“We were in Miami for a speech Reagan was giving. Nothing special, just another fund-raiser. When it was over, we rotated off duty after the president got back to his hotel suite and went to bed. Some of us guys went out for a late dinner and drinks. But Kanak didn’t. He stayed at the hotel. The next morning he…he was different.”
“How?” asked Decker.
“He was normally the first down for the briefing, but I had to go up and get him. He was still dressed in his clothes from the previous night. Looked like he hadn’t slept. At first, I thought he was hungover because he just seemed out of it, but he assured me he hadn’t had a drop. There were no bottles that I could see, and no smell of liquor on his breath or clothes. And he was pretty much a teetotaler, so I believed him. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn’t say anything. He…he just looked stunned, I guess.”
“Keep going,” prompted White.
“He pulled himself together and did his job that day. But after that things got weird.”
“How so?” asked Decker.
“He’d get phone calls in the office but would never say a word about them. Who was calling or why. He’d leave early to go meet someone, but he never said who. His work suffered, and he got written up a couple of times. I would have thought he was having an affair, but he wasn’t married back then.”
“Maybe he was seeing someone whowasmarried,” suggested White.
“Maybe, but Kanak was such a straight arrow, I just couldn’t see that. I had him over a few times for dinner with me and my wife, you know, trying to get him to open up. But he never really did.”
“Did he say anything at all that might explain what had happened?” asked Decker.
Dykes mulled over this. “He and I were sitting in my apartment just shooting the breeze one day. Suddenly, he looked over at me and said, ‘Artie, I wish one thing.’ He said, ‘I wish to hell I had gone out with you guys that night in Miami.’”
Decker and White glanced at each other. He said, “Did you ask him why?”
“Of course I did, but he clammed up like nobody’s business. Couldn’t get another word out of him on the subject. And believe me, I tried. I talked to some other agents who had stayed at the hotel that night, but they couldn’t tell me anything useful. They just hit the sack and woke up the next morning. Seems like whatever happened, only happened to Kanak.”
“You ever tell anybody about this?” asked White.
“Just my wife.”
“I’d keep it that way, for now,” said White. “Until we figure this out.”
Dykes glanced at her with an anxious expression. “Yeah, okay.”
“Anything else you can tell us?”
“Just that it was about six months later when he resigned from the Secret Service and moved to Florida to start his business. Then he got married and, later, his daughter was born. He sent me an announcement.”
“Career change, marriage, baby. That’s a lot in a very short period of time,” noted Decker.
“Yeah, it was.”
“Were you surprised?” asked White.
“Flabbergasted was more like it. Me and everybody else. I mean, he was walking away from a great pension, health care, everything. But, as it turned out, he made the right decision. I mean, the guy became rich.”
“Did you see him after he left the Service?”
“Yeah, he came to some reunions, birthdays, retirement parties. He was a big shot by then. Drove up in a Rolls-Royce one time, with a driver and everything. I could only shake my head.” Dykes chuckled. “He brought his daughter to one event. Hell, she was probably only ten or twelve, but you could tell he was already grooming her to be his heir apparent. She was clearly in awe of him. Heard she went the Secret Service route, too. That was long after I retired. Now she’s running the show at Gamma.”
“You heard what happened to Kanak?” said Decker.
“Yeah, I did. Crazy. I mean, we’d lost touch by then. Last time I saw him was maybe ten years ago. Ann, my wife, was still alive. He looked good, happy, content.”
“Did he mention anything when you saw him last?”
“No, it was all superficial ‘how ya doing’ bullshit. He was just a totally different guy by then. We just had our years at the Service in common by then, and it had been a long time. When I heard he went missing on his boat, I thought, what the hell was that about? It was like he just wanted to disappear. I mean, they never found any wreckage or anything. And you’d think they would have found something if the boat went down.”
“You’d think,” said Decker. “You ever see Kasimira again?”