Chapter 61 third quarter

"Hal and—" Decker tried to hide his surprise. "Yes." He tensed his nerves. "I know them. Let them in." When Decker resigned in anger more than a year ago, two agents, Ben and Hal, had been guarding him in the foyer of the St. Regis Hotel.After repeated questioning of his motives, they determined that he posed no threat to national security and allowed him to go to the sanctuary in Santa Fe.They had, however, implicitly warned him that, although the incident at Rome had filled him with rage, he had better not be so carried away by it as to speak of it to outsiders.

Now Decker had to assume they were investigators sent by his former boss, presumably in response to the emergency call he had made after the attack on his home.The two of them emerged at the door, and Decker noticed that they hadn't changed much from the last time he saw them—thin, tall, about 190 pounds, 6 feet tall, about Decker's age, 41. , looks resolute, eyes alert.The only difference between them was that Hal had brown hair, combed straight back, while Ben had red hair, cut short.They wore jackets, khaki trousers, and sturdy loafers.They scanned the living room briefly, figured out Esperanza's identity, and settled on Decker.

"What's going on?" Hal asked. "Why are there police out there? What's going on down the road?" "It's been a long story. This is Officer Esperanza. Officer, meet Hal Webb and Ben Eisley." Their surnames were false, but Decker knew they had nothing to do with The fake documents they usually carry with them are the same. "When I was working in Virginia, we used to get together a lot. They told me they were going to be here one recent weekend, but I think I forgot that it was Mardi Gras weekend." "Yeah," Esperanza said, clearly not believing Decker's words.He shook hands with each of them, eyeing their narrow hips and broad, muscular shoulders, and Decker's likeness to theirs. "These two are also real estate agents, do they also know how to detonate bombs by remote control?"

Hal looked puzzled. "Bomb? Something like this in the next house? A bomb going off?" "Officer, can you leave me alone with my friends for a while?" Decker led Hal and Ben through a door that led to a small area off the kitchen that was used for grilling. . "No," Esperanza said. Decker stopped and looked back at him. "Sorry, what did you say?" "No, I won't let you be alone with them for a minute." Esperanza's weather-beaten face fell. "You have been evasive and uncooperative from the beginning, and I can't bear it any longer."

"I think you said that the FBI has cut you off from this case." "That was the attack on your house, not the bombing of your neighbour's house." "The FBI?" Ben asked, bewildered. "Whatever you need to tell these people to buy them time, you have to say it to me," Esperanza said. "You have to let me buy time too." "The FBI?" Ben asked again. "I don't understand. What does the FBI have to do with this?" "Officer, I really need to have a private conversation with these guys," Decker said. "I'm going to arrest you."

"What crime am I charged with? A good lawyer can get me out of jail tonight," Decker said. "It's Mardi Gras weekend on a Saturday? Your lawyer is going to have a hard time finding a judge to hear him," Esperanza snapped. "Tomorrow, maybe Monday, you Don't think about it. I don't think you want to waste so much time, so just pretend I'm not here. What do you want to tell these people?" Decker thought, time is running out, I have to set off immediately to find Beth, I can't afford to lose two days.He is torn between two conflicting motives, and he is manic.So far he had been determined not to involve his former boss in the investigation, but now there was a greater urgency. He had to find Beth and figure out who was trying to kill her.

"I've worked for the U.S. government in the past." "Hey, watch out," Ben said to Decker. "I have no choice." "Government?" Esperanza asked attentively. "You mean—" "I can't deny anything," Decker said. "These are former colleagues of mine. They're here to help clarify whether the attack last night was related to some sensitive operations that I was involved in." "Hold on," Hal said to Decker. "I can only go so far," Decker said to Esperanza, eyes very serious. Esperanza's eyes were equally serious, and slowly the expression on his thin face relaxed.He nodded.

Decker turned to Hal. "You guys came sooner than I expected." "We were in Dallas. We were on a company jet, less than two hours away." "I appreciate you coming." "Well, that's the way to go," said Ben. "We've been told it's not safe to contact you on the phone. There were some things you didn't understand when you reported the attack, so we decided to come here for ourselves and clear up the mysteries." , and then get in touch with the local FBI." "You've done this," Esperanza said. "You've talked to the FBI."

"No." Hal said alertly. "It wasn't in person, it was over the phone," Esperanza said. "No." Hal became more alert. "But this morning, the head of the local FBI spoke to me about it and formally asked to take over the investigation of last night's attack," Esperanza said. "You mentioned this, but I don't understand what you're talking about," Ben said. "We haven't had anyone on our side talk to the FBI yet. We're going to see the situation before we decide whether to call them." A growing sense of foreboding hit Decker and quickly spread throughout his nervous system.

Esperanza preempted the question Decker desperately needed an answer to: "If you didn't ask the FBI to get involved, who did?"