“I’m not sure.” Matt smiled. “But you know a well-connected cartographer who can answer that question.”

29

Patrick’s Republic

“I can read the images, but I can’t tell you that much,” James said as he studied his computer monitor, which was larger than any TV Natalie had seen in a hotel room the last six months. “It’s not like the movies where you can turn the satellite ninety degrees from your home computer and read some guy’s lips. It’s a fixed transponder and all I can see in that location is what looks like a construction site.”

Sitting opposite his deck, Natalie watched James appreciatively. He’d been so happy when she’d said yes to dinner, and so enthusiastic when she’d asked if he wouldn’t mind using his cartography skills to help her read a satellite image. “Sounds like a blast,” he’d responded without a hint of irony.

Of course he was being modest. Already James had made a big discovery. He’d identified the name of a company, LXX, emblazoned across the roof of a construction shed at the Magdalena oil field. Heart pounding, Natalie had texted Matt, asking if he’d try to find out who owned LXX.

As she was waiting for more morsels of information, James looked up and met her gaze with such warmth she had to look away to avoid blushing. She could have sworn that Colin Powell and Cronkite, lying next to each other on the bed, sighed in agreement. Catching her eye, Cronkite let out a quiet yap, and Natalie remembered the day her father had brought him home after a trip to the hardware store.

“A rescue. He looked so needy,” her dad had said defensively.

The dog had been flea-bitten and a little wild-eyed, and her mother had agreed to let him stay on temporarily and only after he’d been bathed.

Standing outside, soaping him in the driveway with the garden hose, Natalie’s father had started calling him Cronkite. Natalie said she didn’t think Walter Cronkite would approve but her father had disagreed.

“My dear, Cronkite was dogged in his pursuit of a story. He never backed down and he was willing to go sniffing in places that were dark and forgotten in order to drag the truth to light. He understood that a real democracy needs people unafraid to face up to power.”