TEDDY WALKED A few blocks until he found a hotel. He went in as if he belonged there and asked if they had computers for the guests. The concierge directed him to the back of the lobby where a small business office was set up with computers, a printer, and even a fax machine. Teddy logged onto one of the computers and sent an encrypted e-mail to Mille Martindale reporting his progress. It was short, as there was none. He logged off, and left the hotel.
Teddy went back to the apartment Dino had rented for him, the one no one knew about. Nonetheless, he checked to see that it was undisturbed, and that no one had planted any bugs. When he was satisfied, he took out a new burner phone and called Kevin Cushman in Washington, D.C.
Kevin was not a part of the federal government, at least not officially, but Teddy had used him on occasion. Kevin lived with his mother and spent most of the day lounging around in his pajamas playing video games. That, coupled with his screen name, Warplord924, gave the impression he was a college dropout, but Kevin was actually a well-respected computer technician pulling down six figures a year.
Kevin was glad to hear from him. “Is this who I think it is?”
“It is. And thank you for not saying the name.”
“I’m not sure I know the name.”
“I’m grateful nonetheless.”
“Is this an official call?”
“It is.”
“What do you need?”
“Something impossible.”
“I’m your man.”
“I need to know if there’s been an Internet search for a particular name. Can it be done?”
“It depends on how it’s trending. How many searches are we talking about?”
“One.”
“You want to know if one person has searched for this name?”
“I know it doesn’t sound promising.”
“Hey, you had me at ‘impossible.’”
“Can it be done?”
“It’ll be tough. You take any given name and someone will have searched for it sometime.”
“Within the last two days.”
“That helps. Tell me, you didn’t do an Internet search for this guy yourself, did you? Because then I’d get a false positive.”
“I didn’t. Can you do it?”
“Hang on, I’m thinking.”
“I’ll mark it on my calendar.”
“Huh?”
“That’s the first time I gave you something hard enough you had to think about it.”
“This is going to take a little time. Can I call you back?”
“All right, just this once. But after that, I contact you.”
“Gotcha. What’s the name you’re tracing?”
“This time it’s Melvin Melbourne.”
“‘This time’? Boy, you give a guy an inch,” Kevin said, and hung up.
HE CALLED BACK fifteen minutes later. “No one has searched for Melvin Melbourne in the last two days.”
“Can you tell me how you know?”
“How much time have you got?”
“Point taken. So you can search for any name but I can’t?”
“Unless you want to start computer classes.”
“Okay. Keep checking on that name. If you get a hit, can you tell if the search originated in Paris?”
“Of course.”
“In that case, make a note and we’ll discuss it the next time we talk. It’s probably just my quarry satisfying his curiosity. But if you get a search originating in another country, that’s pay dirt. In that case, send me an encrypted e-mail with the word yes. If I need to, I’ll get in touch.”
“Will do. Is that all?”
“Until I give you the next name.”
TEDDY WENT BACK to the embassy and asked the young man at the front desk for Agent Norton. This time he was shown right in.
“So,” Norton said, “any progress?”
“Nothing worth reporting. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Oh?”
“From what I’ve observed, there’s nothing much going on at the moment. I’m probably the most exciting thing that’s happened in months. Your agents are eager to know what I’m about. It occurs to me I may be followed, and since your men are good, I wouldn’t necessarily know it. While I’m in Paris—while I’m in any city, for that matter—I keep getaway money and a spare passport in a locker at the train station. Should one of your agents report this, just keep it quiet, will you? Don’t put it in a report or pass it on to the other agents. It’s just between you and me.”
“You’re planning on taking off?”
“I’d hate to break your heart, but if I’m given a pressing assignment, yes.”
“Will they tell you what it is?”
Teddy smiled.
“Two other field agents are here today, if you’d like to meet them.”
“I hope they didn’t come in from the cold just to meet me,” Teddy said. Norton ignored the comment, but Teddy got the impression that Paris was not typically an active enough location to merit undercover work. “So who have we got?”
“Agent Valerie Paul was particularly eager to meet you.”
“By all means. Show her in.”
Valerie Paul was the type of woman who might have been the Paris office’s sexy shill, if they hadn’t happened to already have Kristin Rowan. Teddy wondered if that rankled. Valerie had brown hair, blue eyes, and a suspicious nature. Teddy knew she’d be following him from the moment he said hello.
“So what are you doing here, Agent Dressler?” she asked.
“I’m here on assignment, so something is going to happen. I’ve been talking to the people at the Agency trying to figure out what that is.”
She smiled. “And you expect me to believe that?”
“I’d be disappointed if you did. I doubt if they sent me here just to find out if agents were gullible.” Before she could respond, he added, “So what are you doing here? I understand you’re on assignment.”
“Just routine. There are certain foreign nationals we keep track of when they’re in town. I handed off my assignment to Agent Kristin Rowan early this morning. I believe you met her yesterday.”
“I probably did,” Teddy said. “I met so many agents.”
Valerie smiled. “Yes. She said I’d find you deflective.”
“That was actually in my profile, before I got it redacted.”
The intercom buzzed. Norton picked it up, listened, and said, “Send him in.”
A young agent came in. He was slightly shorter than Agent Reynolds, but a rough-and-ready type. Teddy would have picked him in a fight. He looked like he needed a shave. It went with his image.
“This is Agent Workman,” Norton said. “Agent Workman, this is Agent Dressler, temporarily on assignment.”
Workman shook Teddy’s hand. “‘Temporarily’?”
Teddy shrugged. “I go where they tell me.”
“And they told you to come here?”
“Yes.”
“What for?”
“I assume they’re preparing for something.”
“They haven’t told you what?”
“They never tell me more than they have to. You know how it goes.”
Agent Workman gave a look as if he didn’t really know how it goes at all. As if, in fact, he felt Teddy was full of bullshit. Teddy couldn’t blame him.
“Look, guys, I’m on your side. I won’t be able to prove it until something happens, but when it does, you’ll be glad to have me. In the meantime, what do you say we get out of the station chief’s hair, and let me treat you to a cup of coffee.”
“Coffee’s free.”
“Even better.”
Teddy took them down to the commissary. Jacques looked up from his computer as they went by, but it was just a casual glance. He didn’t try to catch Teddy’s eye.
They got themselves coffee and sat at one of the tables.
“All right,” Teddy said. “Now that we’re not being judged by the boss, let’s get down to brass tacks. Something happened here, and someone knows what it is. I don’t necessarily mean in the Agency, it could be something in town. Whatever it was, it was enough to raise a red flag and result in my presence. So what’s been going on recently? Is there any little thing—any incident—that could have raised the alarm?”
“Rami disappeared,” Workman said. Valerie shot him a glance. “Well, he asked. It’s not like we fucked up or anything. It’s something that happened in the last few weeks.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Not much to tell. We monitor certain foreign diplomats.”
“If you can call them diplomats,” Valerie said.
“That is the polite term. Enemy agents or spies would be more accurate. Anyway, one of the Middle Eastern agents we were concerned with—Rami, a Syrian—was here for a few days and we were keeping tabs. Suddenly he was gone. It doesn’t have to mean anything. People change their plans. People get called home.”
“Was this of any particular concern?”
“None. It’s the sort of thing that happens from time to time. But when you ask for any incident, we’re hard pressed to come up with one. That’s the only one I can think of, and that’s stretching it.”
“I’ll say,” Valerie said. She seemed more than a little defensive. Teddy wondered if she had been on duty when the man disappeared.
“Was there anything to indicate the man had dropped out of sight, as opposed to just going home?”
“It was sudden and unexpected,” Workman said.
“Why? What did you expect him to do?”
“We expected him to be in town for a week. That’s what his plans were. He’d only been here two days when he dropped off the map.”
“Could it be because he noticed he was under surveillance?”
Valerie bristled. “No, but if you want to take it that way, feel free.”
“It’s a tough business,” Teddy said. “You’re watching people, someone else is watching you. Somehow or other it all means something, but you can’t spend your time wondering if you had a good day. I’m just trying to sort out what happened. I’m trying to figure out why, and what you base your opinion on. If you were under the impression that you were spotted, that would support your conclusion that the guy took off. But no one’s blaming you. Don’t fall into Norton’s trap. He thinks I’m here to reassess the station. He’s afraid for his job. Don’t be afraid for yours.”
“That isn’t what I’m thinking at all,” Valerie Paul said.
“I’m glad to hear it. This guy who disappeared—Rami—how’d you know he planned to be here for a week?”
“That’s how long his hotel reservation was.”
“He was staying at a hotel? Which one?”
“L’Arrington.”