Daylight (Atlee Pine #3)(52)

“There had to be a leak,” said Blum.

“I agree, but we could never find it. And we looked, long and hard. Checked and rechecked everything.”

“After we left WITSEC, we resettled in Andersonville, Georgia.”

“Yes, I know. Jack and I worked on that.”

“And he was sent down to keep watch over us.”

“Yes.”

“But a man named Ito Vincenzo found us.”

Bennett sat up and drilled her with a fierce stare. “Vincenzo?”

“As in Bruno Vincenzo’s brother. Jack didn’t tell you that part?”

“No, he didn’t. You’re sure. You’re sure it was Bruno’s brother?”

“Yes. Without a doubt.”

“But why would this Ito—?”

“Bruno found out that my mom was a spy for the feds, but he didn’t turn her in. I found a letter that Bruno sent his brother, Ito. In so many words, Bruno intimated that he’d gotten screwed. I’m speculating that he expected some type of sweetheart deal for keeping his mouth shut. Only he went to prison and was killed there.”

“I never knew about any deal offered to Bruno. And I sure as hell didn’t know he knew about your mother working for us.”

“Jack didn’t know, either. He said he would have stopped the op if he had.”

“We would have, yes.”

“If my mother had found out that Bruno could have outed her, could she have offered a deal to him without you knowing about it?”

“She had no authority to do that. She was a mole, she didn’t represent the government,” replied Bennett. He paused and looked pensive. “But I came to know your mother pretty well. She was smart and cunning beyond her years, and what we were asking her to do made her even more so, simply to survive. I think it’s possible that if Bruno approached her and let her know that her cover was blown, she might have pretended to promise him a deal in order to keep her secret. God, she must have been scared. Bruno Vincenzo was one of the mob’s heavy hitters. No one knows how many people that bastard killed.”

Pine considered all of this and said, “I think you’re probably right. So Bruno kept his mouth shut and thought he had a deal. But that deal didn’t come through. Meantime, my mom, my dad, my sister, and I go into hiding. Then Bruno gets arrested and jailed. But before he goes to prison, he writes Ito a letter laying out some of his grievances. And he asks Ito to see him in jail. I think it was at that time that he told Ito we were in Andersonville, which we probably were by then.”

“Do you think Bruno also knew about your locations while you were in WITSEC, and was the catalyst for those attacks?”

“I don’t know. It’s possible. But the mob has long arms. They could have paid off people connected to WITSEC to reveal our locations.”

“What do you know about Ito Vincenzo?” asked Bennett.

“He ran an ice cream parlor in Trenton and was never in trouble with the law. But then I have proof positive that he came down to Georgia, almost killed me, and took my sister. She’s never been seen since.”

“What happened to him?”

“He came back to Trenton after a few months’ absence. He explained that away to his wife and workers by saying he’d been to Italy. Then years later he disappeared again, and this time he never came back.”

Bennett sat back, looking like he had aged ten years in the last couple of minutes. “This is all so extraordinary. It’s like waking up from a bad dream to find yourself in a nightmare. A real one.”

“So the question becomes, how did Ito, a man with no criminal or other helpful connections, find us in Georgia?”

“I think it’s obvious, like you suggested. His brother told him where you were.”

“I agree,” said Pine. “But how did Bruno find out?”

Bennett shook his head. “As I said before, we could never determine the leak.”

“One other thing, Mr. Bennett, did Jack tell you . . . about him and my mother?”

Bennett stiffened and set his drink down. “I’m not sure what you mean?”

Pine drew a long breath, glanced at Blum for a second, and said, “Well, for instance, that Jack is my father?”

Bennett’s expression was one of total shock. He abruptly stood and swayed a bit. His agitation was so great that both dogs started to whine, perhaps sensing their owner’s distress.

“Your father? But that means—”

“Yes, he and my mother were together right before she met Tim.”

Bennett slowly sat back down. “Jesus, maybe that’s why he broke up with Linda. I never could figure that one out.”

Now it was Pine who looked stunned. “Linda? Who’s Linda?”

“Well, back then she was Jack’s fiancée.”





CHAPTER





35





JOHN PULLER KNOCKED ON THE DOOR of General Pitts’s office suite, but when the door opened it was not the aide who had previously greeted him.

“I’m CWO John Puller with CID. General Pitts asked me to meet with him today,” said Puller. He looked over the woman’s shoulders and froze when he saw the moving boxes piled up.