“Okay, but I can’t guarantee that I can get back inside the fort.”
“Then nail them on something else; make them take you on an abortion clinic raid.”
“But if I participate, will my testimony be any good?”
“As long as you can make a case for duress, it will. Are you going to stick it out, Jess?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not that I see.”
“Then I’ll stick it out.” He hung up.
Jess walked back to his office deep in thought. By the time he was at his desk he had made up his mind. He knocked on Herman Muller’s door. “Herman, I’ve got some news; Jenny Weatherby and I got married a week ago Sunday.”
“That’s wonderful, Jesse; congratulations,” Muller replied, bestowing a rare smile.
“I wondered if I could get a few days off for a honeymoon sometime soon.”
Muller turned to his calendar. “Let’s see; we’re starting the New York plywood order this week. If things go smoothly, I should think you could take off the week after next.”
“I haven’t been here long, Herman; I’d be happy to take it without pay.”
“Call it a wedding present,” Muller said, and smiled again.
“Thank you, Herman; that’s very generous. Oh, we’re running low on a bunch of things in the office; I thought I’d run up to Coeur d’Alene in the morning.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Jesse went back to his desk. He had the passports; he had, what, something over fifty thousand dollars in his safe under the truck. It wouldn’t last long on the run, but it was better than nothing. San Francisco, that sounded good for a honeymoon, and it offered flights to half a dozen Far Eastern countries.
The more he thought about it, the more he knew his fifty thousand wasn’t enough. He’d have to put his mind to finding more over the next couple of weeks.
Chapter 38
Jesse spent an hour at the office, making a list of needed supplies, then left for Coeur d’Alene. As soon as he left the plant’s parking lot, he noticed the car behind him, and it stayed there all the way through town and up the road to the city. This must mean that the office was bugged. In the countryside it kept a car or two between them, but it was always there. Jesse was tempted to pass up the meet at the hamburger joint, but the camera offered at least one possible way out, and he couldn’t pass it up. Mack’s restaurant hove into view, and he pulled into the parking lot and got out.
There was a variety of vehicles parked out front, everything from a UPS van to a couple of eighteen-wheelers. Jesse wondered what his contact was driving. Inside the door he put some change into a machine and got a copy of U.S.A. Today, while looking over half a dozen men seated at the counter. None of them fit the description of his man. He glanced at his watch; ten past ten; his contact was late.
Jesse took a stool at the end of the counter, away from the other customers and with a pair of empty stools next to it. He ordered a cup of coffee and a doughnut and glanced into the mirror behind the counter. A young man, very like the one who had followed him in New York, came through the front door, looked around, then, spotting him, took a stool near the center of the counter and ordered coffee.
Jesse took his time over the coffee and the newspaper, but he couldn’t be seen to tarry, and his contact didn’t show. Finally, when he’d been there for twenty-five minutes, he paid his check and got up to leave. As he approached the door, a man fitting the description of his contact walked into the place and headed for the counter. Jesse prevented himself from even pausing and continued on out of the restaurant.
Cursing the man’s tardiness for screwing up the meet, Jesse got into his truck and started the engine, then looked down and saw a package of Bicycle playing cards on the front seat beside him, and they didn’t belong to him. He waited until he got to cruising speed before opening the package; inside was the Zippo lighter and a tightly folded sheet of instructions. He glanced in his mirror and saw that his tail was one car back, then he held the sheet against the steering wheel and read it carefully, alternating with watching the road. If he started a fire in the truck it might be noticed, so he wadded up the paper and slipped it into a pocket; he’d deal with that later.
At the huge office supply store he got a shopping cart and began to fill it from his list. Halfway through the store he caught sight of his tail, pushing a cart and pretending to shop. Then, as he was about to approach the checkout counter, he saw exactly what he needed. A pretty young woman was demonstrating, of all things, a shredder. He stopped and, keeping his back to his tail, removed the wad of paper from his pocket and opened it up. “Can you shred this for me?” he asked the woman.
“Just shred, or would you like to see our burn feature, too?” she asked.
“I’d just love to see the burn feature,” Jesse replied, handing her the folded sheet of paper. He watched as she fed it into the machine, and he followed it with the playing card package. A puff of smoke rose from the bin as the paper was converted to ash. “That’s very impressive,” he said.
“Can I order a machine for your company?”
“I’ll have to ask my boss,” Jesse replied. He smiled at her and continued to the checkout desk. He noticed that his tail preceded him from the building and was waiting in his car.
Jesse loaded the supplies into the back of the pickup, got in and drove back toward St. Clair, occasionally glancing in the rearview mirror to be sure his tail was in position. He drove straight through the town and back to the plant and, as he was unloading the supplies, he saw the tail’s car make a U-turn and head back toward the town. The young man would have nothing to report, Jesse thought, with some satisfaction. It was clear, though, that someone — Coldwater or Casey — didn’t yet entirely trust him.
At supper, he broached the subject of San Francisco. “Herman says I can have the week after next off.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Jenny said, glancing worriedly at Carey. “I don’t think Carey could miss school, though.”
“Well, it is a honeymoon, after all; I thought maybe she could come just for the first weekend. We could fly from Spokane on Friday night, then send her back on Sunday afternoon. Do you think we could get someone to meet her at the airport?”
“Oh, please, mommy, I want to go to San Francisco,” the little girl said.
“Well,” Jenny said, reluctance in her voice, “Let’s see what we can do. I’m not promising, though.”
The little girl was practically jumping up and down with excitement.
“I’m sure we can work it out,” Jesse said, reassuringly. Carey beamed at him.
After dinner, when Carey was absorbed in her homework, Jesse put down his newspaper. “Want to take a stroll around the neighborhood?” he asked Jenny. “It’s a starry night.”
“Sure,” she replied. “I’ll get our coats.”
When they were away from the house and Jesse was reasonably sure they were not being watched, he spoke up. “I have some things to tell you,” he said. “First of all, we’re talking about a lot more than a honeymoon.”