‘I did stand by you then…at a distance!’

‘Oh yes, I nearly forgot,’ Connor says. ‘I got an invite for a fancy fund-raising dinner that Senator Hardinger is throwing for some charity. The dinner is free for any guests I bring along, and the newspaper is stumping up my attendance. How about going? All of us?’

‘Moneybags’ – Anne punches her boyfriend in the arm – ‘and I are going to one of the Senator’s dos, and I think that’s the one. So we’re already there. Maybe Cassandra and Zeb can join us? I presume you’ll be taking Lauren along.’

‘Cassandra’s going with her friend with the juice, the Director,’ Connor replies. ‘Hey, maybe I can wangle an interview with her. What do you think, Cass?’

‘Keep trying. Patience is a virtue.’ Cassandra laughs.

‘You know, we moved in next to you just because of your proximity to her so that I could get juicy scoops,’ Conner declares. ‘So far, that idea hasn’t paid off.’

Lauren rolls her eyes. ‘Zeb, will you join us?’

‘I’m not into these things.’

‘Oh, come on, Major, live it up. Surely the Mayor will already have invited you as a security consultant?’ Anne mocks. ‘And who knows, there might be ample opportunities there for you to play your heroic self.’

‘I sense something here. Should I be jealous?’ The stockbroker laughs.

‘Relax, moneybags. Zeb isn’t as rich as you. I just love pulling his leg,’ replies Anne.

‘Zeb, you are coming. You don’t have a choice,’ says Connor. ‘Now about the camping.’ He draws out a map. ‘We go camping every year – the three of us, Anne, and moneybags, as she calls him, and this time Cass is going to join us,’ he explains on seeing Zeb’s raised eyebrows.

‘This year we’re going to the Catskills for a couple of weeks. Just us, nature and quiet.’

‘And some bears,’ shouts Rory from his room.

‘They won’t eat you, Rory. You’re too sour for them,’ Connor shouts back. ‘He’s been going on about the bears for ages. But the boy needs to toughen up. We’re definitely going.’

‘You joining us, Zeb?’ Anne asks. ‘You might be all that keeps us from being bear meat.’

‘I’m feeling like bear meat now,’ he replies.

Moneybags bursts into laughter. ‘You were asking for that. But seriously, it would be great if you could join us, Zeb. The more the merrier.’

‘Please, Zeb. These guys don’t know how to keep me safe,’ shouts Rory.

‘That runt,’ Connor mutters and quirks an eyebrow at Zeb. ‘Well?’

‘I’ll let you know. I still have a few things to do.’

They break up once Connor has finalized the plans for their camping trip.

As Zeb and Cassandra make their way to her apartment, she asks, ‘You think you’re being sucked into their plans?’

‘As long as they leave me alone, I’m fine.’

‘Are you getting pissed off at Anne?’

‘She feels insecure around me. Picking on me is her defense mechanism. It’s no big deal.’

Cassandra looks at him, jolted. I didn’t think he would figure her out so quickly and so deeply! Clare always said he was the most perceptive and aware person she had ever met. Now I know what she meant.

The subway to Jackson Heights is almost empty when Zeb leaves Cassandra’s apartment and boards it.

Holt is here, in the city, he thinks, as the subway carries him into darkness.

I can feel him.

Chapter 7

He meets Broker the next day. They haven’t made any headway into tracing Holt’s mother. The last few of the voice mails he left had called back, and none of them are her or anyone connected with Holt.

This time they meet at a café in Greenwich Village. Broker is wearing his countersurveillance glasses, sitting at a table on the sidewalk, his back to the wall. Many women and a few men give him a lingering glance as they walk past.

‘I have word that someone wants to know who you are and has tried to get access to your file at the agency.’ Broker continues, ‘Now this could be anyone wanting to know who you are, or it could be Holt who got the word that I spread. I don’t believe in coincidences, so let’s assume it’s Holt. Thing is, what if he comes after you?’

Zeb looks at him. ‘That was sort of the point of letting Holt know that I’m hunting him.’

‘What if he goes after Cassandra? He’s not a person who adheres to any rules of engagement.’

‘There is no record that Cassandra is related to me. The Director removed any connection in all my records. This was the condition under which I had undertaken some assignments.’

‘Well, I know all about records. Don’t forget, that’s my specialty! And the Director, Andrews, and I know about her. That’s too many people knowing, by my book,’ Broker says dubiously.

‘You know Bear and his lady, Chloe, don’t you?’ asks Zeb.

‘Yep, I’ve sent some work his way. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard much from him recently,’ replies Broker.

‘That’s because he’s looking after Cassandra. Him and his lady. They’re good at body protection. So far they’ve just been looking out for her from afar, but I’m thinking of getting them to stay with her till this is over.’

Broker approves. ‘You son of a gun. Always two steps ahead.’

‘I called all the Holts in New Jersey, and none of them is Carsten Holt’s mother. What if she changed her name or married again or retained her maiden name?’ asks Zeb.

‘Well then, we’re up shit creek, aren’t we? There would be no way of tracking her down. Don’t forget that we’re chasing a pretty slim lead based on the assumption that Holt is close to his mother and would want to stay nearby.’

‘What if his mother has Holt as next of kin?’ Zeb suggests. ‘I know Cassandra has me down as her next of kin. Had. I got the records changed.’

Broker gives that thought and smiles slowly. ‘That might just work. I’ll write a program that searches land records, driving license databases, passports…all those that would need a next of kin. It might work, and at this point we haven’t anything else to pursue.’

Broker has a very loose definition of what searching means. It often involves hacking – ethical hacking is how Broker describes it.

‘You and I have been asked to back off from Holt. We could disappear, under the Patriot Act,’ Zeb tells him and narrates his standoff with Isakson.

‘That shit,’ snorts Broker, ‘does he think he can scare us? That we’ll tuck our tails and stay quiet? That we’ll forget?’

‘Don’t take Isakson and the Patriot Act lightly. I think you should stay away from this,’ Zeb tells him.

Broker slams his palm on the table, the sound like a pistol shot echoing around the café, stilling it. He glares back at the other patrons looking their way.

‘Bubba,’ he looks back at Zeb and growls, ‘this is the first and last time you say that.’

He looks away and composes himself. ‘Now on Senator Hardinger and Alchemy. I think you know the history of the company, so I’ll skip that stuff. Today the Senator and his family own 47% of the company through a complicated legal structure, but the Senator stepped down from the active running of the company once he was elected to the Senate. The company owns three mines in Africa and a few others in Australia, Latin America and Asia. Now the bad news. Holt and his associates are not on the payroll of Alchemy, not even as contractors.

‘They aren’t listed here in the US as Alchemy’s employees nor at any of Alchemy’s companies in other countries. Just to be sure, I also checked the Senator’s other business interests, and none of them list these guys.

‘In Africa, the company employs several mercenaries or private military contractors, either directly or through security companies. These guys provide security for the mines and the officers. There is a rumor that the mine near Lake Kivu was actually hijacked by Alchemy’s mercenaries, and then later legalized by Alchemy. The mine was previously run by the mom-and-pop-shop equivalent in the Congo, and the original owners were selling the ore to middlemen in the Congo. Alchemy, in one night, just replaced the entire operation with its own staff, paid the owners, and as far as the middlemen were concerned, nothing had changed. Not that they’re too particular.’