“Hey, Ross.”
“Decker, I’ve heard about London AFS. Something big is going down and the Bureau is involved.”
“I know. But it doesn’t explain our case.”
“Well, I dug up what I could on the military record of Bradley Unger Daniels.”
“Anything of interest?”
“He served at London AFS from 1955 until 1987.”
“I guess that makes sense. He had been an aviation navigator in the war, and he was into radar.”
“Right, but the most interesting thing I found was that parts of his record were redacted and marked classified.”
Decker sat up straighter. “He told us he couldn’t talk about his time at London because it was classified. I thought he was just messing with us. But why would it be classified? Just because it was about looking for nukes during the Cold War?”
“I don’t know, Decker. I can’t get a straight answer from anyone.”
“So a dead end?”
“I’m afraid so, unless you can think of another path forward.”
“Well, that’s my job.”
Decker clicked off and stared down at Purdy’s service record while he thought about Bogart’s words.
He could see only one way forward.
He phoned Jamison.
“It’s time we cracked ‘BUD,’ ” he said.
JAMISON ANDDECKER ARRIVEDat Green Hills Nursing Home and were once more taken to the supervisor’s office. Her face turned red when she saw them.
“You upset him greatly. I can’t believe you’re back.”
Decker stared her down. “We’re back because Brad Daniels is a key witness in a case that has national security interests. Now, if you won’t let us see him, a whole army of Feds is going to come down on you and this facility like a ton of bricks. Your call.”
The woman’s hostile look quickly faded. “Are you serious?”
“We would not be here otherwise.”
“All right, but please don’t upset him again.”
“All I can do is ask the questions I have to ask. If he gets upset, that’s an answer in itself.”
She led them to Daniels’s room. The old man was sitting in the corner in his wheelchair, the cane clutched in his hands.
“Who is it?” he snapped as he heard them come in.
“Mr. Daniels, you have some visitors,” said the woman.
“What visitors? It’s not Christmas, is it?”
“I’ll let them explain,” she said sweetly. Then she fled the room.
Decker and Jamison came forward.