Free Tampa Burn by Randy Wayne White

published.”
    â€œDo you have any idea what time the Latin edition of the Miami Herald arrives in Masagua City?”
    â€œIt comes on the first direct from Miami. A LACSA flight that arrives at the international airport at seven-twenty A.M. I’ve flown it enough, I should know.”
    â€œThis time of year, sunrise in Florida is around six-forty. In Central America—”
    â€œWe’re an hour earlier. We don’t use daylight savings time. But sunrise is nearly an hour later because of the volcanic peaks to the east.”
    I said, “I remember it being about a forty-minute drive from the airport to downtown Masagua City. I’m talking about how long it took the kidnappers to drive from the airport to the convent, and deliver the package after shooting the video.”
    She replied, “About forty-five minutes if it’s early in the morning, because the traffic’s light, yes. Sometimes an hour.”
    â€œYour people found the package around ten, but it could have been dropped off an hour or even two hours before.”
    Pilar nodded.
    Looking at the screen, Tomlinson interrupted, saying, “O.K., here’s the moth.” Then he turned his blue, weary prophet’s eyes on me. “A very savvy piece of reasoning, Doc. I certainly wouldn’t have caught it. Mind if I try to nail it to the wall? To make sure I’m thinking independently and not just following your lead?”
    â€œGo right ahead.”
    â€œO.K. First, let me verify something before I try to distill this little gem into a couple of sentences. Pilar, am I correct in assuming that Masagua City is high enough in the cloud forest that you might hear quetzal birds?”
    â€œWe hear them often. It’s the only capital city in Central America where the bird is found.”
    â€œDo you know of any other airports that are at an elevation high enough to find quetzals?”
    â€œNo. None.”
    â€œAre there any other major cities at a similar elevation where the Herald is delivered early in the morning?”
    Pilar said, “All the major cities in Central America get the Miami Herald, but only Masagua is high enough.”
    Tomlinson was twisting a frazzled end of his hair, concentrating. “Then here’s what we know: This video was shot within a few minutes’ walking or driving distance of the international airport in Masagua. The room has to be nearby because the time window is so damn narrow. They buy the paper in or near the airport, return to the room, and start the camera going while it’s still early enough for a quetzal to be calling. Unless the bird’s behaving unusually—which birds sometimes do. Even so, it seems a reasonable conclusion.”
    I said, “That’s the way I read it. I think the data’s strong enough to hold up. I think we can say with some certainty that slightly more than four days ago, Lake was being held in a building that was within a few minutes of the international airport in Masagua.”
    Tomlinson added, “They also have to be in a structure near trees, don’t forget. Almost certainly tall trees. A cloud forest bird? A combination like that—all near an airport?” He sighed, pained by what we’d discovered. “Even stoned out of my gourd, if I’d had half an hour, even I coulda found him.”
    Â 
    Â 
    OUTWARDLY, I was calm. Inside, though, I was seething. The Masaguan feds had seen this same video on Thursday morning, shortly after the CD was delivered. If they’d realized the importance of the bird call, figured out the significance, they could have sealed off all the likely housing around the airport, sent in a hostage rescue team, and my son might be safe right now.
    In any hostage situation, abductors are at their most vulnerable in the earliest stages, before they’ve had time to calm down, reassess, and reorganize.
    It would have been an ideal time to hit them.
    I know