David Baldacci - Daylight

“Wait a minute,” exclaimed Cassidy. “Just hold on. I’m trying to process all this and it ain’t easy. Just . . . just let me breathe, willya? I mean, Jesus.”

“Okay, take all the time you need, keeping in mind that patience is not my virtue.”

Cassidy chewed on a nail while Danforth slumped in the rear seat looking like he might start crying.

“Okay, look, we were working some drug deals.”

“But no drugs can get into Fort Dix. Lindsey Axilrod told me that. She probably regrets it now because it was probably the only true thing she ever told me. They have drug-sniffing dogs at all entrances.”

Cassidy grinned. “Yeah, but who said we were selling the drugs at Fort Dix?” He glanced at Danforth. “Right? We were at Fort Dix, but not the drugs, or the customers.”

“Where were the customers then?”

“All around.”

“How did you get involved?”

“Through Tony. He needed some guys. And he knew we were handy, and—”

“—didn’t mind breaking the law?”

Cassidy shrugged but smiled.

“But again, why Fort Dix?”

“Tony worked there, so there was that.”

“Who got him involved?”

“He told me once. His old man had a friend on the outside.”

“This old friend have a name?”

“Ricky, or Johnny, or something like that. Anyway, Teddy was in the can, he couldn’t do nothing. But he got Ricky or Johnny to ring up Tony.”

“Nice of Dad to do that. So the Fort Dix connection is just because of Tony?”

“I guess so.”

“No, I’m not buying that. Because you’re leaving out Lindsey Axilrod. She’s been at Fort Dix longer than Tony. I checked. So why do I think Tony was feeding you a bunch of bullshit about his old man’s friend, Ricky-Johnny, and it was Axilrod who pulled him in? And then he needed a couple of guys and pulled you two in.”

“I guess it could have gone down that way.”

“What were your jobs with the drug ring? How did you two add value?”

Cassidy grinned, suddenly animated. “We drive Army vehicles. From here to there. Everywhere. Guess what happens when you drive Army rides?”

“The cops don’t stop and search your vehicles for drugs,” said Pine.

“Bingo. We’d drive outta Fort Dix, take a slight detour, and the vehicle gets filled up with the stuff. They were pros, took maybe ten minutes at best. Then we continue on our way. Right before we get to where we’re going, we’re met by another team and get unloaded. Then we head on. Simple, right?”

“So you two never dealt with any customers?”

“No. Tony did the pills. But Axilrod was calling the shots. She’s a computer girl. Can do anything with that shit.”

“Which also means she can move money digitally all over the world and leave no trail.”

“I seen her working one time. This was at her place. Her fingers flying over the damn keyboard. After she was done, she turns to me and says, ‘You know what you just saw?’ And I said, ‘no, what?’ She said, ‘You just saw a billion bucks go down a rabbit hole.’ ”

“Were Axilrod and Tony a thing?”

“They might’a hooked up now and then. Tony is slick. He knows how to talk to the ladies. Lindsey liked him. She got him the perk at the penthouse. That’s how we got to go.”

“So Tony is below her in the food chain. And who is Axilrod working for?”

“We never knew any of that.”

“Come on, Cassidy, your deal is starting to fade to nothing.”

“Swear to God. Swear on my old granny’s grave.”

Pine eyed Danforth, who was looking at her and nodding.

“Okay, I guess I believe that. I mean, why would they let you two knuckleheads have that kind of leverage.”

“Leverage?” said Cassidy. “What does that mean?”

“It means it proves my point. Okay, I really need to find Tony. Any thoughts on that?”

Cassidy shook his head, but Pine was watching Danforth in the rearview mirror. His expression was such that an idea might actually be forming in his very small brain.

“Yeah?” said Pine expectantly.

“Tony and me were drinking one night. And he mentioned a place.”

“What place?”

“His granddad’s old place. It was on the Jersey Shore.”

“His granddad? You mean Ito?”

“I guess so. Tony said the dude made money selling ice cream.”

“That’s the guy. Keep talking.”

“Anyway, Tony would go there sometimes.”

“You ever go with him?”

“Once. It was a nice little house on the beach. Really old, no AC, and they had space heaters, but then Tony had added one of them pellet stoves. Hell, they needed that in the winter ’cause you could see outside through cracks in the wall. We sat on the sand and had beer and buckets of wings. It was sweet.”

“What was the name of the town?”

“I got it in my phone. I used my GPS to get there.”

She had him text the address to her phone.

“Well, Jack Nicholson is from there,” said Pine, reading a bit about Manasquan, New Jersey, which was located on the Atlantic Ocean. “Went to high school there.”

“Cool,” said Cassidy. “He was the Joker in that old Batman movie, right?”

“Okay, I’m going to make a call and you two are going into protective custody. You got that?”

“Hey, I just want to stay breathing,” said Cassidy.

“Don’t we all,” replied Pine.

CHAPTER

54

IT WAS A LITTLE LESS THAN an hour’s drive from Trenton to the borough of Manasquan, and it was dusk by the time Pine got there. Along the way she had called Blum and told her what she’d found out and also where she was headed.

“Neither Gorman nor Franklin have left the building,” reported Blum. “I’ve had far too much tea and coffee, but every time I went to the bathroom, I left my phone camera on video so I could see if either of them left. It was the best I could do.”

“That was quick thinking, Carol.”

“I think the folks who work at the café are either wondering if I’m suffering from dementia and don’t know how to get home, or thinking I’m interviewing for a job.”

“Either way, just stay right where you are, and call me if anything develops.”

“And you be careful, Agent Pine.”

Driving through the quaint downtown, Pine saw it was full of small shops and restaurants. However, at this time of year, it was pretty well deserted, with many bars and restaurants closed for the season. But there were a few places open, and people were walking up and down the sidewalks while cars drifted past. Some parked, and people got out of them and went into several of the shops.

It looked like any other sleepy beach town in the off-season. The smell of salt air lay thick over everything, like a compression shirt. She breathed it in and felt comforted somehow. She didn’t get those smells in Arizona.

Pine also spotted many large and elaborately constructed single-family homes on the beachfront. They looked fairly new and were undoubtedly expensive to build. But then again, it was oceanfront property and they weren’t making any more of that.

She had loaded into her GPS the address Danforth had provided. She had taken both men to the RA in Trenton and explained what she wanted done. Neither of the agents on duty seemed inclined to take on this responsibility until Pine mentioned that they should call Clint Dobbs, head of the Phoenix Field Office, if they had doubts about helping. They told Pine that wouldn’t be necessary and that they would see to the safety of the two soldiers, including contacting Fort Dix to let them know the men would not be back on base for the foreseeable future.

As she neared her destination, Pine slowed her car and looked for a place to park. She found an empty lot that had beach access and pulled in there. The Atlantic spread out gray and foamy in front of her. The wind was chilly, the skies as pewter in color as the frothy ocean, which was broken only by the slash of whitecaps and the folding of breakers.