Kaiser stares back at Snake without expression. Jordan Glass is supposed to be headed to Moisant Airport in New Orleans, but I know Kaiser is wishing he could call her and verify that right now.
“Planting that meth on us was breaking the rules,” Snake goes on. “It surprised me, I’ll admit. But it also got my attention. So I’m gonna be giving you both some thought after I get out of here. Yes, sir. A lot of thought.”
Kaiser appears to be reading a file without the slightest concern for Snake’s words, but I can tell the old Klansman has gotten to him.
The door behind me suddenly opens, and Sheriff Dennis pokes his head in, puffing from exertion. “Thornfield’s cooling his heels in a utility closet, and your man Garrity’s babysitting him. You ready?”
“Do the other Eagles know we have Thornfield?”
“They know he’s not in the cellblock. No way to avoid that.”
“Okay, I’m coming. But let me go in with Snake for a sec, so Kaiser thinks we’re out here watching his every move. That’ll buy us the time we need.”
“Well, get to it. Thornfield looks scared shitless to me. I think he’s ready to crack.”
Walking up to the one-way mirror, I lay my fingers against the cool surface and listen to the conversation. Kaiser has gone back to tapping at Snake, searching for weak spots. The name Carlos Marcello crackles out of the speaker above me, but Snake simply stares across the metal table like a man reconciled to waiting all day at the DMV to get a new license plate. Kaiser is maddeningly patient, like all good interrogators, but it’s plain that he was right about the futility of trying to break Snake Knox.
It’s time to make my play.
Before walking into the interrogation room, I try Carl Sims once more. I’m about to hang up when I hear a click, a burst of digital static, and then a familiar voice speaking out of a rhythmic pounding that sounds like nothing so much as a helicopter.
DANNY MCDAVITT HAD SLOWED the JetRanger down to a figurative crawl. He had been having trouble matching up what he’d seen on the hand-drawn map to the monotonous topography below him. Beneath the chopper lay a vast stretch of black water and cypress trees that reached westward to the glittering line of the Mississippi River. Carl had moved up to the copilot’s seat to try to help, but both of them seemed to have lost the game fence Danny had been following. The trees were especially thick here, and Caitlin saw no sign of the fence.
The chatter between the two men suddenly stopped, and Carl removed his helmet to take a phone call. Caitlin watched him listening for a few seconds. Then he turned back to her with wide eyes.
Caitlin glanced over at Jordan, who had missed nothing.
Carl moved back into the cabin and motioned for Caitlin to remove her headset. Once she had, he covered the mouthpiece of the phone and leaned very close to her.
“This is Penn on my phone.”
She flushed. How the hell had Penn found her?
“He doesn’t know you’re here,” Carl whispered. “He called because he wants me to organize an overflight of Valhalla. Without a search warrant, if possible. He thinks Dr. Cage might be being held prisoner there. I’m going to talk it over with Danny, but I figured I’d ask if you wanted to talk to him.”
Caitlin took a deep, fearful breath, then expelled it. This morning she had told Penn that she would be working in Natchez all day. Admitting that lie might make him furious, but given that this was about Tom and Valhalla, she couldn’t refuse. She only hoped that their discussion wouldn’t require her having to tell Penn she’d met Tom secretly last night.
She held out her hand to Carl.
Carl passed her the phone, then clambered forward again to talk to Danny.
“Penn, this is Caitlin.”
At first there was only silence. Then Penn asked her to hold on, thinking she’d somehow called him and broken in on his connection with Carl. It took a while to convince him that she was in fact with Carl, and already in a helicopter not far from the land Penn wanted searched. She could hear the anger in his voice, but she also knew that was nothing compared to the rage he would feel if he learned she had kept Tom’s location from him.
“Did you drive down there by yourself?” he asked.
“No. Jordan came with me. It was on her way to the New Orleans airport.”
“Jesus. You realize Kaiser has no idea she’s with you?”
“Yes, but is that really the issue right now?”
“You’re right. Has McDavitt decided whether he’ll do the flight for me?”
She gestured forward at Carl, and he came back into the cabin and took the phone from her.
“Penn, Danny says he’ll do it. But this is a big favor, bro. I don’t think I’d do it except that I don’t think you’ll ever get a warrant to search that place. Not unless it’s a federal one, and you might not even get that.”
Carl nodded at whatever Penn answered.
“We can’t take the girls with us,” he went on. “Danny says no way. If we find something and have to set down, they can’t be any part of it. Even if we don’t set down, we might have to fly straight back to the departmental helipad. . . . Right. I’ll call you when we’re on our way. You want Caitlin back? . . . You sure? . . . Okay. Out.”
Carl stuffed the phone back into his pocket and shrugged in apology.
“It’s all right,” Caitlin said. “Finding Tom’s more important than anything else right now.”
“The problem,” Danny said in the headset, “is what to do if we find him. He’s still wanted for killing a state trooper.”
“We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it,” Carl said. “Let’s get these ladies back to their vehicle.”
“Just a second,” Jordan said.
“Yeah?” Carl asked.
“We don’t have to go all the way back to the car. Set us down by that fisherman—Mose. He can help us find the X on the map while you guys search Valhalla.”