Daylight (Atlee Pine, #3)(101)

“Yes sir.”

“We need to get him back. Any idea where they might be located?”

“We’re working on it, sir, I promise.”

“Give me two hours, Puller. I still have some chits to call in. I think I can get it done. After that I just need a target.”

“I was hoping you would say that. And can I ask a favor?”

“Yes. Anything.”

“I know a certain FBI agent named Atlee Pine who would like to be involved.”

“Can she carry her weight?”

“There will be no problem there, General.”

As soon as he finished with Pitts he called Pine and filled her in on the particulars of what he was planning with General Pitts.

“Thanks for putting in a plug for me to be part of it,” she said sleepily.

“You’d do the same for me.”

She, in turn, filled him in on her conversation with Warren Graham.

“So we have the Bureau and hopefully the military coming at them from different flanks,” said Puller.

“I think it’s going to take all the firepower we can muster,” said Pine. “Hey, don’t military personnel carry RFID microchips in them, particularly an asset like your brother, so they can be tracked down easily?”

“They once thought about doing that, but it was too invasive and, more importantly for the military, too expensive. And there were the privacy concerns. And what do you do when they leave the military? Take it out? So, instead, the military issues GPS trackers that personnel turn in when they muster out.”

“Okay, makes sense.” Pine tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

“And I’m sorry for calling so late. I know I woke you.”

“You’re shaming me, Puller. You’re in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound and you’re still working, while my lazy butt is sleeping. Call me anytime you want.”

Puller laid his phone aside and stared at the ceiling. He looked down at the lines covering him and sighed, feeling helpless for the second time in his life. The first time had been the situation with his father’s dementia. He couldn’t beat that on a battlefield. And now here he was helpless again.

Shit.





CHAPTER





65





PINE AWOKE WITH A JOLT late the following morning and jumped out of bed ready to hit the ground running, her heart racing and her nerves at their highest level. She tottered there for an instant before thinking, What the hell are you doing? Calm down.

She made some coffee and thought about the call from Puller the night before. It sounded like he had the assets to get this done, and now they just needed a location to strike. She checked her phone to see if by any miracle either Blum or Robert Puller had phoned or texted her while she had been asleep. They hadn’t.

There was a text from Clint Dobbs acknowledging receipt of her scanned affidavit. He also added that the ball was rolling, that he had a strategy, and that the Bureau was fully mobilized on this. She was to follow up on any leads she had and relay any progress to both him and Graham.

She let out a long sigh. She had never liked Clint Dobbs all that much. But she did trust the man. He could not be bought, not by anyone.

She spooned some yogurt into her mouth and chomped down on a piece of toast. Then she showered, got dressed, and gunned up. She raced down to the garage, got into her car, and drove off.

Pine was sick of reacting to other people’s moves.

It was time to take the fight to them.

She drove straight to Nora Franklin’s office building and found a parking spot on the street. She knew she would need luck to help her at this juncture. If the woman had gone back to DC or to her office in upstate New York, Pine was screwed.

A half hour later the law enforcement gods answered the call.

A cab pulled up in front of the federal building and Nora Franklin got out and walked inside.

Pine immediately went to the same café where Blum had set up her surveillance.

A light rain had started to fall and the sky was darkening quickly.

She got a seat by the window and stayed there, sipping on a coffee and nibbling on a tuna sandwich. After three hours, one of the employees asked if she needed anything else. The clear implication was for her to leave, though the place was by no means full. Pine ordered another coffee and a bag of chips.

As Pine sat there she suddenly thought of something, maybe a way to get where they needed to go. She pulled out Warren Graham’s card and called his cell. He answered on the second ring.

She told him where she was and what her plan was.

“That’s risky, Pine, very risky. It could turn out disastrous.”

“As disastrous as losing two of our finest, sir?”

He didn’t answer for a long moment while Pine held her breath.

“Do it, Pine. And don’t screw it up.” He gave her a phone number to call when she accomplished her mission. Then he clicked off. Pine could feel the tension in the ether. If they blew this, she, Graham, and everyone associated with this investigation were history. The bad guys would win and America would be done.

At seven o’clock, with the rain ever increasing and the gloom of night falling, Nora Franklin finally came out of the building, a slim leather briefcase tapping against her leg. She must have called an Uber because a Prius pulled up in front of the building right as she came out. She got in and the Prius drove off.