The 6:20 Man

Chapter 51

The notebook Devine was using was full of scribbles, notes, and thought balloons that had resulted in calculations, lists of entities, dollar and foreign-currency amounts, along with dates of transactions and other data. And lots and lots of question marks.

Devine yawned and drank down another cup of coffee. He was in his room on his bed. He had downloaded the video images he’d taken of Area 51 from his phone onto his laptop and had gone through pretty much all of them. He next looked at the feed on his phone from the camera he had planted. Area 51 was still roaring along. He could clearly make out some of the screens from the surveillance camera he’d planted.

He had seen the Locust Group mentioned many more times. And he had also seen money flowing to Chilton’s Mayflower Enterprises. Nearly three million in one night.

He looked at his watch. It was almost four o’clock in the morning.

He decided he needed to work out. He changed and was leaving when he saw the light under Jill Tapshaw’s door. He knocked.

“Jill, you’re up early. Everything okay?”

She opened the door, fully dressed and beaming. “I’m being interviewed by a magazine in Amsterdam.”

“What time does your flight leave?”

“Don’t be dumb. It’s on Zoom.”

“What’s the name of the magazine?”

“The Magazine. I mean, isn’t that clever? Although that’s the translated name. It’s something else in Dutch. I don’t think I could speak Dutch. The words are too long and there are too many consonants.”

He smiled and quipped, “But they have great coffee and even better weed.”

“They’re one of the hottest online publications in Europe, Travis. And their subscription base and Hummingbird’s sweet-spot users are a perfect mesh. We’ve been trying to beef up our international exposure and this will do it.”

Her enthusiasm made him feel better, even this early in the morning.

“Go knock ’em dead.”

Her smile faded. “I forgot to ask you before. Why were the police here yesterday morning? It was early but I got woken up when I heard them knock on the door, and then I saw the police lights outside. You know my room faces the street.”

“Oh, that? It was... nothing.”

She looked at him crossly. “Travis, the police don’t show up for nothing.”

“Okay, I was working out at the high school like I always do and somebody tried to mug me.”

“Mug you!”

“I’m fine, Jill, just fine. It was just a couple of punks.”

“Did... did they hurt you?” She ran her gaze all over him. Fortunately, he’d had the presence of mind to put his bandaged hand behind his back so she wouldn’t see he’d been wounded.

“No, not at all. They saw how big I was and they just took off. But they had a knife and stuff, so I thought I better alert the police. So, not to alarm you or anything, but keep your eyes open, okay? Anything looks suspicious, call the cops. And you’re really bad about not locking the back door when you come in from the garage. And lock your car up. Start doing all that, okay? None of us can be too careful.”

“Sure, Travis, I will.” She looked at his workout clothes. “Should you go back over there after that?”

“I’m not.” He held up a flashlight. “I’m just going to go for a run. Now, go get some Dutch people to start dating.”

Her smile returned. “I will. Thanks.”

As he walked off, Devine thought that if Hancock tried to do anything to Jill or Helen or Will, Devine would hunt the man down and rip him apart.

Later, showered and changed into his suit, Devine walked off to the station.

On the train he kept checking his phone to make sure the surveillance camera was still working. He still marveled at the amount of money and transactions moving through that digital space.

He didn’t expect to see Michelle Montgomery after what had happened the previous night, but he was wrong, because there she was in her bikini. She didn’t look at the train or wave. She looked tired; her shoulders slumped. She must have come back here with Cowl. He didn’t blame her for getting up early to meditate by the pool after what had happened the previous night.

I do owe her more than I could ever repay.

He got to the city and jumped on the subway. He checked his phone again and got a shock.

The entire operation in Area 51 had shut down. The computer screens were black. The servers were no longer humming. It was dead.

When he got to the office building two men were standing out front. For some reason he thought they were waiting for him.

Shoemaker and Ekman looked like they had been up all night.

Devine approached them and said, “I thought I looked like crap until I saw you two.”

“Stuff the bullshit, Devine. We have a major problem, which means you have a major problem.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Where were you last night between midnight and three?”

“Home.”

“Anybody verify that?”

“At that time people are in bed, including me. And what do I need another alibi for, anyway?”

“Jennifer Stamos was found murdered at her home,” said Ekman grimly.