friend Billy needs to get us his driver’s license and car registration information,” Rae said to Letty. “We can do that, but not in the air. That should be waiting for us when we get to Albuquerque. I don’t think there are any serious airports without license plate readers. We need to know if he’s flown anywhere since he disappeared. We need phone numbers for the people who can check the readers.”
“I’ll call her now,” Letty said.
“And call your MI5 guy,” Lucas said. “It should be what, eleven o’clock there? He should be up.”
Letty walked away to do that, leaving Lucas and Rae to talk. Greet picked up on the first ring: “You on the plane?”
“Not yet. I have some information requests from the, uh, marshals.”
“That’s okay, you can say, ‘Dad.’ ”
“And Rae, too.” Letty gave her the list, then asked, “Are you moving?”
“Yes. The Secretary’s on his way to the White House. He got it, he’s taking it seriously, and he’s excited. He won’t get to the President, I don’t think, but he’ll get to the chief of staff. He gave me the go-ahead to set up a working group. I’m getting them together now, and he’ll be reaching out to the director of MI5 tomorrow morning,” Greet said. “But I’ve got some unpleasant news, too. It turns out we don’t really have biological emergency response teams, as such. We’ve got all kinds of studies, we’ve got the gear, we’ve got designated people. But we really don’t have apackage. FEMA is scrambling around trying to get everything together, but real immediate support…Idon’t know. I have the Secretary screaming at the FEMA director, so there’s that.” FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I’ll pass that on to the others. I’ll call Alec in a minute. He may have already talked to his director.”
“Okay. You should be boarding the plane in twenty minutes or so. Call me when you get to Albuquerque. I’ll still be up.”
Letty called Hawkins. His phone rang three times and Hawkins asked, “You find him?”
“No, just getting started. I’ve got a list for you. Stuff we need from MI5.”
“Give it to me. I spoke to the director, a rare pleasure, I have to say. We’re setting up a working group here, led right from the top. I’m on my way to Albuquerque at the crack of dawn. I’ll pass your list on before I go.”
She gave him the list, and he said, “That’s easy enough, we’ve actually already talked about most of these items. By the by, I got Scott’s emails from Dr. Carr. No help there.”
“Damn.”
“Yes. I had some hopes. So. With any luck, I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“My father’s on the task force. I didn’t mention our…friendship.”
“Should that be a concern? I mean, I know he’s heavily armed, but you’re practically a spinster.”
“Thank you. I’ll treasure the comment,” Letty said. “But you, and he, share some, uh, personality traits, so he’ll figure things out. If he gets too paternal, I’ll tell him to back off, but, you know, I love him.”
“I will tread with care,” Hawkins said.
“Not too much care.”
He laughed: “No. I can promise you that.”
—
