“Everything’s as promised, right?”

  “Fit as a fiddle. Just get the money. And don’t come by my house again, ever. We meet at the gas station only. Got it?”

  There was a moment of silence, then Lee realized that Sully must have nodded, because the front door opened. Lee thought about getting up and crossing the roof, hiding behind the peak, but knew it would make a lot of noise if he moved fast. He had to flatten and hope Sully or Glover wouldn’t look up.

  Just then, lights illuminated the street outside. A vehicle was coming up the road.

  It was Diane, Lee noted, relaxing a bit. She wouldn’t give him away.

  Diane pulled up into their driveway just as Sully walked into view, heading for his car. The man turned his head away, trying to keep Diane from seeing his face, then climbed into the Camry.

  Glover came out with the scanner in his hand, saw Diane was there, and turned around and went back inside.

  There was nothing Sully could do to prevent Diane from seeing his license plate, but still, Sully drove away quickly. By then, Diane was at the front door, holding a Wal-Mart grocery bag Lee knew to be a prop. Probably it was her jacket inside, not food. She opened the door and went into the living/dining room, then around the corner into the kitchen area.

  Lee moved very slowly to the corner of the roof, listening after every step, then eased down off the roof, crouching low beside the building. His cell phone vibrated again. He brought out the device and looked at the display. The first message reported that Diane was coming home. The current message said she saw him on the roof.

  Lee nodded to himself, looking across into the window, where Diane was barely visible over by the kitchen, her cell phone in hand.

  He sent her the text message: “Lt me no wn I cn mv.”

  There was a quick response: “k.”

  Lee waited for about ten minutes, and finally Glover’s porch light went out. Another three minutes went by, and Lee felt the vibration of a call. The text message was simple: “go.”

  Lee made no sound as he walked to the fence, stepped over, then walked across the road into the shadows of his house. Once he was out of sight of Glover’s, he ran around to the back door. Diane was waiting.

  “Got some news,” she said, then noted his expression as he stepped inside.

  “Me, too. I think Glover took the Klein kid.”

  Diane just stared at him for a moment. “No shit?”

  “He and Sully were careful not to give specifics, even after Glover scanned for bugs. But yeah, that’s my guess.”

  “That fits with some of the news I have, but yours first. Coffee?” Diane moved over to the coffee maker and began to fill it without waiting for an answer.

  Five minutes later, they were sitting at the dining room table, munching on sweet rolls and sipping hot java. Lee had just brought her up to date.

  “It sounds like you’ve nailed it, Lee. I’ve heard and seen a lot of sick things since I joined the Bureau, but to refer to this little boy as ‘merchandise’ adds a new low. I still find it hard to believe a pedophile would pay someone to steal a kid for him. These kind of people are usually loners. Having anyone else know what they’re doing, well … they just don’t do that.”

  “I was thinking about that, too. Sully doesn’t have a record for any under-age sexual activity, though he could have just been lucky so far. Or maybe it’s just business, and he doesn’t really plan on harming the boy—at least physically. Remember all that camera gear he was supposedly collecting?”

  “It wasn’t at the house we visited tonight. I talked with Officer Moore on the phone while you were roof-dropping, and she gave me the skinny on what she found in his home. There was no porno of any kind, just a few R-rated DVDs, no kiddie photos or indication that a child had been there, well, except for a Halloween mask. He had a pistol in a locked box and no contraband at all. The place was clean, and there were no hiding places she could find in the time she had. He didn’t have a computer, either, so she couldn’t check it out. He was arrogant the entire search, recommending places for her to look. Sully sure made it look like he’s clean.”

  “Andrea Moore is used to reading people who are lying or keeping secrets. A mask would allow Sully to be around the boy without showing his face, if he planned on letting him go later on. Did she ask him about it?”

  “Yeah. He said it was a gag gift from the crew at his tire dealership a year or two ago. So he kept it. He threw it away while she was watching.”

  “Believable. He wouldn’t get any trick-or-treaters at the house, and Halloween is still months away. What did her gut tell her about Sully?”

  “Andrea said that beneath his act of indignation she thought he was really pretty nervous and hiding something. Any eye contact he made was whenever he was busy playing his role. When she caught him off guard, he usually looked away. And he was sweating the whole time.”

  “That fits with what I overheard. But there’s more, right?”

  Diane nodded. “And it fits with Sully having to raise some cash for something big. Before I met with Andrea, I got a call from SAC Logan. Sully sold two of his properties within the last year, one of them at a considerable loss and the other within the past month. That must be where the cash is coming from.”

  “We might be able to lean on Sully if he knows something about the kidnapping. Sweat him out,” Lee suggested.

  “He’d just point his finger at Glover and ask for protection. All Glover would need to do, unless we could somehow produce the boy, is claim that Sully is lying and where’s the proof? Without any, we’d be stuck. Glover would stay away from where he’s hiding Timothy Klein, knowing we’d be watching, and the child would be in even greater danger. Besides, we really don’t know for sure they’re talking about a kidnapping. It could be stolen property, drugs, you name it.”

  “‘Fit as a fiddle’ implies something that is alive,” he pointed out.

  “Or a Mercedes convertible in excellent condition.”

  “Either way, Glover is the key, but we’re going to have to handle him carefully. There’s another place he owns, visits, or controls, apparently. The place with the ‘merchandise.’ Hasn’t Logan been able to get any more details on the guy?” he asked.

  “Some, and here’s where the kidnapping angle comes in,” Diane began. “Glover has twenty years of military service. The last five of that was spent as part of a military unit trained to snatch enemy soldiers and bring them in for interrogation. He never made it to sergeant in all that time, but he received extensive training and has combat experience and service ribbons. Glover gets a pension, but his records indicate the army was glad to get rid of him, and jumped at the chance for a medical discharge for some minor injury. He’d been disciplined a half-dozen times over the years. You won’t be surprised to learn Glover has a problem with authority.”

  “Everything seems to fit. Is it possible Glover owns, or is renting or leasing, other property we just don’t know about?” Lee asked. “In a different name?”

  “Maybe someone he’s been pushing around is letting him use a place? If that’s the case, there wouldn’t be any paperwork because everything would be under the owner’s name. If it’s Sully, then he might know a possible location for the merchandise.”

  “Can we get a list from the retired judge that put us onto Glover that’ll give us some hints on where to check? Even gossip the judge overheard would be a place to start,” Lee said.

  “I wish we had more options regarding listening devices. Bugging Glover or Sully’s vehicles or residences would be risky, though. Glover knows he’s living on the edge, and he’s going to continue those sweeps. If we plant a bug and he spots it, he won’t go anywhere near something that can get him arrested.”

  “He’d probably leave the device in place, clam up, lay low, and be on his guard for a tail,” Lee agreed. “We could install a bug we can turn on and off by remote, but if the sweeper he has is an upgrade of one of those old Scan-Lock receivers, it’ll zero in once we activate it, even for a moment or two. It’s too big a risk.”

  “Especially because at the moment he doesn’t know who we are, or that we’re this close to nailing him for something. If he spots any of the high-tech gadgets I can get from the Bureau, we’ll really blow our cover. To get that extra intelligence it might be better to use a low-tech solution. We need to put a full-time tail on Sully and Glover, someone with the skills to avoid detection. Together we can cover Glover. But we need someone to follow Sully. He’s paranoid by now, obviously, but he doesn’t have the countersurveillance training Glover has picked up. With Glover using bug-detection gear, we have to be very careful when using anything high-tech unless it’s completely out of his league, like NSA- or CIA-level hardware.”

  “Let’s do some quick checking, and see if we can borrow Officer Moore and some APD officers to cover Sully in their jurisdiction. Most of his properties are in Albuquerque. The trick is, what about in the East Mountains? The sheriff’s department deputies working this side of the county are still suspect,” Lee pointed out.

  “We still need somebody who knows the area. How about someone in your department? If not a current patrol officer, then maybe a state cop who’s worked the area before?” Diane asked.

  “Well, this assignment originated with the state police, so let me see if Captain Kelly can get someone for us.”

  An hour later, Lee and Diane had used their contacts to get the cooperation of the Albuquerque police chief. A state police officer, Felix Rodriguez, currently working out of the Albuquerque district, would begin tailing Sully in the morning. Officer Moore would try and determine his location, checking first at the cabin, then keep him in sight until State Patrolman Rodriguez took over.

  With their strategy in place, Lee and Diane went over their intel, checking out the people in the East Mountain area who may have been corrupted or mistreated by Glover. That list included current county law enforcement personnel working the East Mountain division.

  “Here’s Deputy Harmon,” Diane pointed out. “He’s hauled in Glover twice on criminal complaints, but the charges were dropped both times when the complainants or witnesses recanted. One witness who recanted lives right down the street, a Martin C. Weiner. I remember seeing the name on a mailbox.”

  “We can’t trust Deputy Harmon yet, that’s for sure,” Lee agreed. “How about we go over this information one more time before we send it to our secure website, then you get some sleep? You look beat.”

  Diane yawned. “Good idea. I’m going to have to talk to Anna first thing and work out a new schedule. If I drop the job completely and just hang out, Glover might get suspicious with neither of us employed.”

  “Suppose you can get fired?”

  “Yeah. But is Glover going to wonder where our money is coming from then?”

  “Let him think we’re into something illegal. He doesn’t have a job, after all.”

  “Yeah, and he already knows you have a criminal record. But that said, I’d still like to hang on to the job a bit longer. Maybe I can get more information about Glover—like where he may have property. Stuff that is off the records. The official hunt for Timothy Klein is at a standstill right now, but we may be on the trail to finding him—if Glover snatched him for Sully’s entertainment.”

  “You have a point. So we’ll play it day by day, depending on how tricky it gets to keep track of Glover. Let’s go through these files one more time.”

  Diane yawned again, then scooted her chair over closer so she could see the screen images on the laptop a little better. “Ready.”

  Crap. I’ve got a flat, Lee,” Diane said, coming back up onto the porch. The sun was just creeping over the horizon and she was ready to leave for her cover job at the store in Tijeras.

  Lee came out, having already put on his sunblock and long sleeves after the shower. He adjusted the bill on his cap, sunglasses on, and looked toward Glover’s house. The Jeep was in the driveway and there was no sign of anyone moving around inside. Lee had watched the house until around 4:00 A.M. then grabbed two hours of sleep, knowing that if their neighbor drove away, the engine noise would awaken him. “Glover?”

  Diane shrugged. “There’s a screw in the tread. It’s all scratched up, but that’s what I’d expect on this graveled road. I suppose he could have come over and done the deed during the night. But why not just stick a knife in the sidewall?”

  “He could have sneaked over while I was grabbing a few z’s just before dawn, but he’d have probably done more than just mess up one tire. And it would be clearly deliberate, so we’d know it was him. We can change it in ten. You’ve got the time, right?”

  She looked at her watch. “Barely.”

  They moved quickly, Diane getting out the jack and Lee the spare. Once the flat tire was off the ground, Lee used the lug wrench and quickly took off the flat and replaced it with the full-size spare. They were both experienced at this task, and the job was done in close to seven minutes.

  Lee placed the spare in the bed of the truck and the jack on the floorboards. “We’ll stow it properly later. The first break you get at the store, you might want to take this to Sully’s garage to be fixed. You’ll want a spare coming home.”

  “Okay. Gotta go now. I’ll call with anything I learn, and you do the same. Good luck today,” Diane said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “And remember to keep plenty of sunblock at hand.”

  “Always.” He put his arms around her, holding her close for a moment. “Good to see you’re wearing your vest,” he whispered gently.

  “You aren’t. Put it on before you come outside again. Our next-door neighbor is the biggest threat to you, sunlight not included.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Lee stepped back and released her.

  “’Bye.” Diane gave him that wrinkly nose smile, then climbed into the truck and drove down the dusty road.

  Lee looked over toward Glover’s house. There was still no sign of activity, so Lee went back inside.

  A short time later, Lee’s cell phone rang. It was Diane.

  “Lee, this just isn’t my day. Just had a blow out. It was the spare. I’ve pulled over three or four miles down the road. Between mile markers, I think.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah. There was a pop and a few scary moments, but the tire stayed on the rim. Fortunately I was just coming out of a curve and going pretty slow.”

  “Want me to come and get you? It’ll mean leaving Glover alone for a while.”

  “Up to you. I can always call the station in Tijeras. But that’ll take a half hour or so, at least, even if they send someone right away.”

  “I’ll take you and the original tire into Tijeras. Once it’s fixed, we can arrange for someone to pick up the truck and drop it off at Howard’s.” Lee was already turning on the video monitoring so that their place would be covered while he was gone.

  “How about I call Officer Rodriguez and have him relocate to the main highway? If Glover goes south past Sully’s turnoff, Felix can pick him up, and if north, Glover will have to pass by us. There’s just the one highway.”

  “Sounds like a good idea unless Glover is really familiar with the off-road trails. I’m on my way. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Lee was walking down the steps of the porch now, adjusting his cap for maximum coverage. Early in the day, the sun could penetrate areas usually covered later on, and he’d always been forced to put sunblock around his hairline.

  He was wearing long sleeves and plenty of sunblock so he tossed his jacket on the seat beside him as he climbed into the SUV. Besides, the ballistic vest under his shirt was hot. Two minutes later, he reached the main highway and turned left. Diane said she was only a few miles down the road, on the right, and there were no Jeeps in his rearview mirror. Maybe Glover was sleeping in, not even leaving his home unless it was absolutely necessary.

  Lee opened all the vents, enjoying the fresh mountain air as he drove down the narrow highway, still getting complete harmful wavelength light protection from the window glass. Picking up speed until the SUV reached sixty, he could see an old pickup ahead. Probably somebody going to work, but otherwise there didn’t seem to be much traffic. Anyone working in the city had left a half hour or more ago.

  Along this stretch the forest came right up to the road and Lee breathed in the scent of pine needles and a faint undertone of wildflowers. Fall was still over two months away, and they should be gone by then. Too bad. The leaves on the aspens would be turning to gold, and the scrub oaks to a deep red. Here he was reminded of the tall trees in the Chuska Mountains of the Navajo Nation, along the Arizona border. It seemed wetter here, but after growing up in the Four Corners, any forest was welcome to a child of the desert.

  A van was now visible in the rearview mirror, one he thought he remembered being parked beside one of the houses in his neighborhood. Probably someone else pushing the envelope getting to work.

  As he entered a tight, right-hand uphill curve, Lee slowed, seeing Diane’s vehicle ahead. She was waving on the driver in the old pickup, who’d obviously slowed and offered help.

  Lee looked ahead for the best place to pull over and realized that Diane had taken the only viable spot to her right. The best alternative was a wide section right across from her at the far end of the curve on the left side of the road. He’d park there and go across to get the salvageable tire and Diane. It was better than trying to double-park on a nearly blind curve.

  Signaling, Lee quickly pulled off across the oncoming lane onto the wide spot of shoulder, then stopped.

  He climbed out, then turned around to see how far back the oncoming van was, intending on crossing as soon as it passed. Suddenly he felt a pinpoint of heat on the back of his neck.

  Lee spun around. Glover was standing just within the forest, trying to keep the laser sight of his .45 on him.

  Glover fired, and Lee, still in motion, felt something slam into his arm. There was searing pain beneath his arm and another explosion, and Lee dropped to the ground.