Ridley Pearson - Cut and Run

When Larson returned to the bar, Montgomery was leaning back and drawing a pattern on the sweating glass with a stubby finger. Larson complained about the cell phone service on the island.

“It’s hit-and-miss over there,” Montgomery admitted. “There’s one carrier that’s better than the others, but for the life of me I don’t remember which one it is.”

“How soon are those meals being delivered?”

A tanned older woman with the stretched skin of too many face lifts eyed Larson over a clear cocktail. He wondered what it said about him when seventy-year-olds were making eyes at him. He smiled awkwardly back at her.

“Every night, seven o’clock.” He checked his watch. “You got ten minutes to kill.”

Larson didn’t appreciate the terminology. “Who’s delivering?”

“Probably Orlando tonight.”

“Don’t tell him anything about this. We want the delivery to go just as it does any other night.”

“Got it,” Montgomery said. “South end of the beach, there’s a road to your right. Follow it to the end. The Sand Dollar is second on the left. It’s marked. You want my cart?”

“I’ll walk.”

“ Orlando ’ll drive a cart down there a couple minutes before seven,” the old guy said. “Make sure he’s gone before you do anything, ’kay? He’s a good kid. He doesn’t need any trouble.”

They shook hands, and Larson was gone.

– Dr. Markowitz?

– Who is asking?

Worried her actions could cost Penny’s life, Hope wondered what she’d gotten herself into as she debated how to answer that query. Her fingers hovered over the keys. Finally, she typed:

– A mother. The Romeros have taken my daughter. I need your help.

– No. I cannot help you.

– You left the port open on purpose.

– Yes.

– So you want help. So do I. Is my daughter there with you?

– No.

– You must help me.

The line remained blank, the cursor blinking like a winking eye.

– They took my grandson, Adam. If my daughter-her family-says anything, they threatened to kill him. Rescue my grandson and I will do anything.

Hope stared at the flashing cursor on her screen, her fingers suddenly frozen. His answer was so unexpected, she wasn’t sure what to do. Finally she wrote the only thing she could think to write.

– Where is my daughter?

The question sat on the screen, the cursor blinking. She waited for his line of text to come beneath hers.

– Follow the e-mail .

As she lifted her hands to the keyboard, the dialogue box suddenly disappeared. At first she thought it was a malfunction. With Miller still on the line, she said, “What just happened?”

“Terminated.” She heard the furious clicking of a keyboard. “From his end ,” Miller reported. Then, just as quickly: “Oh, shit.” He blurted it out like a man unaccustomed to swearing. “They just pinged you!”

“What?”

“Shut off your machine! Lose the connection right now !”

Hope stood from the edge of the bed, the keyboard spilling from her lap and crashing to the carpet. She lunged for the television remote, left on the small circular table by the windows. She pushed buttons, but nothing happened, only to realize she had the remote aimed backwards. She turned it around, hit MENU and worked through the choices. When she hit RETURN TO LIVE TV, an episode of Seinfeld appeared.

“Dr. Miller?” she inquired, back on the phone now.

“They pinged you. Do you understand?”

“Follow the e-mail,” she said, repeating what she’d read.

“The port had to be open, you see? Unsecured, to do this.” He seemed to be talking to himself, apologizing. “By pinging you, they went straight back to whatever machine you’re using. Understand? There was nothing I could do about it.”

“What e-mail is he talking about?” she repeated.

“That ping will return a unique ID for you.”

She thought of Larson. “They’ll be under arrest before they can do anything about it.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Yes, we do, actually. Now, calm down and think,” she told him. She was close to Penny now-she could feel it. “We need to concentrate on what he told us. Follow the e-mail. Can you trace any e-mail he may have sent through your network?”

“I’ve put you in danger.”

She pulled the phone away from her face and took a deep breath, then resumed. “Doctor, I need you to concentrate.”

Lizards scampered noisily through the brittle dead leaves amid the overgrown tangle on both sides of the lane. Dusk had ridden away while Larson had shared drinks with Montgomery. The sky retained a smoky blue haze as a few determined stars struggled through. Rum pulsed inside him, competing with adrenaline and the lingering effects of the espresso. He longed for backup, but he’d already made that choice.

Despite what he’d let Hope think, he doubted he’d find Penny with Markowitz. The Romeros were too smart to lump together their assets. But Markowitz remained a possible link-a lead worth following-and Larson was intent on making that connection.

He moved off the narrow road of sand and crushed shell and ducked into the tangle of jungle plants. The ground was soft here and spongy beneath his feet.

OSPREY, the house sign announced above the front door. No lights on. No electric cart out front.

The sand in front of the home was cratered with water marks from heavy rain, undisturbed by either wheels or footprints and suggesting the OSPREY stood empty.

Larson carefully picked his way through the undergrowth, coming up on the north side of what, from Montgomery ’s directions, was The Sand Dollar. Constructed on stilts to survive a storm surge, the first floor of these homes stood twelve feet above sea level. Larson would have to climb either the front or back stairs to get any kind of look inside. Caged in by white-painted lattice fencing that surrounded the ground-level carport, a crusty golf-cart charger sat on the sand, its dial glowing, wires like sleeping snakes. The cart itself was missing, driven down to the marina-Larson thought-supporting what Montgomery had told him: One of the three had taken off unexpectedly. Alongside a rust-brown propane tank, two air-conditioning units rumbled and a pair of vinyl garbage cans overflowed with trash.

Above the loud drone of the air conditioner, Larson heard hurried footsteps overhead. Someone going up and down stairs. Shouting, although too muted to make out the words.

What if the other man had not left the island but instead was bringing the Valentis’ boat around in order to load up and evacuate the professor? What if Miller’s electronic probing had somehow been detected? Or what if Markowitz’s work was complete: Laena now fully decrypted? What if Markowitz himself was expected at the upcoming mob meeting?

A room light glowed from the first floor. Larson reached down and touched the butt of his Glock but did not arm himself.

For the next ten minutes he patiently awaited delivery of dinner from the inn. His ears whined. The air smelled sour; everything on this island was rotting at a different pace. A motor grumbled at a distance, and Larson thought he’d been right about the evacuation plan. But as it grew louder, it sounded more like a plane, and then all at once a seaplane flew past, low to the water, lights flashing, not thirty yards away. Larson took advantage of the noise and distraction to climb the back steps to The Sand Dollar.

There, his fears and his theory were confirmed as he nearly tripped over two rollerboard suitcases and a cardboard box stacked outside at the top of the stairs. Through a kitchen door that was primarily glass, he saw the kitchen countertops in disarray, glass and plastic bottles of every variety, from peanut butter to cranberry juice, some empty, some not, all lined up on a center island like soldiers. Fingerprints , he realized. Any surface capable of carrying a fingerprint had been brought out of the cupboards and sequestered. Wiped down, no doubt.