“Canada? The last known stop of theirs was in Greenland. Where does Canada come in?”

Gray studied the man who headed up the nation’s premier intelligence agency. He had started out at the CIA, then gone into politics, and there he had stayed until a president of dubious judgment had tossed his friend a political bone and made him CIA director. God help this country.

“Why does one go westward to Greenland except on the way to Canada? Even back then there were numerous direct flights to the U.S. And it was a favorite stopping place for spies. When I was in the field I often stopped in Greenland before coming home. You could always spot someone following you in Greenland. Humanity damn well stuck out in the frozen tundra!”

“Okay, but maybe they came to this country to have the child? That would make him a U.S. citizen. It’d be easier.”

“I don’t think so, not for the birth. And less complicated for her to sneak into Canada and have the baby there than in the U.S. The records could always be falsified later.”

“Even with all that, it doesn’t leave us much to go on.”

“I disagree. From Greenland to Canada the ports of entry are limited, and were even more so back then. Montreal? Toronto? Ottawa? Perhaps Nova Scotia and Newfoundland? We can start there.”

“Start there doing what exactly?”

“We’ll limit it to a single twelve-month period.” Gray named the year. “And we will search the records of births in those places. Just boys for now.”

“Why not girls too?”

“Just boys for now,” Gray repeated.

“That’s still an enormous search. And we have that disaster readiness drill on Capitol Hill coming up that DHS demanded and left us to do the lion’s share of the work. It’s requiring an inordinate amount of our time.”

“The birth records should be computerized now. That should simplify things greatly.”

“Yes, but still. The resources required to-”

Gray leaned forward and silenced the man with one of his most intimidating stares. “The consequences of not doing so are potentially catastrophic to this country.”

CHAPTER 56

ANNABELLE WAITED OUTSIDE until her father returned from the nearby grocery store with Caleb. Without a word of explanation she told Paddy to follow her back to her hotel in his truck. When they got there she led her father up to her room.

Annabelle’s mind was racing. She’d been counting on Stone to help her. And now the man had simply abandoned her, literally closing the door in her face. She should never have trusted him. She should’ve learned by now that you could only count on yourself.

“Annie?” Paddy finally said. “Talk to me, girl, what the hell’s going on?”

She looked over at her father as though she’d forgotten he was even there. “What’s going on is we just got screwed. The help I thought we were going to get with Bagger isn’t coming.”

“No cavalry?”

“No cavalry.”

“The guy named Oliver. Reuben told me a bit about him. Is he the guy who was going to help us do it?”

“Yes, but he’s not going to anymore. He apparently has more pressing business.”

He slapped the arm of his chair. “Now what?”

“Now we run. Bagger will have the airports and train station watched, but he doesn’t have enough manpower to cover the roads. We’ll need to dump your truck. Then we’ll be on our way.”

“On our way where?”

“Does it matter? So long as it’s not here?”

“And we just let Jerry walk away?”

“Better than him carrying us away, don’t you think? We live to fight another day.” As soon as she said the words she glanced at her father. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“I don’t have another day. I either do it now, or I don’t do it at all.”

“I told you, we don’t have the cavalry.”

“Then I’ll think of something else.”

“You can’t take on Jerry by yourself.”

“I’ve got you, don’t I?”

She looked out the window, shaking her head. “Do you know how long it took me to plan my hit on Jerry?”

“Probably longer than I’ve got left. But I’m not walking away from this. I can’t walk away from this.”

“Yesterday you weren’t doing anything to go after Jerry. What’s changed?”

He rose and gripped her arm. “What’s changed is you. Now you know I was in jail when your mum got killed. I’m still a son of a bitch, but not as big of a one as you thought.”

“What are you saying, that you’re doing this for me?”

“No, I mean, not just you. I’m doing it for Tammy, because she didn’t deserve to die like that. And I’m doing it for me, because Bagger took the only person I ever really loved from me.”

Annabelle pulled her arm free and looked away.

“I didn’t mean it that way, Annabelle.”

She pointed to the scar on her face. “Let’s just say I never had any delusions that you actually loved me.”

Paddy reached his hand out to touch her face but she jerked back.

“I had no right to do that,” he said. “But I was teaching you a lesson I never wanted you to forget. You blew that claim at the casino. Sure, you were young, and the young make mistakes. But I’ll wager you never made that mistake again, did you?”

“No.”

“I never gave a shit about any of the crews I worked with. Hell, I never bothered giving any of ’em a scar. If they made a mistake I let ’em know it, sure. But I didn’t give a damn if they screwed up down the road with somebody else and got their knees broken for the trouble.”

“So, my scar was what, tough love?”

“Your mum never wanted you to get into the con. But we were shorthanded that summer and it was my idea to use you. You caught on fast, faster than I did at your age. Ten years later you were better than I ever was. Moved on to the long cons while I was still doing my three-card monte on street corners. For chump change.”

“That was your choice.”

“No, not really. Plain fact was I wasn’t good enough to do the long. They say you’re either born to it or not. I wasn’t.”

“Okay, where does that leave things? You can’t do the long and the long is what it’ll take to get to Jerry.”

“I can’t do it without you, Annabelle. But if you won’t help me, I’m going to try anyway.”

“If you do, he’ll kill you.”

“I’m dead anyway. And I doubt even Jerry could come up with a more painful way to die than what I’ve got ahead of me.”

“You are really complicating my life.”

“Will you help me?”

Annabelle didn’t answer him.

“Look, can’t you talk to your friend again? Maybe he’ll reconsider.”

Annabelle was about to say no, but hesitated. What she was thinking was she might go back to Stone’s cottage. If he was there she could make another pitch for help. But if he wasn’t there, which she suspected was the case, Annabelle would just take all of the “files” that Stone had compiled on her and her problems with Jerry. She didn’t want any of that just lying around for someone, cops or bad guys, to find.

“I’ll give it another shot.”

As she walked down to her car she realized she couldn’t just leave her father to deal with Jerry alone. Which meant they would both end up dying.

Some choice.