“What else did you find out about Dorgal?”
“Very close to Santos, as you said. From the moment Santos was arrested, Dorgal was moving with the speed of light, talking to politicians and military. Then he disappeared under the radar, and no one knew where he was or what he was doing.”
“Probably setting up Santos’s new compound for the time when they managed to get him out of jail.”
“Anyway, Dorgal surfaced again about six weeks later. He took over de facto for Santos, running his cartel while he was in prison. He visited him weekly, so the orders probably came directly from Santos.”
“Did he visit anywhere else while Santos was in prison?”
“Trinidad, Curacao, Jamaica, several other islands in the Caribbean. Probably cartel business. Overnight visits, then he’d fly back to Caracas.”
“Guatemala?”
“Only once.”
The day he’d arranged with Nagoles to kill Eduardo Montez’s brother and sent Eduardo running for the hills. “Anything else?”
She shook her head. “I only have what Venable gave me. I’m sure CIA surveillance is good, but that doesn’t mean that Dorgal wasn’t able to avoid it on occasion. Did I help at all?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. Santos likes sunny places, and every location you mentioned is basking in sunlight. And that doesn’t mean that he might not have boarded a plane or boat out of one of those countries to his own private domain.”
“I’ll think about it, too,” Kelly said. “And I’ll double-check every stop they made and see if I can detect a pattern. Though I haven’t seen any sign of it yet.”
“You’ve done very well.” She got to her feet. “I didn’t expect you to pull a rabbit out of your hat. I knew it would take time, and I only hoped you could give me a clue.”
“I will. Maybe more than a clue.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her neck. “We’ll find him. It will all come together. I just have to relax and let the patterns form for me. It’s probably all here on this pad. I only have to connect the dots.”
“I can’t even see the dots,” Catherine said ruefully. “I’ll have to leave it to you.”
“You won’t do that. You’ll keep plugging along, just like I am.” She tilted her head. “And the reason you can’t see the dots is that it means too much to you. You’re overthinking the problem. My professors say that I do that sometimes. I reach for complexity and ignore simple applications.”
“At the moment, I’d embrace simplicity.” She headed for the door. “And right now I’m going to embrace the simplicity of my bed and eight hours sleep. Good night, Kelly.”
“Good night.” Her gaze was once more on her yellow pad. “You do that, Catherine.”
“You, too,” Catherine paused at the door. “Go to bed, young lady.”
“I will.” She didn’t look up from the pad. “Those dots are bothering me. Eduardo Montez. All those gaps. What was he doing? They were supposed to be only visits. But I don’t think that … I should be able to see something … Buenos Aires…”
*
Catherine’s cell phone rang as she came out of her bathroom after a shampoo and hot shower.
Cameron.
“Is everything okay with security?” she asked as she accessed the call.
“Excellent. I didn’t expect anything else, but it’s always smart to make sure everyone knows that there will be frequent checkups. It keeps them on their toes.”
“I’m sure Sam and Hu Chang are very good at that,” she said dryly.
“But some of those men are mine. They tend to accept orders better from me.” He paused. “You’re in bed? You didn’t sleep on the plane.”
“I will be soon. I just had a shower. I needed that more than sleep. Luke’s back in the house?”
“I just saw him go upstairs.” He chuckled. “After he went to see Sam in the kitchen. He told him that I had to stay here and asked which room he should give me. He didn’t mention that he hadn’t bothered to ask me if I was staying. He’s quite a kid. I’ve had some officers who had less grasp of sentry placement or decision making.”
“He was probably trained in a harsher school. And are you staying?”
“Why not? All the action seems to be centered here.” He paused. “You’re here.”
“Only until Hu Chang deciphers that book, or Kelly connects her dots.”
“Or Montez decides that he wants to give up being a pacifist and says that he’ll help us. Not likely, Catherine.”
“We’re moving, we’re not standing still.” But it felt like standing still, she thought wearily. Yet at least some good things were happening. Jane was better and might live. Santos had not been able to kill any other people she cared about.
Shallow victories that could change at any moment but she’d take them. “Now I’m going to sleep and forget all the negatives. I’ll see you in the morning, Cameron.”
He was silent. “I didn’t mean to be totally negative. I just have to be realistic.”
“Your whole philosophy is negative. That’s where we differ. You think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. I think there’s a chance, and we have to reach out and grab and hold tight.”
“I’m trying to grab and hold tight, just in a different way. I want us to be ready to come back from that hell.” He added brusquely, “But enough of that. I do have some news that isn’t totally negative. I called Dario, and he said that Dorgal’s men are searching that rain forest from the mountains to the border and still haven’t found Montez.”
“The monastery?”
“They searched there, too, and roughed up a few priests but left when they found nothing. Montez kept to his word and stayed away from there.”