However, White didn’t move. She held her gaze on Devine. “I was wrong about you, obviously. I’m sorry.”
“You were naturally suspicious, Lydia. I would have been, too.”
“You are clearly here for another reason, correct? Whoever you work for knew something was up and you were placed here to find out?”
He smiled. “You’re really smart, and you’re going to have a wonderful career wherever you land. Maybe you should steer clear of Wall Street, though, and try something that might have a positive impact on lots of people who actually need the help.”
“My older sister is starting a nonprofit to help the homeless in California, which is a big problem there. That’s where I’m from. The Bay Area.”
“Well, you won’t make nearly as much money, but at the end of your days I think you’ll have a lot more to smile about.”
He rode the elevator down to the lobby and decided to do a direct frontal assault on an entrenched foe. He sent a text to Brad Cowl after taking some time to compose it in his head. Cowl was a transactional guy. So Devine was going to give him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Emptying out Area 51 won’t cut it. The feds are closing in. I can make all your problems go away. Just hear me out and we both win. You’re a dealmaker, so let’s do a deal.
He walked out into the fresh air and kept right on going.
CHAPTER
73
DEVINE TEXTED MONTGOMERY AND TOLD her he would meet her at the assisted living center where Poppy Chilton lived on the Upper East Side.
When he got there, she was waiting outside and looking distraught.
“You okay? What happened?”
“Poppy passed away.”
“What? When? Please don’t tell me—”
“No, it was natural causes. Well, sort of.”
“I’m not following.”
“There was a TV. The news was on. He saw—”
“He saw that his grandson was dead, you mean? But I thought he wasn’t capable of understanding things like that anymore.”
“The doctor I spoke with said you can never tell. There are moments of lucidity. And seeing Christian’s name on the TV screen and the fact that he was dead jolted Poppy into one of those moments. He went into cardiac arrest. They couldn’t resuscitate him.”
“And this happened last night?”
“Yes. They told me when I got here. The family is coming in for . . . both funerals.”
He hugged her tightly while she cried into his shoulder. When she composed herself and stepped back, she said, “We really need to nail these bastards.”
He told her about Area 51 and about the text he had sent Cowl.
“Do you think you’ll get a response? He might think you’re trying to trap him or something.”
“It’s worth a shot. And I don’t have a Plan B.”
*
Later, they had lunch at a restaurant on the harbor, where Devine took a minute to check in with Campbell.
Campbell said, “We had operatives posted outside the Cowl Building last night. When the moving trucks came, we were naturally suspicious but had no grounds to intervene or get a search warrant. And one of my men checked with the security guard on duty. He said he’d been told they were moving equipment in, not out, so we weren’t as concerned as we would have been. They went in through the loading dock, so we couldn’t gain access to see what was really going on. Burns my ass, though.”
Devine put his phone away and looked out at the water. This was where he and Stamos had gone that day. He eyed the Statue of Liberty and looked back to see Montgomery watching him.
“Does it feel cool that you fought to keep that ideal of freedom going?” she asked.
“While you’re actually fighting, you don’t really dwell on the big-picture stuff. It’s just surviving day to day that occupies your mind. But I felt proud to be serving my country. Even if my father didn’t see it that way.”
“Is that also why you’re working with Campbell?”
He eyed her more intently. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you talked to me about baggage. And while I can see you as a soldier, I don’t necessarily see you as some sort of federal spy in a suit.”
“You’re more right about that than you probably know.”
“It must have been bad.”
“It was bad enough. It sort of ruined everything that came before that.”
“That must’ve been tough to take.”
“Tougher than I am, apparently.”