Steve Martini - The Rule of Nine

I rip the lining and reach inside. It’s a small black book the size of a pocket calendar. I don’t have time to open it. I just jam it in my pocket and start throwing clothes and shoes, the shaving kit, all of it in a jumbled mess inside the suitcases. I zip up the large bag, set it on the floor, and pull the zipper around on the smaller one just as I hear them approach the doorway. I set it on the floor, then turn and smile.

“Did you get the address?” I ask.

“Absolutely,” says Herman. “Pablo is very efficient and professional. He assures me that he said nothing to Señor Johnston about our efforts to serve him.”

“Good man,” I tell him.

“Of course, that is your business,” says Pablo. “When I give my word, it is important that I keep it.”

“Yes, indeed,” says Herman. “Let’s let Pablo lock up so I can go down and check out. Then we gotta get out of here.”

“Yes, we do,” I tell him.

Less than an hour later, we’re back in the room at the Hotel Melia. Joselyn dries her hair with a towel and watches over my shoulder as Herman and I pore over the booty from Thorn’s suitcases.

Herman opens up one of the passports and shows her a more current picture of Thorn.

“He hasn’t changed much at all,” she says. “That’s how I remember him from Seattle. Dorian Gray.”

“What’s this, I wonder?” I’m looking through the little black book. The first page is covered in a long series of numbers, dark blue ink pressed firmly into the paper as if the writer has a tendency to push too hard.

“It looks like a code of some kind,” says Joselyn.

There is a separate set of numbers on each line.

“Could be dates,” says Joselyn.

“What do you mean? There’re too many numbers on each line,” I say.

“Turn the page,” she says.

I do it and the numbers continue, for two more pages. The writing is precise, very neat, but looks hard, as if the ballpoint engraved itself in the fine paper.

“What it looks like to me is a series of dates,” says Joselyn, “at least the first six numbers on each line. Look, they’re set off by a space from the rest of the numbers on the line. It’s like two columns. The dates could be international style, not like we do it in the States. The number of the day followed by the number of the month, and then the last two digits for the year.”

“Then what’s the rest of it?” I ask. “The other numbers?”

Joselyn uses her finger and counts the numbers on each line. “Assuming the first six numbers represent dates, then there are ten additional numbers on each line. Could be phone numbers,” she says. “Area code and then seven more for the local number. Give me a second,” she says.

She tosses the towel on the bed and gets her cell phone out of her purse. “Take the numbers on the first line, forget the first six and just give me the last ten,” she says.

I read them to her and she keys them into her phone. She listens for a second, then hangs up. “Nope. It’s disconnected. Give me the next one.”

We try again.

“No, it can’t be phone numbers, must be something else,” she says.

I flip the pages. “Not necessarily. Try this one.” I read it to her and watch as she dials.

I hear it ring. She gives me a wide-eyed look and a thumbs-up. It answers, a kind of synthesized voice, not human but computer generated. It is loud enough to make out the words from where I am sitting. “Speak clearly in order to be identified.”

“Hello,” says Joselyn. Suddenly the line goes dead. She looks at her phone. “I think I dropped the call.”

“Let me try.” I dial the same number on my cell, get the same synthesized voice with the same message “Speak clearly in order to be identified.” The second I say, “Who is this?” it hangs up.

“What is it?” says Herman.

“It must be set up on some kind of voice-identification system,” I tell him. “If the wrong person calls in, it hangs up. It’s obviously a system for Thorn to communicate with someone. Probably a backup copy. He must have another one he works from and keeps this one in the suitcase in case he loses it.”

“How come that number answered but the other ones didn’t?” says Joselyn.

“It’s the phone number for today’s date,” I tell her. “And there is one more for the day after tomorrow, and that’s it.”

“So what does that mean?” she says.

“Either Thorn gets another set of communication codes,” says Herman, “or else by then whatever he’s up to is gonna be finished. What’s today’s date?”

“October second,” I say.

“So that means the fourth, which is what, Monday?”

“Yeah,” I say.

“And all we know, at least according to Pablo, is that sometime Monday his luggage is supposed to be in Washington. What’s the name of the hotel?” I ask.

“The Washington Court,” says Herman.

“I know it well,” says Joselyn. “It’s right downtown, walking distance to the Capitol.”

“So what do we do?” I slowly flip each page of the little book as we talk. After the code, the book is blank, not a mark on it.

“Be a waste of time to call the cops again,” says Herman. “We tell them that Thorn’s still alive, they’re just gonna say so what. That means he wasn’t on the plane. As far as they’re concerned, maybe he wasn’t even involved in it.”

“I agree,” says Joselyn. “Listen, if Thorn’s headed to Washington, why don’t you let me make a phone call. I have a contact who I believe should be able to get some action.”

“Who’s that?” says Herman.

“I can’t tell you. You’ll have to trust me. But I know he can reach all the way to the highest levels of the Justice Department.”

“You got that kind of juice, do it,” says Herman. “You have any problem with that?” Herman looks at me.

“One question. Will we be able to get information back from your contact?” I ask her.

“What do you mean?” she says.

“I mean, if they pick up Thorn in D.C. and he lawyers up, we may lose any hope of identifying or locating Liquida. Will you be able to get information from your man regarding Liquida?”

“That’s a good point. Let me find out,” she says.

“Go ahead and call him,” I tell her.

Joselyn takes her phone and heads into the bathroom. She closes the door to make her call.

“Secretive,” says Herman.

“I suspect that’s her big source on weapons systems,” I tell him. “That’s how she got all the details after the attack in Coronado. Leaks from friends in high places.”

I reach the last page of the little book, not a single mark, only the communications code on the first three pages. I’m about to flip it onto the table when I notice that the last page has been ripped out. The front and back cover of the moleskin pocket book is stiffened with cardboard.

“Herman, do me a favor. In my briefcase you’ll find a pencil in the pocket up top. Get it for me, will you?”

Herman gets the pencil as I examine the inside of the back cover, holding it up at an angle to the light.

“Whatya find?” Herman hands me the pencil.

“I don’t know. Have you got that knife?”

Herman fishes it out of his pocket. “I want it back,” he says.

“I found it,” I tell him.

“I’ll arm-wrestle you for it.”

“I value my elbow joint too much. You can keep it.” I open the knife and shave the pencil point on one side to expose more of the lead. Then I take the flat edge of the pencil and rub it gently back and forth over the impression carved in the white paper covering the inside of the back cover of the little book. Slowly the writing from the missing page emerges in the form of white letters from the growing panel of slate gray graphite. It is in the same neat hand as the coded numbers: “Waters of Death, Second Road, Pattaya, Thailand.” A group of numbers follow, nine digits in all, separated in sets of three with a space between each set, and the name “J. Snyder, 214 S. Pitt St., Alexandria, VA.”