“Stone McBride has a friendly smile when he wants something and an unfriendly smile when he doesn’t get it.”

“Don’t all politicians?”

“Amen to that.”

“What did Lansing and Cantrell say?”

Nathan decided to tell her the truth. “They wanted to be sure Harv and I knew that Montez is full of potentially damaging information that could smear the country if he’s killed. Sleeper measures. They want him alive.”

“So they can do their own interrogation on him?”

“That was the gist. Cantrell wants to stay in the loop with everything we do. I didn’t mention our knowledge of the Hungarian clean coal business. What would be the point? She probably wouldn’t confirm or deny it anyway. She wasn’t telling me much, that’s for sure.”

“Doesn’t this attack on us change everything?” she asked. “Montez knows you’re after him now. Do you think he knows it’s you? I mean, you personally, from your time in Nicaragua?”

“That’s a good question. I suppose if he knew it was me, he’d be quite concerned.”

“Because he’d think you’d want revenge?”

“People like Montez live their lives looking over their shoulders.”

“He must have lots of enemies.”

“He does. Lansing thinks he found me because Harv and I were blown in Bullfrog Bay. I hate to admit it, but I agree. There was a guy on the dock, fishing near Stiegler’s houseboat. He wasn’t that close, maybe twenty yards, but I think Montez left him there to keep an eye on things. If that guy got a zoomed photo of me, all bets are off. He’ll recognize me for sure. But since I never gave him my real identity down there, I’m hoping that Nathan McBride is just another name to him.”

“So what’s next?”

“Have you come up with anything new about Nichole Dalton and her contacts? Husband, boyfriends, coworkers?”

“Actually, the only thing interesting about Nichole Dalton is what we haven’t found.”

“How’s that?”

“It’s been kind of tricky looking into her background. I was worried that sooner or later, Lansing would order me to back off, like what happened to Hawthorne. So now I’m wondering why he hasn’t.”

“Three words.”

“Three words?

“Senator Stone McBride.”

“You’re thinking they had a chat on the flight out here?”

“Count on it.”

“I know your father’s an influential man, but is he that influential?”

“He’s chair of the CDT. His group oversees all matters related to domestic terrorism, and the FBI is primarily a domestic organization. He’s also a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance. So yeah, he’s that influential. Now what haven’t you found on Nichole Dalton?”

“A husband. Or even a father of her daughters.”

“No one?”