Orchid Blues

"On top of something, I guess. A water tower, a church steeple, a microwave tower. The terrain is flat as a pancake for miles."

"Is there any installation like that around here?"

"No, that sort of thing is usually around I-95, to the east, or the Florida Turnpike, to the west."

"Let's take a drive," John said.

"Okay."

"Ham, why don't you join us? You're an observant fellow."

"Sure." Ham drank the last of his iced tea and followed them to a car outside. Peck drove, John took the shotgun seat and Ham sat in back.

"Take a right and drive to I-95, then turn around and come back," John said. He held his cell phone up, so that Ham could see it, too. They reached the highway and Peck turned right. "Strong signal all the way to the main road," John said.

Ham watched the cell phone display and wondered what the hell was going on.

They drove east for a few miles, then John spoke again. "Signal's dropping. We're down to two bars." A couple of minutes later: "Up to three bars, now four." Ham could see I-95 ahead. "Five bars. Turn the car around."

Peck made a U-turn and the same phenomenon occurred. "Drive right past our turn," John said, watching the phone. "Five bars at our turn," he said. A few miles later: "Signal's dropping-three, now two. The no-signal light is on. Turn around."

Peck made another U-turn.

"Ham," John said, "did you notice anything unusual along our route?"

"There was a power company van pulled over a few miles back, and a man up a pole, but I don't know if you'd call that unusual."

"Normally, not," John said, "but I wonder why the hell we're suddenly getting such good cell phone service out here. There's the power company van, Peck. Slow down as we go by."

The car drove slowly past the van, and everybody had a good look.

"One man up the pole," Ham said. "The van doors were closed."

"You want me to turn in to our road?"

"Yes," John said. He watched his cell phone signal all the way to Peck's house. "Peck," he said as they pulled to a stop, "anybody you know of have a cell phone out here?"

"I asked everybody," Peck said, "and I collected a dozen, including Ham's. Why?"

"Because I wonder if somebody has a phone we don't know about, and if somebody else has suddenly improved service in the area just so he can make a few calls."

"You want me to conduct a search of the whole compound?"

"No. If there's a phone here, I doubt if we'd find it. I want someone to monitor a sca

"Yes, there was," Ham said. "I went outside to sleep, because a snorer was keeping me awake; Jimmy woke me up in the middle of the night and pointed out the boat. It appeared to be an empty dinghy that someone hadn't tied up right."

"You really think it was empty?"

"I watched it for a good half an hour while I was trying to get back to sleep, and it never moved in the water. Later on, a breeze came up from the north, and it must have blown back where it came from."

"I see."

"I don't know how big a cell phone transmitter is, but I wouldn't think you could get one into a small dinghy."

"You're right," John said. "The dinghy must have been a coincidence. I don't think the signal strength is an accident, though. I want a twenty-four-hour watch on the sca

Ham wondered if this had something to do with the cell phone delivered to him, the one lying on the bottom of Lake Winachobee.

50

Holly left work, went home, walked Daisy, then went to Harry's place. Everybody was looking glum.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Have you heard from Ham?"

"No," Harry said, "not by phone or bug. There's been a lot of activity in Peck's study, but nothing was said that would give us any more information about what's going on out there."

"I wonder why Ham hasn't retrieved the phone yet?"

"There's something else," Harry said.

"What?"

"While my van was out there working to set up the portable cell, a car drove past twice, with three men in it. My people got a photograph through a window in the van." He shoved a color print across the table.

Holly picked it up. "That's Ham in the back seat," she said, "and John in the front passenger seat. I can't see the driver's face."

"You're right," Harry said. "But why are they cruising up and down the highway while my van is out there?"

Holly looked at the photograph more closely. "John is holding something in his hand, and Ham seems to be looking at it."

Harry looked at the photograph again. "Could be a cell phone," he said.

"Oh, shit," Eddie chipped in. "They were reading signal strength."

"Now, why the hell would they do that?" Harry asked.

Everybody was quiet for a moment.

"Maybe their weak signal strength out there suddenly got too good," Holly said. "Maybe they were suspicious of that."

"It's John," Harry said. "That son of a bitch is smart"

"Is there equipment out there where you can see it?" Holly asked.

"Just a whip ante

"But John saw the van there."

"Yeah."

"Eddie," Harry said, "if you were John and you thought it was strange that your cell phone signal strength had improved, what would you do about it?"

Eddie frowned.

"From a technical point of view, I mean."

"I guess I'd try to find out if somebody was using a cell phone in the compound. I'd run a sca

"John could actually overhear calls, if a cell phone were being used out there?"

"He could if he has a sca

"But it wouldn't pick up Ham's scrambled phone."

"No, and if it did, it would only get static."

"So if Ham got the phone out of the lake, he could use it without being caught."

"Without being caught electronically," Eddie corrected.

"If you're right about John catching on," Holly said, "then Ham would know about it, because he was in the car. Maybe that's why he's not using the phone."

"But he was here when I explained how the scrambled phone walked," Eddie said. "He heard me say that it would be undetectable."

"That's right," Harry said. "If Ham remembers."

"He'll remember," Holly said. "He's got a memory like a bear trap, better than mine."

"I hope it's better than mine," Harry said.

"Hey, listen up," Eddie said, pointing at the radio. "Ham's on the air."

Holly heard a jumble of voices, then a door close.

"Ham, I hear you're working wonders with the Barrett's rifle," a voice said.

"Damn right he is," another man chipped in.

"It seems to be going well," Ham said.

"Could you be ready to shoot by, say, Monday?" the first voice asked.

"John, I'm ready now," Ham replied.

Harry spoke up. "Eddie, is the tape recorder on?"

"Yes," Eddie replied.

"Monday will be soon enough," John said.

"You ready to tell me what I'll be shooting at?" Ham asked.

"Two, maybe three men in the back seat of a limo," John replied. "And that's all you need to know for now."

"I think we ought to start watching the weather," Ham said. "You get the Weather Cha

"Yes, on satellite," the third man said.

"Peck, that's not going to get you a local forecast."

"Why are you worried about the weather?" John asked.

"I'm worried about the wind," Ham said. "If there's more than a slight breeze, windage could be a real problem, depending on the distance. Is this limo likely to be moving through a crowd?"