“What did you say to him?” Henning asked.

“I told him the same thing I told you the first time we met, that we’re on the same side and my only goal is to find the Bridgestones.”

Henning’s expression was genuinely puzzled and Nathan now believed he didn’t know Williamson had been assigned as a watchdog. He wasn’t sure before.

“How did you know he spoke Arabic?”

“When I spoke to the cabdriver early this morning, I didn’t see any reaction from him at all. None. Most people show some degree of surprise.”

Henning lowered his voice. “You think Lansing brought him on board to keep an eye on things? To spy on you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Why bring in someone who speaks Arabic? Al Qaeda isn’t involved with the Sacramento bombing. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does if you consider Harv also speaks Arabic.”

“Good grief,” Henning said. “Sometimes I think there’s no limit to the cloak-and-dagger bullshit in this business.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a safe play on Lansing’s part. There’s a lot at stake. He was concerned I might speak in a foreign language with Harv to hide things we discover about the Bridgestones. I’d be willing to bet Williamson also speaks Russian. Probably Spanish too. We aren’t going to conceal anything from you guys. If your people find the Bridgestones before we do, that’s fine with me. Don’t get me wrong, we’d love some quality time with them, but finding them is the primary goal.”

* * *

In the cockpit, Williamson lowered his voice. “He knows.”

“Is it going to be a problem?” Jenkins asked.

“He seemed okay about it.”

Jenkins was flipping avionic switches from a checklist as he spoke. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing’s changed. We keep reporting to Lansing as ordered.”

“Do we tell Lansing he knows?”

“Not unless we want egg on our faces,” Jenkins said. “He’d view McBride’s discovery as a blunder on our part.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that. McBride seems like a decent guy. It’s not hard to guess how he got those scars on his face. They aren’t random and he sure didn’t get them from any chainsaw accident.”

Jenkins started the engines, keeping his eyes on the gauges. “I think you’re right, he’s a spook. Someone carved him during an interrogation. Had to be hell.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

* * *

Twenty minutes into the flight, Henning used the air phone to call Holly again. Nathan looked over, but there was no way to put the call on speaker. After a brief conversation, he hung up.

“She made contact with ASAC Pallamary from the Fresno resident agency. An agent’s going to meet us at the airport.”

“You okay with that?” Nathan asked.

“I just follow orders.”