Fear No Evil

Chapter 60

Mahoney got to his feet. “That’s our case. What else do you have in that database of yours?”

Vance said, “About the three dead men?”

“And about the Alejandro cartel,” I said. “Who’s running it now? And who’s got such a beef with the cartel they’d be willing to pull a homicidal stunt like this?”

Vance said, “I can’t tell you any of that because I honestly don’t know. We have not been given the green light to do that kind of precision sift yet.”

“But you can do it.”

“We can try.”

“I’ll get the FBI director to authorize your precision sift,” Mahoney said. “And we’ll want a bunch of other questions answered while you’re at it.”

“Such as?”

Sampson said, “Who is M? Who or what is Maestro? What’s the common denominator that points to one person or one group of people? Why has Maestro declared war on the cartel? Where does M get all his information? And how does he manage to keep track of people? It’s as if he has access to real-time NSA-level data.”

Vance frowned. “I’d have to see the data you’re relying on to support that, Detective. But I agree it sounds as if this Maestro or M must have an edge.”

I said, “And a small army, including someone who supposedly died in Afghanistan five years ago.”

The CEO sat back. “For real?”

“Perfect biometric match for a dead man,” Mahoney said, nodding.

“Where do you want us to start?” Vance said. “You need to imagine the data that might yield what you are looking for and get it for us.”

“Start with the most recent attack on the Hernandez family,” I said. “Find the cell phones that organized the attack.”

Vance squinted. “They probably used burners. But if we get the right data, we could look for communications going to Mexico from the greater DC area. And with the right permissions, we can look at all security feeds within ten miles of the attack site.”

Mahoney said, “We’ll get that authorization to you ASAP.”

Vance smiled as he shook our hands. “Whatever you need, gentlemen. Paladin is here to help in any way we can.”

Out in the parking lot, Mahoney read a brief from Washington. “They want us all on the next flight to Mexico City,” he said.

Sampson cleared his throat.

I said, “Nana Mama, Bree, and Jannie will be glad to take care of Willow.”

He struggled but said, “Mexico City, then.”

“You two take the direct flight from Boston,” I said. “I’m going to need to make a detour first.”