Vegas Moon

32.

There are lots of holes in Darwin’s plan.

I like Darwin, enjoy working for him, but it’s hard to trust a guy who would graft a kill chip to your brain. I mean, call me a bad sport, but it’s not the sort of team-building exercise that inspires confidence.

For me, anyway.

So, in addition to worrying about a deadly terrorist, I have to worry that my own boss could be setting me up. I don’t think he is, but isn’t that when you’re at the highest risk? When you think you’re not?

It would be nice if:

1. Sensory could contact the limo company and tell them not to come. I could get my own limo, and wouldn’t have to deal with the current driver. Except we can’t contact the limo company because you never know who knows who. One of their employees could tip off M when he lands, and we could blow the opportunity to snuff him.

2. I could use my security clearance to wait for M at the gate, follow him to the bathroom, and kill him there. Except that M is too smart to use airport bathrooms.

3. I could wait on the jet way ramp. When M gets off the plane, I could hold him there and force him back on the plane after the passengers disembark. Then kill him and wait for a cleanup crew to remove the body. Except that M will certainly be disguised, and it would be easy for him to slip past me on the jet way. Plus, he could be on a different flight.

4. I could board the plane before the passengers disembark, and ask the flight attendant where Diego Santosch is sitting. Except that M won’t be flying under that name, and it won’t appear on the passenger manifest. And again, he could be on a different flight.

There are other problems.

One is that the intelligence could be wrong, or at least faulty. I’m betting Darwin knows it’s faulty. I mean, if you knew for certain M was on this particular flight, wouldn’t you just isolate the plane on the tarmac and send a team out there to determine which passengers are not M and his followers? It wouldn’t be hard to eliminate ninety percent of the passengers. Then you could arrest the other ten percent, and cull out the innocent with dental records and other manners of proof. What you’re left with, over time, is M. Since the FBI is not doing that, I can safely assume they only think they know that M is on the 10:19 flight, that he’s ordered a limo, and the driver will be waiting for him at the airport, holding a sign.

Or maybe Homeland knows about M being on the plane and hasn’t shared the data with the FBI because they want him dead, not captured.

So many issues to consider. Want some more?

Who’s to say M hasn’t already landed? He could in fact already be at the airport, enjoying a drink, or having a leisurely dinner. He could be sitting in chairs at one gate after another, all afternoon, pretending to wait for various flights to board, and at ten tonight, he’ll head to baggage claim to catch his ride.

He might not have any baggage to claim.

Another problem is the limo driver, who might not be a driver at all. What if he’s an assassin? If he is, he could be working for them, us, or both. His job might be to kill me while I’m trying to find the limo. If I’m out in the limo parking lot looking for a license plate, and he’s waiting for me, I’m a sitting duck.

Another problem is accomplices. What if M is traveling with others on the same flight? If someone sees me holding the sign at baggage claim and approaches me, how will I know for sure it’s M?

Beyond all that, I don’t like the idea of standing in baggage claim holding a sign that shows any possible double-crossers who to shoot.

There’s only one way to sort these possibilities out. One way to successfully identify and kill the bad guy: I’ve got to put myself in M’s shoes. If I’m M, I know the airport is my greatest point of vulnerability. If I’m M, I also know if I can get out of the airport, onto an interstate, it’s game over. I win.

If I were M, how would I do it?

I think about it a few minutes, and come up with a foolproof plan for M.

Now all I have to do is come up with a plan to defeat it.

By the time I land, I’ve got one.