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means Friendship Reserve. I can't believe I missed on that."
The sergeant smiled. "Too many new words to learn. When you live in a place like Nogales, where the
dictionary gets updated daily, it's easy for your cerebro to lose track of the obvious." For emphasis, he
tapped the side of his head. The absence of hair, blown off in the explosion that had destroyed the
Anderson residence, made him look more than ever like an Asian version of the Enlightened One.
"If they're hiding in the middle of the CAF," he commented, "that takes us out of it."
Cardenas's fingers stroked the steering wheel. "Not necessarily."
His partner looked over in surprise. "You intuitingthat, Angel?"
A hint of a smile crossed the Inspector's face, raising slightly the points of his drooping mustache.
"You've got some sick leave coming. I have vacation time accumulated. I've discussed it with Pangborn.
Seems there are official duties and unofficial duties. And thenthere's semi-official duties ." He looked
across at his friend. "You and me, we're going to take a little semi-official trip. I've already stocked up on
mosquito antipherms."
Hyaki crossed his arms over his chest and slumped lower in his seat. It left him with his knees blocking
his view out the forward glass. "So much for a little post-op rest and relaxation," he griped.
Cardenas ignored the complaint. "You'll like Costa Rica. I understand the beaches are beautiful."
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The sergeant looked back at him. His partner was concentrating on dealing with the traffic.
"You said the absent Ms. Mockerkin and her kid were heading for high rainforest. No beaches in the
high rainforest."
"I said the beaches are beautiful," Cardenas replied dryly. "I didn't say we were going there."
San Jose's Intel International Airport nestled nervously between green-clad hillsides and active
volcanoes, surrounded by industrial fabrication and assembly plants that in many aspects not only
mimicked those of the Strip, but supplied components for it. As early as the late twentieth century, the
energetic Ticos of Costa Rica had recognized that the future lay not in banana or copra farming, but in
hitech and ecotourism, and had structured their country accordingly. Now Costa Rica was the richest
member of the CAF, the envy of its neighbors, and a model for successful burgeoning economies in
Panama and Belize.
They were passed formally but politely through Customs and Immigration before being asked to step
inside an office with heavily opaqued windows. Initial uncertainty gave way to reassurance when they
were greeted by Lieutenant Corazon of the CAF police. A short, stocky, hard-bodied blonde in her
early forties, she sat them down in front of her desk, proffered cold drinks from an office cooler, and
spoke while studying a heads-up whose contents were not visible to her visitors.
"Semi-officialvisit, is it?" she commented in perfect English, meeting Cardenas's gaze with an unwavering,
unblinking stare. Her small stature notwithstanding, he knew he would not want to cross this woman in a
fight. "We don't get many of those. I see here that you are trying to find a Namerican woman and her
daughter."
Cardenas nodded. "They're running from her husband, as well as from other interested antisoc parties. A
lot of money is involved, plus some confidential information that may be in the daughter's possession.
We'd very much like to find them and take them home so they can be placed in a secure protection
program. Right now we believe that they are panicoed."
"And you're convinced they've panicked their way here?"
"To La Amistad." Cardenas crossed his legs. The interview might be routine, but Lieutenant Corazon
definitely was not.
"For a mother and child believed to be panicking, they seem to have done rather well." She smiled
challengingly. "They've managed to elude your people, for example."
Cardenas would not be baited. "We didn't know where they were going until long after they had left." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]