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Foster seeh memories only he understood

But I had a job to do

“Do you knohat Bishop’s Pawn means?” I asked

He nodded “The FBI bugged our cars, hotel roo, watching,files They never called us by our real names They had code names for all of us Andy, Ralph, Jesse, me We learned about them much later, when those FBI reports became public Martin’s code name was Bishop”

“And Pawn?” Nate asked

He shrugged “I have no idea”

I ent, but I knew a liar when I saw one

He was good I’d give him that

But he was still a liar

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I allowed Foster the luxury of his lie

At least for the moment

“Lieutenant Malone,” Foster said “I want to speak with hter and son-in-law in private After that, I’ll speak with you again I’et us all some food”

A shoould also be welcoe of clothes and still wore the saltwater-soaked shorts and Jaguars T-shirt that I’d donned thisMy clothes and toiletries were back in my car on the dock at Key West So why not? It didn’t really matter if these people vanished I had the coin and the files Mission accomplished

Maybe that was exactly what Foster wanted me to do

Disappear

I left the house and drove Foster’s Toyota fifteen miles south to Pahokee, a s bleached froreen pullover shirt at a secondhand store I picked up a few toiletries and ordered four take-out pizzas at an eatery I spotted The trip also allowed as station pay phone

To Stephanie Nelle

I narrated the day’s events, leaving nothing out, with an even tone and a military completeness

“I’m sorry about what happened,” she said “I had no idea about Jansen I was referred to him Which raises more issues that I have to deal with, here, internally”

“You have so on?”

“You could say that It goes back to COINTELPRO”

There was that acronyain

“It took fifteen presidents, fifty years, and an act of God to end Hoover’s reign and finally disents once worked COINTELPRO Many of the after 1972, when Hoover died And those e They just becah, that Jansen was not one of them”

“Somebody lied to you”

“I see that But thanks to you, we came aith the files and the coin Are they safe?”

The waterproof case reht a few feet away The coin in my pocket

“They’re fine”

“I prefer you not read those files,” she said “They’re classified”

“How’s that possible? They came from Cuba”

“Just return them to me, please”

“So you knew all along there were files waiting in that wreck?”

“I did But there was no need for you to know that”

“Except, in the past few hours, people have been trying to kill me over them”

“Just bring them to me”