But she forced the feeling away. She had to stay focused. She had to get through this. For Dash. For Dash.
“I know,” she said. “It’s a long story and it’s been pretty crazy. But… if I could use your phone to call a cab? I’d really, really appreciate it.”
“It’s no trouble. I just hope you’re okay.”
“We’re fine. I just need that cab.”
“Hang on.” He leaned forward for a closer look at something behind his monitor — a list of frequently called numbers, she guessed — punched some digits into the desk phone, and handed her the receiver. She told the person who answered that she needed a cab from the senior center in Columbia to Baltimore/Washington International Airport. As soon as possible. Oh, there was one right in the area? Five minutes? That would be perfect.
She handed the receiver back to Cooper. “Thank you. We’ll wait outside, okay? I don’t want to cause you any more trouble than we already have.”
“Hey now, listen, it’s no trouble. You can—”
“No, no, it’s really okay. It’s starting to get light, and we don’t get to see that many sunrises. Besides, they said it would be just a few minutes.”
“All right, if you really don’t mind waiting outside. If you change your mind, though, I’m right here at this desk. Just knock on the glass again.”
Dash signed, I need to use the bathroom after all.
She nodded. Okay, but hurry up. Cab’s coming in five minutes.
She made a little small talk with Cooper while Dash was gone. There were so many nice people around her. She didn’t know why she’d never really appreciated that before. She was going to change that.
If she got through this.
Dash came back, and Cooper came around and let them out. The sky was pink in the east, she was pleased to see, and it really was lovely. It had been a long night. She was glad it was almost morning.
Manus sat in the pickup, watching from a parking lot across the street as Evie and Dash emerged from the senior center. For a cab, no doubt, the same way they had arrived. She would know not to use Uber or Lyft; the services tracked user movements so closely it was hard to imagine NSA hadn’t found a way into their systems, covertly or with their cooperation.
He’d thought she would go to the senior center, and it had been easy enough to take an alternate route and arrive before they had. He’d watched them go in, and now that they were out, he could tell from the relief in her expression that she’d retrieved the thumb drive. He hated what he had to do next, but there was no other way. He started to get out of the truck.
A cab pulled up. He paused, his hand on the door handle. Rush the cab? No, they were already getting in, it was too late. Damn, he should have waited somewhere closer to the entrance. But he hadn’t wanted to take a chance on being seen, and he hadn’t expected to have so little time to move in.
He considered running them off the road, but was concerned someone could be injured. Maybe a fender bender? The driver would stop to exchange information. But it would be a lot to manage: the woman, making a hell of a fuss; the driver, growing increasingly concerned, possibly intervening. Manus didn’t want a scene in front of the boy. Didn’t want to hurt him in any way. Better just to follow them for the moment.
He’d get another opportunity. And this time, he wouldn’t wait.
CHAPTER
47
Evie looked around as the cab pulled away, fighting the feeling they were being watched. It was true that the senior center was a “nexus,” as Marvin had put it, and they might be able to connect her to it. But so what? Even if NSA was monitoring taxi dispatches — and at this point she assumed they were monitoring everything — they’d have to parse a lot of data if all they had to go on was that she had taken a cab to BWI. And tracking her in a new cab from the airport, where she planned to catch another one at the curb, would be even harder.
What about Marvin? Could he have followed you?
No. Marvin had been asleep when they’d left. And she’d checked behind them on the way to the senior center, more than once. There had been no one. All right, she was just feeling jumpy. Not exactly a surprise.
What about your camera network?
That might be more of a problem. She assumed they had made it a priority to get someone else up to speed on the network’s operation so they had as many tools as possible devoted to running her down. She knew she couldn’t stay ahead of them forever, or even for long. In the twenty-first century, people threw off data like dead skin cells. And sooner or later, some of those dead cells would get sucked into the maw of the colossal vacuum the director’s “collect it all” fever dream had conjured into being. But “collect it all” entailed one weakness — one Achilles’ heel amid all those torrents of raw data. And that weakness was latency.
You could collect it all, yes. But understanding what you’d collected took time. Maybe not a lot of time — look how fast she’d discovered Hamilton and Perkins, after all, and how fast the organization had acted on that discovery — but a little time was all she needed. The trick was to keep moving, and be careful, and most of all, to get the thumb drive to Leed as soon as possible. So that by the time the director’s God’s Eye saw what was happening, it would already be too late to do anything about it.
Fifteen minutes later, they were getting out of the cab in the BWI departures lane. She tipped the driver well, but not so well that the tip itself would make her memorable. She was starting to get low on cash, which wasn’t good. It wasn’t like she could go to an ATM, after all, or use a credit card. But with luck, this would be over very soon.
They went inside. Dash looked around and signed, Mommy, I don’t get it. Are we flying somewhere? Where’s Mr. Manus?
She ruffled his hair. There’s so much to explain, hon, and I don’t have time right now. It’s a kind of scavenger hunt. And Mr. Manus is helping.
A scavenger hunt? I thought that was just a kid thing.
She smiled. Grown-ups do different kinds of scavenger hunts. For this one, it’s really important that I win. And if we hurry, I think I could.
There’s a prize?
A big one.
What is it?
Well, remember how happy you were when Mr. Manus gave you the game ball?
Dash nodded, smiling at the memory.
Well, it’s worth at least that much.
What?
I need to make a call first. Tell you in just a little while, okay?
He nodded and looked around again. Mommy, I’m tired.
She kissed the top of his head. I bet you are. You are doing so well and being such a big help.
How am I helping you?
For a moment, she had to fight back tears. Hon, you help me in ways I don’t think I could ever explain. But you’ll understand one day.
He gave her an affectionate scowl. You always say stuff like that.
She kissed him again. Only it’s because it’s true.
They walked over to an unused baggage carousel. Dash sat on the floor and settled into one of the comics she had bought him. Keeping her back to the wall, Evie activated the prepaid phone and called the number Leed had given her via SecureDrop. One ring, then a woman’s voice, slightly husky and reassuringly confident: “Hello?”