THE BANDIT QUEEN - Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Walt was already high above the state of Arizona on his flight to California when two of his men spotted Eden’s car between Tucson and Phoenix. The two men in the car trailed behind her for miles until the bright lights of Phoenix glowed in the distance. Then the driver pulled closer to her car. More and more cars and trucks appeared as they drove closer to the huge city. The driver sped up and pulled closer and closer to her bumper. The girl smashed down her accelerator and zoomed up to the next group of cars and trucks. The two men called in the new license number on her car and asked for instructions. Then they pulled up next to her car and the man in the passenger seat sighted his gun on her back tire. The man missed his shot and pulled the gun back inside the car. They kept Eden’s car in sight as the traffic thickened. More and more cars and trucks appeared as they drove through the outskirts of Phoenix. The men’s instructions had been to stop the car or to keep it in sight if they couldn’t run Eden off the road. Right now they were in front of the girl’s car and had changed lanes to get closer to her.
The driver slammed his hand on the steering wheel and cursed out loud when he realized Eden’s car had shot down the last exit ramp. He shouldered his car across several lanes to the right and took the next exit. His partner directed him through the surface streets until they could re-enter the highway in the other direction. They took the airport exit and entered the airport ten or fifteen minutes after Eden and Deakin had parked their car. They drove first to the parking lots closest to the terminal. Eden’s car was nowhere to be found. The agent in the passenger seat called in again and held his phone away from his ear as an angry voice bellowed out into the confines of the car. The two agents stared at each other in resignation and headed for the long-term parking lots. Twenty minutes later they discovered Eden’s car and called in again.
One of the agents popped the trunk of the car with a tire iron and cursed again at the emptiness of the black cavity. Then he peered inside the car and saw nothing on the seats or the floor. They jumped back into their car and headed for the terminal. They ran into the huge building and stared ineffectively around at the crowds of people waiting in long snaking lines in front of the ticket counters. As one person they headed for the security checkpoint and then stopped twenty feet in front of the metal scanners. The two agents turned to stare at each other in dawning awareness. There was no way they could get through the security check just by saying they wanted to. They each carried weapons under their coats and neither of them fancied butting heads with the petty tyrants of the airport security force.
Another phone call and twenty minutes later, an officer introduced himself, checked identification and then escorted the two men to the back offices of the airport. There they gave a bland vanilla story to the head of security and were relieved of their weapons. They were given four security officers to help them search for Eden and Deakin. Computer searches had already been initiated from their main office in hopes of tracking Eden’s credit card usage. The two agents with their four helpers fanned out down the long lines of arrival gates and searched for the two kids. They had no luck with their search and called it off after two hours.
Film from the security cameras had been gathered and held for the two agents. Confirmation from credit card records finally pinpointed the flight Eden and Deakin had taken. The agents scanned the security videos from the correct ticket counter and the departure gate. They came up with a good picture of Eden at the ticket counter and several shots of the two teenagers as they boarded their flight. They quickly transmitted the pictures to Walt and arranged for Eden’s car to be towed away.
Walt sent agents to Salt Lake City to watch for Eden and Deakin but they arrived after the two kids had already passed through. They matched their pictures with two people who took a flight to San Diego. More men were sent to San Diego to intercept the two there. The agents didn’t recognize Eden or Deakin and wandered around the airport for quite some time before they admitted defeat.
Walt had bypassed all these other cities and headed straight for Los Angeles. He knocked on Dr. Evan Phillip’s office door and stepped inside to talk to the professor. A thin ascetic face stared over the desk at him. The man had forgotten to cut his thin brown hair and it cascaded over his collar. Long thin fingers rested on a stack of folders filled with the work of his students.
“May I help you?”
Walt dropped into the chair in front of the desk and flipped out his identification. Before he could flip it closed, Dr. Phillips had taken it from his hand and compared the photo with the man sitting across the desk from him. Then he lifted the lid of his scanner and placed the identification face down on the screen. He pressed a few buttons, waited for the machine to work its magic, and then handed the leather folder back to the man across the desk. Walt stared at the wallet in his hand and finally stuffed it back in his pocket. No one had ever copied his identification card before. Oh, some people had written down his name or his badge number but this man had actually taken the wallet away from him. Walt shook his head and took a deeper look at Dr. Phillips who waited politely for him to speak.
“I’d like to ask you about some people from your past. We’ve been following a young man halfway across the country and we think he might try to get in touch with you. We’d like to set up a tap on your phone and keep some people around you in case he does come here.”
Dr. Phillips placed his fingertips together and regarded Walt over them. “No, I won’t allow you to invade my privacy in that manner.”
Then he calmly opened the top folder on his desk and picked up his pen. He wrote something quickly on the first sheet and then raised his eyes. “You may leave now, Mr. Rogers.”
“Uh, I don’t think you quite understood what I said, Dr. Phillips. This is a national security issue. You don’t have a choice.”
Evan Phillips stared over his glasses at Walt and said, “Man always has a choice, Mr. Rogers. I prefer not to do business with you for any reason.”
“Dr. Phillips, a young man and a young girl will probably contact you in the next few days. I can’t give you the background but they are dangerous people and must be stopped. Their names are Eden Boatman and Deakin Kimbrough and you must not talk to them at all.”
Dr. Phillips’ eyes flashed angrily at Walt and he rapped out a question. “Are you saying that Helena Kimbrough’s son is alive and looking for answers to his parents’ deaths? Is that what you’re trying to stop? I would certainly welcome a visit from that young man and I would tell him everything I could. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a class.”
Evan Phillips stood up and walked to his door. He opened it and waited for Walt to leave. To his own surprise, Walt walked out of the small office and watched the tall thin form of the professor stride down the hall. The professor would be in for a big surprise, Walt thought, when he realized he didn’t have to give his permission for the tap on his office phone. Walt’s next stop was the dean’s office where he made arrangements for four or five agents to keep an eye on the professor as well as the wiretap.
Evan Phillips was certainly not a stupid man and he knew the agent would deal with his phone line anyway. After his class, he dropped in on one of the younger professors in his department and borrowed his computer to look up both of the names Walt had given him. Eden Boatman showed up as a sophomore. He pulled up her schedule and smiled at the name listed next to her Geology class. He wandered down the hall and poked his head inside a tiny office. A large athletic young man perched behind the desk and attacked his keyboard with great energy.
“Hey, Evan, slumming again?”
“David, will you do me a great favor, a very confidential favor? One of your geology students may get in touch with you and want you to pass a message to me. Would you please tell her I’ll send a grad student to the library to meet her? Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing? It could be rather dangerous for both of us.”
David Longthorpe grinned at his boss and squirmed with anticipation. “Student’s name, please.”
“Eden Boatman.”
“Whoa, Evan, that’s one of my favorite students. She’s not really interested in my class, but she’s one great person. To tell you the truth, I have a little crush on her.”
“Be very careful, David. This could be very dangerous for all three of us.”
“Don’t worry, Evan. I’ll be fine and so will she. Shall I just meet with her and tell her to meet your grad body an hour later at the library? Would that work for you?”
“Interrupt my class if you have to but catch me in the hall or my office if you can.”
David readdressed his keyboard with enthusiasm as Evan Phillips closed the office door. Several hours later, Professor Longthorpe was visited by a rough looking man with a security identification who asked him to pass on any information about a student named Eden Boatman. David stupidly asked, “Who?”
“Boatman, Eden. Student in one of your classes.”
“Oh, she must not be very noticeable. Which class is it? And what has she done?”
“Geology. It’s a national security issue. Here’s a number for you to call if she stops you in the hall or somewhere else on campus. We think she’ll be trying to get in touch with Dr. Phillips. Please give me a call if you see her. That number is answered 24/7.”
David slipped the card in his pocket and smiled at the departing back of Walt Rogers, undercover agent of an unidentified government agency.