JFK Airport, New York Jack's flight touched down at JFK terminal 4 bang on time. Howie was waiting out front with a car, a bearhug and some back-slapping that could have hospitalized a smaller person. They drove straight to the office, catching up on the way. 'You booked in anywhere?' he asked Jack as they finally got free of the snarled traffic around the airport.
'No, not yet. It was hard enough actually to get a flight out of Rome, so I didn't get round to it. Do you mind getting Janie or one of the other secretaries to fix a place?'
Howie scowled at him. 'No way. Not a chance, buddy, you're staying with us, for tonight, at least.' Howie's offer was partly out of politeness but mainly reflected his concern about how Jack might react to being back on the job and forced to spend a night on his own without anyone to talk to about it.
Jack slid the passenger seat back to stretch his legs. 'I don't want to put you and Carrie out.'
'You're not. Listen, I could do with a friend around the house right at the moment. And shit, man, I might not get to see you again until God knows when.'
'That's kind, thanks.' Jack took in the familiar buildings as the city started to roll up to the windshield. 'You know, this is the first time I've been back to New York since the breakdown. Hell, when Nancy and I caught our flights out to Italy, what, three years ago now, I would never have thought I'd be coming back here, and certainly not to work.'
Howie blared his horn at some idiot tourist trying to drive and read a map atthe same time. 'Get afriggin' cab next time, you friggin' moron!' he shouted.
Jack laughed. 'Nothing's changed then?'
Howie laughed too. 'Nothing at all, buddy. As you can see, it's the New York you always loved.'
The drive was good for Jack. It helped acclimatize him and sharpen him up for what lay ahead. 'I caught the footage just before I took off,' he said. 'Grim stuff. You got anything new on it?'
'A little something,' said Howie. 'Fernandez and I went to see this jerk Tariq. He was a gold-plated asshole to start with but we scared him about a bit and then he coughed more than a cancer ward.'
'He briefed up?'
'Yeah, some smart Alec, but he was no problem. Seemed BRK posted Tariq a mail with a website hyperlink and a password, and that's how he got the footage they've been putting on air.'
'We're running webmaster traces?'
'Of course, but both you and I already know a twelve-year-old can build sites this simple. BRK will have used a false identity when he spoke to the hosting service. He's sure to have uplifted only the most innocuous of video during the testing phase. He will have waited and only made the real stuff available on the day he sent that electronic mail out to Pan Arabia. Tech boys think it's dongle encrypted.'
'Say what?' said Jack. 'Is that like catching your dick in your zipper?'
Howie laughed. 'It's a computer coding trick that makes the footage available only for a short period of time. The dongle is like a timer fuse on a bomb; it ticks away and then boom! It blows it up and you can't work it any more.'
'So it is like getting your dick caught in your zipper,' said Jack.
Howie's cell phone rang as they turned into Federal Plaza. 'Yeah, hello,' he managed as he spun the wheel.
'Boss, it's Fernandez. The boys in Myrtle have found a body. They think it's Stan Mossman, our delivery boy.'