Breaking Point

1
    ON AN EARLY MORNING IN MID-AUGUST, EPA SPECIAL Agents Tim Singewald and Lenox Baker left the Region 8 Environmental Protection Agency building at 1595 Wynkoop Street in downtown Denver in a Chevrolet Malibu SA hybrid sedan they’d checked out from the motor pool. Singewald was at the wheel, and he maneuvered through shadows cast by tall buildings while Baker fired up the dash-mounted GPS.
    “Acquiring satellites,”
Baker said, repeating the voice command from the unit.
    “Wait until we get out of downtown,” Singewald said. “The buildings block the satellite feed. There’ll be plenty of time to program the address. Besides, I know where we’re going. I’ve been there, remember?”
    “Yeah,” Baker said, settling back in his seat. “I know. I was just wondering how long it would take.”
    “Forever,” Singewald said, and sighed, taking the turn on Speer that would lead them to I-25 North. “Wyoming is a big-ass state.”
    The GPS chirped that it had connected with the sky. Baker punched in an address and waited for a moment and said with a groan, “Four hundred and twenty-two miles. Six hours, twenty-seven minutes. Jesus.”
    Said Singewald, “Not counting the guy we need to pick up along the way in Cheyenne. Still, we ought to make it before five, easy.”
    “Where are we staying? Do they have any good places to eat up there?”
    Singewald emitted a single harsh bark and shook his head. “The Holiday Inn has a government rate, but the bar sucks. There are a couple good bars in town, though, if you don’t mind country music.”
    “I hate it.”
    “Six and a half hours,” Baker said as Singewald eased the Chevy onto the on-ramp and joined the flow of traffic north.
    —
    I T WAS A CLEAR summer morning in mid-August. The mountains to the west shimmered through early-hour smog that would lift and dissipate when the temperature rose into the seventies. Both men wore ties and sport coats, and in the backseat was a valise containing the legal documents they were to deliver. Both had packed a single change of clothing for the drive back the next day.
    Tim Singewald had thin sandy hair, small eyes, a sallow complexion, and a translucent mustache. Lenox Baker was fifteen years younger. Singewald didn’t know him well at all, although his impression of his colleague was that he was overeager. Baker was dark and compact and exhibited nervous energy and a wide-eyed expression he displayed when talking with a senior staffer that said,
Keep me in mind when promotions
or transfers come along.
    Singewald noticed that Baker wore a wedding band, but he’d never heard the wife’s name. Singewald had been divorced for six years.
    All he knew about Baker was, like thousands of others across the country, he was new to the agency and he was gung-ho to get into some kind of action.
    Baker was an EPA Special Agent (Grade 12), one of 350-plus and growing. He pulled in $93,539 a year in salary plus benefits and hoped to move up to Grade 15, where Singewald resided. Singewald made $154,615 per year, plus benefits.
    As they cleared Metro Denver into Broomfield, Singewald reached up with his left hand and loosened the knot on his tie and then pulled it free and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. When Baker saw him do it, he reached up and did the same.
    “Ties stand out where we’re going,” Singewald said.
    “What do they wear? Clip-ons? String ties?”
    “They don’t wear ties,” Singewald said. “They wear jeans with belts that say ‘Hoss.’”
    Baker laughed. Then: “Who is this guy we have to pick up in Cheyenne?”
    “Somebody with the U.S. Corps of Engineers,” Singewald said, shrugging. “I don’t know him.”
    “Why is he coming along?”
    “I don’t know,” Singewald said. “I don’t ask.”
    “The secret to a long career,” Baker said.
    “You got it.”
    “Are there other secrets?” Baker asked, grinning a schoolboy grin.
    “Yes,” Singewald said, and said no more.
    —
    T HE AGENTS DROVE another hour north and crossed the border into Wyoming. Instantly, the car was buffeted by gusts of wind.
    “Where are the trees?” Baker asked.
    “They blew away,” Singewald said.
    —
    A S S INGEWALD WHEELED into the parking lot of the Federal Building in Cheyenne, he saw an older man in a windbreaker and sunglasses standing near the vestibule entrance. The man was conspicuously checking his watch and glancing toward them as they found an empty spot.
    “Gotta be him,” Singewald