“There are no public records on a Mr. Dalton at all. Of course, we don’t know if that would be his last name. So we decided to go right to the source. My San Diego counterpart sent agents over to Nichole Dalton’s residence to comb the place, but they found nothing. And I mean nothing. No wedding pictures, no birth certificates for their kids, no wedding or divorce papers. No files or documents of any kind indicating a father for her children. Nothing.”

“Somebody impregnated Nichole Dalton,” said Nathan. “Twice. It sounds to me like he’s a spook. Since Ms. Dalton works for the NSA, it seems reasonable she’d cross paths with them now and then. She could’ve hit it off with one. If so, why is Montez going to all this trouble to get his hands on him, assuming the father’s the real target? If we’re right, then Montez wants the father alive to wring info out of him. He’s an interrogator, not an assassin.”

“That’s true.”

“Everything points toward this clean coal negotiation in Hungary. It’s a small piece of the world’s energy scene, but any threat to OPEC’s oil production raises red flags. Everything we do depends on oil. Everything. Wars are fought over it.”

“Sounds like a question for your father.”

“I’ve asked him to poke around and see what he can find.”

Holly took his hand. “I have some bad news. I have to leave. Lansing made it clear he doesn’t want me in close proximity to you for a while.”

“Don’t tell me he expects you to return to work.”

“I have to be debriefed first. Then I’ll need to be cleared to resume active duty by my physician and a bureau shrink. I’ll be on leave, officially, but I can’t spend it near you.”

“He’s right. It’s reasonable to assume there’ll be another attempt to kill or capture me. I’d feel a whole lot better knowing I didn’t have to worry about you.”

“It feels like I’m abandoning you.”

“You aren’t.”

“Well, I’m going to put my recovery time to good use. So far, nothing has turned up in Bullfrog Bay, evidence-wise. The dead mercenaries from last night are being processed and printed as we speak by San Diego’s ME. I’m going to glean what we can from them. We’re also printing the severed finger and doing accelerated DNA analysis on it. Same with the other three dead men.”

“Any idea how long all that will take?”

“The prints are being run through the IAFIS and Interpol databases as we speak. Turnaround time can vary. It’s usually no more than twenty-four hours. We’re checking the DNA profiles through CODIS. That’s also about a twenty-four-hour turnaround.”

“CODIS?” he asked.