With the team back at work, even Thrower joined in the search. He sat down at a computer. He wasn’t as comfortable with the systems as the rest of the team, so he was a bit slower, but every little bit helped. The four men were working for an hour, quietly, before the silence was interrupted. Recker’s phone started ringing. His main phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Mia.
“Hey, can’t really talk right now,” Recker said, mindful of the bug in the room.
Mia couldn’t get out the words fast enough. “Mike, someone’s here.”
“What do you mean, someone’s there?”
“I mean… I… I just got word that someone was asking for me.”
“What? Who? Who was asking for you?”
All eyes in the room suddenly shifted toward him, hearing the seriousness of the conversation.
“I don’t know,” Mia said. Her voice was bouncing up and down, clearly worried. “Someone from the front desk buzzed up to me and told me someone was there waiting for me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. They said it’s some guy named Mike. I don’t know a Mike other than you.”
“Maybe a parent, some other hospital staff?”
“They told the receptionist to let me know that they were waiting for me down there.”
“When’s your shift done?” Recker asked.
“About twenty minutes.”
“Don’t move. Stay right there until you hear from me.”
Recker got up, and right away, Jones pointed to the listening device. Recker threw his hands up. There wasn’t anything he could do about that. If someone was listening, they’d obviously know where Recker was now headed. Of course, if it was the person they thought it was, he wasn’t listening at the moment because he was already at the hospital.
“Want a hand?” Haley asked.
Recker stopped as he reached the door, thinking about it. “Uh, no.” He didn’t want to give the impression that anything had changed. If someone was listening, they’d assume Recker wouldn’t bring Haley with him and leave Jones exposed. Unless they had something up their sleeve. It was a cat-and-mouse game at this point. And they had to think two steps ahead. “No, you stay with David. I don’t want him alone right now. I’ll handle this.”
“You know where I am if you need me.”
Recker left the office and raced down the steps, running quickly around the building until he reached his car. Once inside his vehicle, he floored it until he reached the hospital. When he finally got to the medical building, he rushed inside. Before going anywhere, he took a look around the lobby, not that he knew what he was looking for. He supposed he was just looking for something that stood out to him. A suspicious-looking person, for whatever that meant. But with as busy as a hospital could be, picking out someone without knowing what he was looking for was about the same odds as the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Not seeing anything obvious, Recker went up to Mia’s floor. He let her know he was there, and Mia came out a few minutes later. She immediately hugged him upon seeing him.
“I don’t know why I’m so scared. I’m sorry.”
“Because we don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Recker said. “You did the right thing. Anything else happen?”
Mia shook her head. “No. Nothing. Maybe I’m just paranoid about everything. Maybe it’s really nothing.”
“No, you did what you should have. Did you leave anything out before?”
“Um, I don’t think so. They said someone named Mike was down there asking for me. I didn’t talk to whoever it was. They just said they were waiting for me.”
“OK. Let’s go down and see.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mia asked.
“Look, I’m here. Nothing’s going to happen. If it was something to do with this thing we’re dealing with, they’re probably gone by now.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Then maybe it’s a thankful parent or something, and then you can put your mind at ease.”
Mia nodded, willing to go along. They went over to the elevator, with Recker’s head on a swivel the entire time. He was ready for the surprise, if one came. Even though he mentioned to his girlfriend about the possibility of something else, he personally didn’t believe it. He assumed it was the person behind Jones’ problem. Too much of a coincidence for it not to be.
They rode down on the elevator, with no one else in it with them. Once they got to the main floor, Recker stepped out first to make sure there wasn’t a problem waiting for them. There didn’t seem to be. It was the time of night where visitors started dispersing and the building wasn’t as busy as earlier in the day. But there were still a few here and there. Still, Recker looked for the signs of someone waiting for them. Someone just standing around, a person leaning against the wall nearby, someone who didn’t appear to be doing anything, all the things that would indicate someone had business other than visiting a sick patient. But Recker didn’t see any of those things. He glanced back at his girlfriend to let her know it was safe.
“I think we’re good.”
Mia stepped off the elevator, sticking close to her boyfriend. A short walk down the hallway, and then a right turn, and they were at the front desk. Mia knew the woman that was working there and went up to her.
“Hey, is that person still here that asked for me?”
“Oh, um…” the woman looked around, searching for the man. “No, I actually don’t see him. He was here just a few minutes ago. I don’t know where he went.”
“You didn’t see him leave?” Recker asked.
“No, I didn’t. I’ve had a few other people that I was helping.”
“It’s OK. No problem. What’d he look like?”
“Um, green jacket, like the military kind, green hat, pulled down kind of low. That’s all I really noticed. There was nothing really special about him.”
“What about his age?” Recker asked.
“Let’s see. Age… around… forties or fifties? I’m not really good at guessing ages. But somewhere around there, I think? Is everything OK?”
Recker gave her a smile, not wanting to alarm her. “Oh yeah. Everything’s fine. Just trying to figure out if it was a friend or not. Someone we’d recognize.”
“Oh. Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t see him leave. Come to think of it, he might have left right after you came in.”
The wheels started turning in Recker’s mind. He wondered if maybe the man wasn’t here for Mia at all. Maybe he was just here to see what Recker would do. Mia bid goodbye to the woman, and she and Recker went over to the front window, staring at the parking lot.
“Do you see something?” Mia asked.
“No.”
“Then why are we standing here looking at parked cars?”
“Thinking.”
“About?”
“What’s going on here,” Recker said.
“Come up with anything.”
“Nothing concrete.”
“I get the feeling you’re not telling me something.”
Recker shrugged. “Just a hunch.”
“Can you tell me about it, or am I gonna have to drag it out of you by asking another hundred questions for an hour?”
Recker took a deep breath, trying to sort out everything he was thinking in his own mind, first. “What if this was just an… experiment?”
“An experiment? What kind of experiment?”
“He’s watching to see what we’ll do in certain situations. How fast we’ll get somewhere, what our movements will be, what our reactions are.”
Mia understood what he was getting at and had a few thoughts of her own. “Maybe that’s his plan. He’s figuring out what will draw everyone out. What would it take to get everyone away from David?”
Recker nodded. “If that’s what he’s doing, I suspect we’ll get a few more like this over the next few days. Various circumstances.”
“But what would draw Chris out? He doesn’t have a girlfriend or anyone really close to him other than us.”
Recker continued staring at the cars. He didn’t have a good answer. “I don’t know. I guess that’s something we’d have to find out when it happens. If it happens. I don’t know. Maybe I’m completely wrong about all of it. Maybe it’s as simple as the guy was hoping you’d come down and not ask any questions. Then when you got here, he’d take you, hold you for hostage, ransom, maybe exchange you for David. I don’t know.”
Mia took a few more looks around the lobby. With everything that was happening, she was feeling a bit creeped out by staying there.
“How ‘bout we just get out of here and figure everything out later?”
Recker looked over at her and smiled, then kissed her on the cheek. “Good idea. Should I bring the car up?”
“No way. I am walking out there with you.”
Recker started walking toward the door, though Mia remained stationary. She didn’t move a single step, instead, still looking out the window at the cars. Recker came back over to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“What if the guy’s still out there?”
Recker took a look through the window. “I doubt he is.”
“But what if he’s out there waiting for us?”
“Then I’ll deal with it.”
Mia sighed. “Do you ever get tired of dealing with all this?” She said it in the most genuine and pleasant way possible. There were no inferences involved.
“Sometimes. I know I won’t be doing this the rest of my life. But right now, it just is what it is. Have to live in the moment.”
“Sometimes I hate living in these moments.”
“I know,” Recker said. “And I’m sorry.”
Mia looked at him and smiled. “No, I’m sorry. I wasn’t implying anything. I know what I signed up for.”
“The signature’s erasable. You know that?”
She reached up and kissed him. “Mine’s written in non-erasable ink. It’s not possible.”
Recker grabbed hold of her hand. “You ready?”
Mia nodded. “Yeah.”
They proceeded to walk out the door. It was dark outside, so they wouldn’t be able to see someone approaching as well as they would if it were light out. Recker and Mia kept their heads constantly spinning. They walked through the lot on the way to Recker’s car. About halfway there, they suddenly stopped, startled when they heard a voice.
“Recker!”
Recker pushed Mia down and instantly removed his gun, ready to fire as soon as he located the target. His body spun three hundred and sixty degrees. He didn’t see anything.
“Who’s out there?” Mia asked, sitting on the pavement, her back pressed against the tire of a car.
“I don’t know. I don’t see anyone.”
“Recker!” the voice yelled out again.
Recker’s head spun around again. He couldn’t locate where the sound was coming from. He looked down for a second to check on Mia.
“You OK?”
“I’m fine,” she replied.
“Let’s get out of here.”
He reached his hand down to help her up. Then they kept moving to the car. They were only a minute or two away from it. But they were ready for a fight any moment. They moved slowly, not wanting to run right into a problem. Luckily, and surprisingly, they reached Recker’s vehicle without incident. Once the doors were unlocked, Mia quickly hopped in the passenger seat. Recker was about to get behind the wheel, but noticed something on his windshield. It looked like a piece of paper with some writing on it. He reached his hand around and grabbed it. He then read it.
“I’m way ahead of you.”
Before getting in his car, Recker took one last look around to make sure no one was there. It seemed clear. He then got in.
“What’s that?” Mia asked.
Recker handed her the note. “Message.”
“What’s it mean?”
“Means he’s overconfident.” A smile slowly formed on Recker’s face. His girlfriend noticed the sudden change.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because I think our friend finally made a mistake.”
Mia wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first. Then she looked at the note. “You mean this?”
Recker nodded. “Yeah.”
Mia looked at it again. “I don’t get it. Just seems like he’s bragging. What’s special about it?”
Recker reached over and pointed at the letters. “It’s handwritten.”
Mia still wasn’t seeing it. “So?”
“So maybe I can take another trip to Maryland in the morning and show this to our NSA friends.”
The look on Mia’s face indicated she still wasn’t getting it. Then, like a light turning on, her face lit up, seemingly understanding what he was getting at. “The handwriting.”
Recker smiled. “The handwriting. They can analyze it and see if it matches any of the people that they’re looking at. Or anyone else that works there.”
“How long would that take?”
“I don’t know. I guess it depends on how good this sample is. I’ll call Maggie and see if I can meet her down there in the morning.” Recker looked out his window again. “But first I wanna get out of this parking lot before we find there are other surprises waiting for us.”
Mia’s face matched that of her boyfriend’s. For the first time, they believed there was hope. They actually had a lead.