Payback

130

“Tommy, this is Rubens.”

“Hey, boss,” said Karr. “Got something?”

“We’ve discovered a vehicle we believe Babin used about twenty miles southwest of Philadelphia. Mr. Dean is there now. The president is going to declare a Red Sky alert.”

“OK.”

“Instruct your pilot to proceed outside of the probable shock area. Mr. Rockman will give you precise directions.”

“Boss—”

“Stay outside of the danger area until the weapon is located. You understand.”

“Yeah, all right.”

“I have something more. Stand by. Mr. Bibleria’s people are just presenting me with information.”

“Lia, check this out,” said Karr, poking her in the back with his handheld computer.

She turned around and took the device. The screen was filled with text.

“What am I looking at?”

“They found a vehicle in Pennsylvania they think Babin used. We have to stay away from Philadelphia. This is some data about someone the police a couple of towns over picked up on the highway, nearby according to Johnny Bib. She’s from Peru. Gotta be a connection. Talk to Telach while I get our flight plan worked out with the pilot.”

Lia looked at the information. According to the bulletin, which had been shared over one of the Homeland Security information sites, the young woman — Calvina Adnese, according to her passport — was nineteen. Her address was in Nevas — at the school Lia had gone to, one of the Art Room analysts had noted.

He’d also pointed out that Calvina had taken a flight from Ecuador to Mexico a few days before.

A picture from her passport was included on the next screen. Lia stared at it. It looked to her like the girl she’d seen in the hallway, the one who’d been sick. But of course hundreds or even thousands of girls would go through that school.

Had her name been Calvina?

“Marie?” Lia said to Telach over the Deep Black com system.

“I’m here.”

“This girl the police picked up in Pennsylvania,” she said. “Has she been interviewed?”

“No, the FBI is still en route. We’re setting up our own phone interview with one of our translators in the Art Room.”

“I’d like to talk to her myself,” said Lia. “I’ll put a video bug on the dashboard here so she can see me.”

“We’ll have to see if they have a video hookup. Otherwise you can do it by your com system.”

“I want to see her, and I want her to see me. Have someone go back in the mission tape for the school at Nevas. I talked to a girl there. See if her name was Calvina.”