Daylight

Chapter 49

“Cheer up, I’m not dead yet, Bobby.”

Robert Puller sat bolt upright in his chair, where he’d been dozing.

His brother was now staring at him from under the layer of tubes and lines.

“You’re supposed to be heavily sedated,” said Robert, drawing his chair nearer the bed. “Yesterday, the doctor said he upped your meds.”

“I have a higher tolerance than most.”

“Are you in pain?”

“Again, higher tolerance.”

“Do you know what happened to you?”

“Just a guess, but I think I got shot.”

Robert smiled. “Okay, jokes are good. That means you’re functioning at a high level.”

“And Jeff Sands?”

“He didn’t make it. The shot that hit you killed him.” Robert leaned forward. “It was close, John. Another inch here or there.”

“Don’t you have an important job to do really far away from here, or is that just a rumor?”

“Excuse me for caring.”

Puller shifted a little bit in his bed. He stared at all the tubes and lines holding him down. “Why do I feel like Gulliver after he got jumped by the Lilliputians?”

“Do you remember anything about what happened?”

“We stepped out into the rear of the diner. Pine was in the lead. I had hold of Sands. I think I heard a pop. And that’s pretty much it.”

“They were obviously targeting him.”

“They must have followed us from the nightclub where we picked Sands up.” Puller looked confused for a moment. “But the guys outside the club were a couple of thugs. I don’t think they’re involved in what happened to Sands.”

“And who exactly do you think is involved?”

Puller looked at his brother. “Well, since it looks like I’m going to be laid up here for a bit, you want to pitch in?”

“Pitch in? As you said, I do have another job.”

“Well, so long as you’re here to hold my hand it might take your mind off other things.”

“I’m listening.”

“You got me to Gloria Miles and she led us to Jeff Sands pretty fast. Miles mentioned you found her through an algorithm?”

Robert went over the algorithm he’d used, as he had already explained to Pine.

Puller nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll have to keep you in mind in future investigations.”

“I have access to technology, databases, and computer networks that the average person doesn’t. But I can’t do that all the time, not even for you, Junior.”

“But you had to feed the algorithm to get anywhere.”

“I just explained to you the factors I loaded in. I pinpointed certain political leadership, and then degrees of separation vis-à-vis family members to see what would pop. Jeff Sands came up and then it was pretty easy to trace the connection to Driscoll.”

“Sands popped up because of his criminal background?”

“As I’m sure you know, he’s never been convicted. But he has been brought in and questioned a number of times. And he has certain business associates who do have criminal records, or at least questionable pasts. My data load factors covered those possibilities.”

“But then his grandfather got the best lawyers involved, and nothing came of it?”

“Apparently so.”

“He told us he didn’t know Tony Vincenzo. Did that name ever pop up in your digging?”

“No. But I stopped pretty much after I got to Peter Driscoll. Then I looked for a connection to the military, and that’s how I got to Gloria Miles.”

“Do you think Driscoll knows his grandson is dead?” asked Puller.

“The Senate majority leader is not without his resources. And at the very least efforts would have been made by NYPD to notify the next of kin. It would take them all of ten seconds. Hell, his father lives right here in New York.”

“Financial guy with lots of bucks.”

“And a new wife and a brand-new family. Not sure how much he’ll mourn his eldest child.”

The brothers gazed at each other, silently communicating something important to both.

Puller said, “Yeah, if I had died, Dad wouldn’t have even been able to process it. He doesn’t know he has two sons.”

“That’s okay, Junior, we do.”

“How soon can I get out of here? The doc didn’t really answer me when I asked last time.”

Robert didn’t look surprised, but he said, “Not anytime soon. You are out of the game, John. Pine is carrying the torch now, just like she told you earlier.”

“She can’t do this by herself. And this wasn’t even her case. She’s working on something personal. She’s only involved because she offered, and I accepted.”

“Don’t know what to tell you. From what I could see the lady is firmly committed to this. And also from what I’ve seen about the lady, I would not try to stop her.”

“She’s going to keep working this thing with no backup at all. That is not good, Bobby.”

“John, I can hang around for a bit, but I’m in uniform. I don’t get to call my own shots.”

“I thought computer geeks could work remotely.”

“This computer geek needs a super-secret SCIF to do his nerding,” replied Robert, referring to a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. “So I can’t just hop on my Mac and get to it.”

“Am I really stuck in this bed? They had me patched up and back in the fight in Afghanistan in no time. And those wounds were worse.”

“In case you weren’t aware, you actually have blood in those veins and you lost a lot of it. Plus the surgeon and the doctor said the round did some internal damage. They’ve got you so patched up you can’t even move your left arm. You’re immobile and for a good reason. You’re looking at a long rehab.”

“To get fully back, you mean?”

Robert dropped his gaze. “To... just get better, John.”

When he looked up his brother was staring dead at him.

“What are you not telling me?” said Puller.

“I’ve told you everything I know. You may make a full and complete recovery—”

“—but I may not.”

“Can you predict the future? Because that gift somehow missed me.”

“Good thing I shoot right-handed, then.”

“You’re not going to be shooting anything for the foreseeable future. Seriously, little brother, if you want a decent chance at getting all the way back, you have to follow doctor’s orders.”

Puller looked away. “You said you stopped at Driscoll?”

“What?”

Puller glanced at his brother. “Driscoll was low-hanging fruit.”

“I just wanted to find a contact to help you with the investigation.”

“Can you do another search, same sort of parameters, and see what else you get?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“If Driscoll is involved in this in some way, what if he’s just the tip of the iceberg?”