Flame made a list of the equipment and supplies he thought they’d need once they reached Mexico. Some of it he had on hand, the rest he was able to get from his friend Bremby. It would all be shipped via Federal Express—the best way to get weapons through customs.

  All would be waiting at their hotel—the Four Points Sheraton—which was convenient to both the hospital and the town’s center.

  Satisfied that everything at his end was in order, Flame changed and headed out for a run. Dana considered joining him but decided, instead, to return to the computer and see what she could find out from various intelligence sources. It was detail-oriented work and she hoped it would tire her out enough to allow her to sleep.

  She worked at it for nearly three hours, especially looking for informational details on Mapache and his gang—the DEA had quite a complete file on him and Dana pulled in all the data she could including the places he and his people could usually be found. We’re going to need that. As she copied the data, a minor computer notation caught her eye. Mapache was arrested a week or so ago, she noted. And he made a phone call while he was in the local jail. She pulled up NSA’s intel site. I wonder what he wanted to talk about…

  ***

  Flame had just finished his run and returned to his room when Dana knocked on the door.

  “What’s up?” he asked, stripping off his sweat-soaked shirt. “I was just gonna shower.”

  “I found something.” She gestured toward her computer. “Something you should see.” She led him back to the table, called up the file she had found and hit play.

  “Matias?” The voice was Mapache’s, garbled but legible. “The doctor is being unreasonable.” There was a long pause, then: “You will handle it? Good, perhaps his replacement can be made to see reason.”

  The connection clicked as it closed.

  “So he did have Karin’s uncle killed,” Flame sat back on the couch. “Bastard.”

  “There’s more than that,” Dana sat across from him. “The other man—Matias—I did a search with some new voice recognition software and came up with something.” She pulled up another file on the computer and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. “For the past few years, Iran has made efforts to infiltrate several Latin American countries—they’ve installed secret intelligence and training centers where they take in converts to Islam and teach them how to commit acts of international terrorism."

  “Manny told us something about that when we first started briefing in on the Mexican Operation…”

  “One of their organizations blew up a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires,” she frowned. “Eighty-five people were killed. Just three years ago, they tried to use a drug cartel to assassinate a Saudi diplomat.”

  “Yeah,” Flame nodded. “I heard about that one while I was in Afghanistan.”

  “The president signed the ‘Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act’ into law last year to try to assess Iranian-related threats in Central and South America.”

  “And what does all of this have to do with us?”

  “Matias Blanco—the other voice on that phone call—is one of the leaders of the biggest terrorist group in Argentina. He converted to Islam nearly fifteen years ago but hasn’t taken a Muslim name.” She shook her head. “Thinks it might compromise his effectiveness.”

  “Pretty smart.”

  “If Mapache is working with him, it’s likely that they have something big in mind.” Dana searched Flame’s face. “Can we handle it alone?”

  “We’re gonna have to.” Flame shrugged. “You heard what the admiral said.”

  “Okay,” Dana matched his shrug with one of her own. “Now, the next question—are you going to tell Ms. Hachtel what I found?”

  “Would it violate NSA security in any way?”

  “Not after all of Edward Snowden’s leaks.”

  “Then I think I will tell her.” He nodded to himself. “She deserves to know who we’re dealing with.”

  “All right.” Dana picked up the laptop and headed back to the desk. “I’ll see what else I can find out.”

  “I’ll grab a shower while you’re doing that—then we go to lunch.” He smiled and headed into his room. “I have something really special in mind.”

  ***

  “Pizza?” Dana asked an hour later. “You take me out to lunch and we have pizza?”

  “Not just any pizza,” Flame grinned. “This is Famous Ray’s—the best pizza in the world!” He gestured around him. “Look at how crowded it is! New Yorker’s really know their pizza.”

  “I prefer Chicago deep dish myself.”

  “Are you crazy?” Flame shook his head. “You just get a whole mess of extra tomato sauce and it’s impossible to eat with your hand. Look,” he picked up a piece, folded it, and bit off the end—and looked surprised. “Hey!” He grinned. “It tastes like pizza!”

  “Glad to hear it.” Dana actually quite liked pizza—she was just giving her partner a hard time for the hell of it. He just wanted to get me out of the hotel for a while, she told herself. Give me a chance to relax. She smiled. And he’s done just that!

  She picked up another piece of pizza, folded it the way he had showed her, and took a big bite.

  It tasted just fine.

  When they were done, Flame took her on a walk. Ray’s was right on the edge of Greenwich Village and there were lots of things to see and do in the area. He led them through Washington Square Park, where students from nearby NYU threw Frisbees, smoked pot and argued about the state of the world.

  The Strand, the largest bookstore in the United States was his last stop. It carried every kind of book published and Dana spent more than an hour poking through the shelves. She knew she’d have to come back here one day and buy some books for the small but select library she kept in her D.C. apartment.

  From the Strand, Flame took her, tired but happy, back into the subway and uptown.

  “Thank you, Flame,” Dana said to him as they sat down in the subway car.

  “For what?”

  “For forcing me to take a break and giving me a chance to let off some steam.” She looked at him and smiled. “I really needed it.” Her smile widened. “Now I understand some of the things you guys have done after a mission.”

  “It’s important to let yourself stand down.” Flame nodded slowly, “You can’t stay ‘up’ all the time.”

  “How do you let off steam?”

  He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. “I think you know perfectly well how I let off steam!”

  “Last night help?”

  “Yep,” he smiled. “And I’m kinda hoping tonight will be just as good.”

  “I’ll remember to leave when the time comes.”

  “You do that.” His smile widened. “It’s what partners are supposed to do!”

  They smiled and chatted through the rest of the ride, getting back to the hotel relaxed and refreshed with time for a nap before meeting Karin for dinner.

  Flame was pretty certain neither of them would have to worry about bad dreams this afternoon…

  -27-

  They had to hurry to catch their flight to Houston. A traffic jam in the midtown tunnel delayed their shuttle badly enough to force them to run to reach their gate.

  Dana had been concerned that they’d be stopped at the security gate—after all, they had checked two weapons at the curb—but apparently the paperwork from the State Department was enough to get them through and they reached their gate just in time to board their flight.

  “So what do we do when we get to Monterrey?” Karin asked when the plane was airborne. “You said that you wanted me to get aggressive.” She grinned showing white and even teeth. “Or was that just for last night!”

  Dana smiled. She had seen the claw marks on Flame’s shoulder as they finished packing their gear that morning—and had known where they came from.

  “We want you to interrogate the new hospital administrator, one Dr. Antonio Calvera for openers,” Dana had pulled his name from the internet. “Calvera doesn’t really have the credentials or the experience to run a hospital—and his name was pushed through by the ruling board in quite a hurry.” She smiled. “Wouldn’t that seem suspicious to an investigative reporter looking into her uncle’s death?”

  “It would indeed.” Karin had opened her laptop and was taking notes. “What do I want this Calvera to tell me?”

  “I doubt he’ll tell you anything of importance.” Dana shrugged. “I doubt that he knows anything.”

  “If he does,” Karin nodded, “he will tell me—I guarantee it.”

  “Whatever.” Dana waved that aside. “What we hope he does is yell for help from this Mapache character.”

  “Who will then try to blow me up as he did Uncle Axel.”

  “He might try,” Flame put in. “But we won’t let that happen.”

  “What we will do is grab whoever he sends and use him to reach Mapache.”

  “And from Mapache to Blanco.” Karin nodded. “It is classic.”

  “We have to do it quickly.” Dana frowned as she looked at her laptop. “It seems that another truckload of Cobalt-60 crossed the border yesterday.” She looked at Flame. “Destination: the Doctor’s Hospital of Monterrey.”

  The three of them looked at one another—and began to think about the mission ahead…

  ***

  General Mariano Escobedo International Airport was just as modern and efficient as advertised. A twenty-minute cab ride delivered them to the front door of their hotel where all three took quick showers and changed into fresh clothes. By agreement, Karin and Dana headed for the nearby Doctor’s Hospital while Flame tracked down the parcels sent from Garland Bremby’s shop.

  Doctor’s Hospital was a large, modern looking group of buildings attached to a very large parking garage. The two girls headed for the main entrance and, once inside, to the oversized reception desk.

  “We would like to see Dr. Antonio Calvera,” Karin told the petite brunette behind the desk.

  “Do you have an appointment?” She looked the two women up and down, measuring them. One was clearly an Anglo, but the other?

  “Tell him it is a matter of some urgency.” Karin passed the girl her card. “Tell him I am the niece of his predecessor.”

  “You are related to Dr. Farber?” The girl’s expression changed, brightened. “He was such a wonderful man. The way he died…”

  “It is about that I wish to speak to Dr. Calvera.” Karin leaned forward. “Can you tell him I am here?”

  “Of course, senorita! I will be glad to.” She reached for a house phone. “If you would, please take a seat over there,” she pointed to the large waiting room just off the main entrance. “I promise you it will not be for long.”

  Karin and Dana did as she asked, sitting, coincidentally, in the very seats Mapache and his men had occupied just a week or so earlier.

  They had barely settled themselves when an elevator bell rang and the worried-looking figure of Dr. Calvera headed in their direction.

  “Senorita Hachtel?” He stopped in front of Karin. “I am told you have questions about the fate of Dr. Farber?”

  “I have many questions.” Karin’s eyes cut into the man. “Should I ask them here?” She looked around at the other people seated in the room. “Or do you have an office we might use.”

  “Of course,” the doctor stepped back. “Excuse me!” He extended a welcoming hand. “Please, come this way.” He led them back to the elevator. “Certainly we should be more comfortable while we talk.”

  The elevator door silently closed behind them.

  As the girls made their way to Dr. Calvera’s, Flame was entering his third office. The hotel’s front desk had no record of any FedEx delivery for Randall O’Donnell—even though the FedEx internet site showed a delivery at 9 a.m. that very morning and a signature that seemed a match to the delivery room manager—something the young desk clerk could not explain.

  Flame had, rather politely, requested a manager—and gotten the same answer. A second manager passed him to the hotel’s general manager who lobbed him back to the delivery room.

  Flame was ready to wring the truth out of the next person who told him they didn’t have his delivery.

  That didn’t happen. The three large boxes Bremby had sent out were in a security cage just off the loading dock. The clerk working there couldn’t explain how the front desk didn’t know of their existence—she had sent the paperwork their way as soon as the parcels arrived.

  Flame nodded and asked that all three parcels be delivered to his room—with him accompanying them to make sure they didn’t go missing again.

  The clerk called for a burly worker who packed the parcels—rather roughly—onto a wheeled cart and led Flame through the bowels of the hotel to the employee-only elevator that whisked them up to a corridor that connected with the hallway right across from Flame’s room.

  From there it took only a moment to unload. Flame passed the man a US twenty, smiled at him—and closed the door in his face.

  He didn’t expect to need any of the gear here—but he’d want it ready in any event—it never hurt to be prepared.

  ***

  “…You are trying to tell me that you have no idea what happened to my uncle,” Karin was leaning forward in her chair, eyes burning holes in Dr. Calvera’s trembling form. “His car just exploded—on its own.” She shook her head. “Do cars explode here all the time? How often does it happen?” She turned to Dana. “Make a note on that, it might make an interesting presentation—‘The City of Exploding Cars.’”

  It had been decided that Dana would play Karin’s assistant—it would allow the analyst a measure of anonymity to study the faces and movements of people while their attention was centered on Karin.

  “Did the police declare it ‘just’ an exploding car?” Karin pressed her advantage. “What kinds of cars are most susceptible to explosion? Are Mercedes safer than Fords?”

  “Please, Senorita, I know nothing about this.”

  “My uncle devoted his life to this hospital. He was instrumental in raising the funding to build it—now you sit in his office and tell me you don’t have any idea how he died other then: ‘his car exploded’?” She snorted. “Are you really going to tell me that?”

  “Senorita,” Calvera looked around his office, searching for what, he didn’t really know. “Senorita, your uncle was a very fine man—a man I admired very much. What happened to him…” He shook his head. “I cannot tell you how much I regret what happened.” He wrung his hands together. “But I can tell you nothing. There are bad men involved—men who would hurt you if they thought I told you anything about them.”

  I’ll be damned, Dana thought. She got him to open up! Dana would have been willing to bet almost anything that the man would never say a word—he was too obviously terrified. Karin should get a new job. Dana hid a smile. The CIA could use someone like her.

  Calvera was almost babbling now, begging Karin to leave things alone before something happened to her. The German let him spout, then cut him off with one cuttingly-delivered word.

  “Enough!” She stared at him as he stopped in mid-sentence, mouth half open. “It’s clear that you know a lot more than you have said about my uncle’s death.” She leaned forward and put her hands on his desk. “It is also clear that you are afraid to tell me anything that might lead me to the truth.”

  “Please, senorita…” Calvera shrunk back into his over-padded chair.

  “No,” Karin made a cutting gesture in the air between them. “I will listen to no more from you—someone who betrayed a man he says he respected and admired.” She stood. “I will have to go to the Federal Police now, perhaps when I tell them what you have told me…”

  “No senorita,” Calvera rushed to get in front of her, hand folded in a begging position. “The police have been bribed by this man! They will not go after him, instead, they will betray you and you will be killed! Please…”

  “I don’t believe it,” Karin brushed past him. “This is a civilized country. I cannot believe that all the police are corrupt.”

  “Senorita!”

  Karin slammed the door in his face.

  “What do you think,” she whispered to Dana as they headed to the elevator.

  “I’m impressed.” She smiled. “And I’d be willing to bet that he’s calling someone in the police station right now!” Her smile widened. “We’ll be able to tell for sure when we get back to the hotel.” Dana made a gesture. “I planted a bug in his office.”

  “You Americans,” Karin laughed. “It’s just as Ms. Merkel says, you listen to everyone.”

  They stepped into the elevator, pressed the button for the ground floor. “Someday,” Karin continued, “I will have to tell you what our secret service did to Number Ten Downing Street.”

  “I look forward to that.” The elevator opened on the ground floor. “For now, we check my little bug, read Flame in on the current situation,” Dana shrugged. “Then go talk to the police.” She smiled. “With him covering us, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  The two waved to the girl at the reception desk and exited the building, side by side.

  ***

  “They are coming to see you next, Captain,” Dr. Calvera’s voice was crystal clear as it issued from the speakers of Dana’s laptop. “They want more information about what happened to Dr. Farber. I couldn’t stop them!”

  “Fool!” The new voice was in a lower register and exhibited more control. “You know that most of my men do not know what’s going on—you also know what Mapache said would happen to the two of us if anyone interfered now!”

  “You can stop them from discovering anything.” Calvera’s voice was agitated, frightened. “You must stop them!”

  “How would you suggest I do that?” The deep voice was level, unworried. “Should I kill them both? Perhaps arrange a car accident like the one that claimed the reporter’s uncle?”