Running Dark

45

BANNER STOOD IN THE AIRPORT IN FRANKFURT READING A TEXT message from Stromeyer describing Rickell’s suspected condition and asking him to track the man down. He estimated that Rickell had a twelve-hour lead on him, easy. Banner headed to the rental car desk to get a vehicle. He would drive to Bad Homburg himself. No need for a driver to witness Rickell’s condition. The fewer witnesses the better. Once in the car, he called Stromeyer.

“I have bad news,” she said.

“Is it about Cooley? I already saw it on the Internet.”

“That and Agents Tarrant and Church are tailing me. I would never have made it to work if it weren’t for Stan.” She described her escape route through Stan’s garage. “I’m cutting through his property so often that pretty soon I’m going to have to pay the man for an easement.”

Banner smiled a little at that as he drove the car. It had started to rain, and the windshield wipers slapped back and forth in a soothing rhythm.

“Tell me about Rickell. What’s his favorite game?”

“According to Plower, he’s an avid poker player.”

“At least he’s smart enough not to get caught playing publicly at a craps table. How do you think this poison works?”

“It seems to remove one’s inhibitions and accelerate addictions.”

Perhaps Rickell was thinking about gambling when they hit him and it triggered old behaviors. And Caldridge was in a dangerous spot. She probably already had running away on her mind when she was hit. Stromeyer’s explanation made sense. Perhaps the drug identified emotions bubbling under the surface, acted on them, and brought them to the fore.

“If you get anything further, let me know. I’ll check Bad Homburg and call you when I’m done.”

Banner stayed in the right-hand lane, letting all faster traffic pass him while he brooded about the FBI, Darkview, and Cooley. The harassment was all tied to the pipeline, but he couldn’t figure out how the pen poisonings connected to it. His phone rang. He shoved the earpiece into his ear before answering. A quick glance at the screen identified Stromeyer as the caller.

“New information just came in. He’s been spotted at the Bahnhofsviertel.”

“That’s not good,” Banner said.

“Why? Is it a casino?”

“It’s a quarter located near the Frankfurt train station that has a lot of prostitutes.”

Stromeyer didn’t say anything for a moment. “Well, that’s not all bad. I mean, prostitution is legal in Germany, isn’t it?”

Banner swung the car into a side street and began a three-point turn in order to reverse direction and head back to Frankfurt. At this rate I’ll be in this car all night, he thought.

“I hope this intelligence is reliable,” he said to Stromeyer. “I don’t want to spend my evening driving back and forth between Bad Homburg and Frankfurt. And yes, prostitution is legal here, but I imagine that the good folks in America will be less than enthused once they discover their undersecretary for international security policy and procedure is doing some field research by visiting hookers in foreign countries. Not to mention his wife. Is he married?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Stromeyer said.

“Give me a name, a street, anything. Otherwise it’s going to be a long night visiting brothels.”

“That’s all I’ve got. Guess you’ll just have to bite the bullet. Who knows? Maybe some of the girls will be interesting.”

Banner groaned. “Sure. They’ll all be students working their way through medical school.”

“From good families fallen on bad times,” Stromeyer said.

“Well raised, with excellent manners.”

“That, too.” She was laughing now.

“I’ll call you when I find him. In the meantime watch your back. Don’t go home without an escort, and don’t stay there without security.”

“Want some good news?” Stromeyer said.

“Yes.”

“Plower arranged for their office to pay last month’s invoice in full.”

“The one who’s bad at paperwork? I’m surprised she even knew where to find the bill.”

“I gave her a copy. Good luck locating her boss. If you save him, we just might get hired again. We need the work. Since the raid, the phones are ringing off the hook with reporters calling for a story, but not one new client. This keeps up for long, we’re going under.”

“I won’t quit until I find him. But every minute he keeps me from Dubai is another minute that Sumner and Caldridge are placed at further risk. At some point we’ll have to pull the plug here.”

“I know. Good luck. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“I’ve yet to figure out what you will or won’t do.”

“Be safe out there, and when you come back, I’ll run it down for you.”

“Now, there’s an incentive.” Banner listened to Stromeyer’s laugh before clicking off the phone.