Free The Temporary Agent by Daniel Judson Page A

you?”
    Tom used his silence to let Savelle know that he needed more than that. It didn’t take her long to understand.
    “There was an incident a few years ago,” she said. “With his family. This much is public information. In fact, I’ve included the relevant newspaper articles and court records.”
    “What kind of incident?”
    “You’ll understand once you’ve read everything. You’ll see why this is so urgent. Maybe you can help us, maybe you can’t, but right now Raveis is determined to do whatever it takes to find Cahill. If it helps, consider this a search-and-rescue mission. And a chance for you to maybe repay your debt.”
    “What makes you think I feel indebted?”
    “I saw it in your face the instant I said his name. And anyway, who wouldn’t be?”
    Tom glanced at the driver watching him in the rearview mirror, then looked back at Savelle.
    “I’ll need a few things from you in return first,” he said.
    “Okay.”
    “All the data that was collected from Stella’s cell phone—I want it erased. Mine, too. All of it deleted, every scrap. Can you do that?”
    “I’ll take care of it,” Savelle said.
    “And Stella is to be kept out of this from now on.”
    “Of course.”
    “I have your word.”
    “You have my word.”
    Tom knew he had no choice but to trust her.
    The only ring she wore helped him with that.
    “How will I get in touch with you?” he said.
    She showed him a small business card on which were written ten digits—an area code and phone number.
    The handwriting was precise and confident.
    “This is to a clean cell I’ll have on me at all times. Call me and I’ll meet anywhere you want.”
    Tom glanced at the business card. “Okay.”
    Savelle smiled. “That memory of yours must come in handy.” She returned the card to her jacket pocket and tapped her tablet’s screen several times. “I’ve sent the documents to you. They’re encrypted. To open them, use the last four digits of the phone number I just showed you.”
    The sedan decelerated then.
    Tom looked through the windshield and saw that they were about to exit the FDR.
    Savelle was watching him. “When I reentered civilian life, I encountered a lack of loyalty from others that I found . . . unnerving. And, frankly, disorienting. I see now why Carrington speaks so highly of you. And why he has kept you in his back pocket all these years.”
    The vehicle made a sharp turn onto Houston Street and came to a stop at a red light.
    The intersection ahead was empty—no traffic visible in any direction.
    Tom was now just blocks from his pickup.
    He would be home in less than three hours.
    Just like he’d promised.
    “There’s one more thing,” Savelle said. “You’re off the books, of course, but I can’t guarantee your involvement in this won’t come to the attention of whoever sent the hit team after Cahill. Just to be safe, you might want to make sure your girlfriend is somewhere no one can find her. You might even want to take care of that now rather than later. One innocent woman is already dead. None of us wants another.”
    Tom stared at Savelle for a moment, then said, “Thanks.”
    He reached into his pocket for his smartphone as the traffic light turned green and the sedan proceeded into the empty intersection.
    The phone was in his hand and he was about make the call to Stella when the vehicle’s interior once again filled with a bright light.
    Overwhelmingly bright and growing ever-brighter.
    Headlights, and high up. Identical to the truck’s that had passed them on the FDR moments before.
    But coming from the left this time.
    Casting shadows that shifted and swelled inside the sedan as their source grew closer and closer.
    On an intercept course and closing awfully fast.

Fifteen
    The sound of a gunning engine was the last thing Tom heard for a time.
    He didn’t hear the crash of the high-speed impact. Metal colliding and collapsing, dense automotive plastic splitting, tempered glass