“We will be, especially if Gilbrech checks out.”
“Call you in a few.” Grace disconnected.
“This does look promising,” Nick stated. “If Gilbrech gets a clean bill of health from Grace. I’ll work with him on this mess if his ideas seem feasible. Maybe he’ll have a plan for Munsun. I know the Company likes to take care of problems internally. I don’t mind as long as Munsun hits the road for them to hunt him down. If he’s staying in my backyard, I’ll have to get out the lawn mower.”
“Tracy’s on the move, Nick.” Gus turned his iPad so Nick could watch their tracker.
“That looks interesting. She’s heading toward all the motels over by the golf course and the graveyard. I didn’t send Munsun’s picture out to that grouping. I’ll do it now, and see if we get a hit.”
Nick worked to get his Munsun message and photo out to the motels in the grouping by the ocean. “At least we have something to work on instead of blundering in the dark without a clue. I’m wondering if Munsun paid the bill for Palamo’s bail, and maybe contacted Tracy with a burner phone she didn’t have on her when she came here. It’s possible the asshole plans to tie up loose ends and kill them both. I know if it were me, that’s what I’d do.”
“Wouldn’t that be a tough one to pull off?”
“It would in some instances, but remember, Munsun has multiple ID’s and he knows he’s burned some bridges. Munsun plans to disappear. What he can’t let go of is whether the chip is actually somewhere he can reach it. Munsun figures if he can recover the chip, he can become the invisible man. This is where his plan gets dicey. If what we surmise about Munsun being connected to Tracy and Luta is true, then Munsun is in purgatory. He doesn’t trust either one of them. When Tracy claims I told her the chip is in the Attorney General’s hands, Munsun won’t know what to believe. The value of the chip will cloud his thinking.”
“Since Munsun won’t know what to believe, he’ll try to pressure Tracy. He would take one last gamble to browbeat his minions into admitting they have the chip for auctioning, certain he can convince them they don’t know what they’re doing. It would be a plausible argument. When he finds out they don’t actually have the chip, that’s when everything goes off the rails. Tracy and her pimp will be playing their own game, which leaves them with little maneuvering room other than to deny they have the chip. At that point Munsun will decide since they can’t help him, there’s no way in hell he’ll allow them to hurt him.”
“That’s a bleak picture of what lies ahead,” Gus said.
*
“What’s a bleak picture?” Rachel asked as she came onto the deck, stooping to hug Deke.
Nick spent the next few minutes filling in Rachel on the reality they were now facing. He kept it to the point, and included his own suppositions. Rachel listened in a varying mode of distress, sitting down next to Nick with both hands clutching his right hand.
“Shit!” Rachel’s concerned look drew a hug from Jean.
“Don’t sweat it, Mom. At least we’re not driving across Nebraska.”
That comment drew raucous laughs from Nick and Rachel, with Gus smiling at the inside joke. Nick explained the mind numbing hours it took to traverse the great state of Nebraska during their flight ahead of the executioners.
“Oh… okay… so you sick people think that’s funny, huh? Well… Uncle Gus doesn’t think any of this is funny.”
“That’s only because you haven’t traversed the great state of Nebraska, Gus, in a four wheel vehicle. It is not a pleasurable drive.”
“Rachel’s right,” Nick agreed. “Once you’ve crisscrossed Nebraska, it gives you a different perspective on reality. Your whole life passes before your eyes in slow motion as you hold the steering wheel. If you’re driving, you age three years, but even passengers age two.”
Nick’s satellite phone beeped. “What did you get, Grace?”
“Gilbrech is solid gold, Nick. Carol Allison is dead, which you already told us. The powers that be knew something smelled in CIA land, so they called in Paul Gilbrech to find out what happened. They have her underling Brody as the prime suspect. He’s wanted, but Tim and I felt discretion was called for, so we left out any knowledge he had already been introduced to the afterlife. Gilbrech is also onto Munsun from what the AG could find out. The Company is distressed with the chip deal. They are extremely happy it was left in the AG’s hands. Is that it, Nick?”
“Yep. I needed to know if I could have a meaningful conversation with Gilbrech. I didn’t want to find out he was dealing with Munsun to acquire the chip too, and a CIA assassination team would be sent to handle my loose ends. Thanks, Grace. Anytime you and Tim want to get together, give me a call.”