It was frustrating to have lost David’s microphone. When David went into the next phone booth, Charlie parked around the block. They had to rely on Vicki for input. But there was not much to say. David was in and out of the thing, and then back on the road to another phone booth.

The pattern continued for the next four hours. David went phone booth to phone booth. Charlie was a prophet—by then it was dark and clear to everyone that Falling was merely getting warmed up. David had to stop once to get gas. They filled up as well, at a station down the block. Their helicopter also had to land to refuel.

At a phone booth deep in Irvine—at half past eight—Falling left a cell phone for David. The kidnapper wanted more direct communication.

The move opened up a window of opportunity. Kelly wondered if the guy had finally made a mistake. They could triangulate on the cell and locate its source. So far, they had come up empty trying to trace the calls to the various phone booths. Falling was using public phones—a different one each time—sprinkled across Orange County. But Charlie was not that excited about the cell phone.

“He’ll barely use it,” he said. “He won’t give us a chance to eavesdrop.”

Kelly continued to puzzle over Falling’s tactics as they stayed a quarter of a mile behind David, heading south on the San Diego Freeway, about to leave Orange County. Luckily, her guts were not acting up. She wondered if they were healing. For the day, she had eaten two apples and one banana, and drank eight ounces of aloe vera juice.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t had David switch cars,” she said. “He must know we have it bugged.”

“He knows and he doesn’t care,” Charlie said.

“What does that mean?”

“The unexpected.”

“Stop that. Could today be a sham?” she asked.

“No. He’s spent too much time setting it up. He wants the goodies. He thinks he’s figured out a way to get them without us catching him.”

David got on the Santa Ana Freeway heading south and took an exit at Mission Viejo. He then got back on the freeway and headed north. Charlie let him slip out of sight and used the next exit to turn around. It took them fifteen minutes to catch up. By then David was on the San Diego Freeway and heading north. Vicki came over the line.

“Falling called David on the cell phone,” she said. “We didn’t get much, a word or two, useless. What do you have to say, Charlie?”

“I think he’s ready to make his move.”

“I agree. Oh, we have another helicopter on its way.”