Stuart Woods: Santa Fe Edge

Now, knowing the layout of the house, Teddy let himself quietly inside and peeked around a corner to see her doing something at the kitchen counter. He walked silently to her and chopped her across the back of the neck with the edge of a hand, then caught her and led her easily to the floor. Then he walked toward the bedroom.

As Teddy turned a corner he got a look at the rumpled bed, which was empty. He heard water running in the bathroom and stood by the door, his back pressed against the wall. He removed the nine-millimeter pistol from the holster on his belt and waited. The toilet flushed, and Bacon walked out.

Teddy pressed the barrel of the pistol to the back of Todd’s neck. “Stand perfectly still and listen to me,” he said. “Cross your arms in front of you.” Todd did so. “I’m leaving Santa Fe tonight,” Teddy said, “and if you follow me, if I ever lay eyes on you again, anywhere in the world, I’ll going to kill you immediately, if not sooner. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“You can’t run forever, Teddy,” Todd said. “They’ll keep sending people until they find you.”

“You’re out of your league, Todd. Remember what I said.” He rapped Todd on the back of the head sharply with the barrel of his pistol, and the young man sank to the floor in a heap.

Teddy left the house and walked back to his car.

DOLLY CAME TO FIRST. She didn’t understand immediately what had happened to her, but she put a hand to the back of her neck and found it sore. That son of a bitch! Why had he done that? She grabbed a butcher knife and walked back to the bedroom, staggering a little. Todd lay crumpled at the foot of the bed. “What the hell?” Dolly said aloud.

Todd stirred a little, and she turned him over and pinched his cheeks. “Wake up!” she yelled at him.

Todd’s eyelids fluttered, and he focused on her face. “What?” he said.

“Somebody’s been here,” she said. “What’s going on?”

Todd struggled up onto one elbow and felt the back of his head, which was damp. He looked at his hand and found blood on it, then got to his feet and sat down heavily on the bed. “Get me some ice in a towel,” he said.

She went to the kitchen and returned, and he held the ice pack to the back of his head.

“Did you see anyone?” he asked.

Dolly sat down beside him. “No. I was getting some ice out of the fridge for a drink, and the next thing I knew I woke up on the floor.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, but I’m going to have a hell of a headache tomorrow morning,” she said.

“That makes two of us,” Todd replied, looking at the towel, which had only a little blood on it. “That was expert,” he said to no one in particular. He started looking for his clothes.

“What has happened here?” she demanded.

“I can tell you only that it’s work-related.”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Back to the hotel. I want to wake up in my own bed. I’m leaving town tomorrow.”

“I’m leaving here pretty soon myself,” Dolly said. “Give me your cell phone number.”

He recited the number, and she wrote it down.

“It’s been fun,” he said, “up until a few minutes ago.”

TEDDY GOT HOME in time for a drink and a good dinner, then before he turned in, he went to his computer, logged on to the Agency mainframe, making his location Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and addressed and composed an e-mail message.

TODD GOT BACK to his hotel room, took three aspirin and sent Holly Barker an e-mail. “He’s gone. I’m moving on to Sedona tomorrow.”

David Santiago worked late, finishing up his notes and filling out his application for a warrant. Finally, he locked everything in his desk and made a phone call.

“It’s Cupie.”

“Hey, Cupie. It’s Dave Santiago.”

“You working late, pal?”

“You know the drill.”

“How’d you do with Jim Long?”

“A lot better than I expected. I turned him. I got everything on tape, in exchange for a guarantee of immunity for anything our girl Barbara has done, plus for any testimony he gave at her previous trial.”

“That’s great news, Dave.”

“I’m going to the D.A. first thing tomorrow morning. You got any idea where the girl is, Cupie?”

“First of all, it’s dangerous to think of her as a girl. Think monster.”

“C’mon. How tough can she be?”

“Well, the first time I ever set eyes on her I followed her out of a hotel, and she turned into an alley. I called out to her, and she turned around and shot me.”

“No shit?”

“None at all.”

“I assume you recovered.”

“A couple of inches lower and this would be a very long-distance call,” Cupie said. “Then there’s what she did to Vittorio.”

“What’d she do?”

“We had her on ice, taking her back to the States. We were on the top deck of a ferry across the Sea of Cortez, leaning against the rail, basking in the sunshine, when I had to go to the can. In the two minutes I was gone, I later found out, she hustled Vittorio into giving him a blow job, and while she was at work, she grabbed the bottoms of his jeans and tossed him into the drink.”

“Holy shit.”

“Worse than that-did I mention that Vittorio doesn’t swim?”

“How’d you get him back?”

“He found something to hang on to, and a few minutes later a fishing boat picked him up. You see what you’re dealing with now?”

“I think I’m getting the picture. Any idea where she is?”

“She’ll end up here in Santa Fe,” Cupie said, “because she’s got this wild hair up her ass about killing Ed Eagle. She might be in Los Alamos.”

“Nah. The Feds went to the Los Alamos house to serve the extradition warrant, and she was gone. They claimed not to know where.”

“Well, she won’t go back to Long’s house,” Cupie said. “He threw her out, and she’s already taken care of her L.A. business, so she could be anywhere. Remember, she uses the Eleanor Keeler name sometimes.”

“Yeah, that’s on my aka list. You got any other names for her?”

“She’s used a lot, but I don’t remember any of them right now.”

“How come you’re still in Santa Fe, Cupie?”

“Vittorio and I are still on the Ed Eagle thing. We screwed it up once already, when Bart Cross got to him, but this time we’ve got the local cops to help.”

“If she turns up there, shoot her for me, will you?”

“It would be my pleasure, Dave, but she’s very, very smart, and I wouldn’t give you odds.”

“Well, I’ll start all over tomorrow,” Santiago said. “Good night, Cupie.”

“Night, Dave.” Both men hung up, and Santiago went home.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING Todd Bacon got up early, went to his computer and did a flight plan for Sedona, then called Flight Services, got a weather report and filed.

He ordered some breakfast from room service. Then, as he was about to start packing up his laptop, he thought he’d check his agency e-mail. There were two messages, the first from Holly Barker.

Message received. Good luck in Sedona.

Then he clicked on the second message, which was from Lance Cabot.

Report to this office Monday, nine a.m., for reassignment.

Apparently Lance and Holly had disagreed on what his next step was. He started to compose a message to Lance requesting more time, but then he thought better of it. If he got more time and failed again, that could reflect negatively on his future at the Agency. After all, he was dealing directly with the DO.

Todd’s instinct was to go on to Sedona. The events of last night had not put him off. Indeed, they had added anger to his motive for finding Teddy. Still, one did not ignore a direct order from the DO. Todd started packing his things.