The Narrows

Zigo to go first but as usual he said nothing.
    "I think Terry was probably onto something," she said. "Somebody should go to work on it."
    "At the moment I don't know if we have the bodies to chase all of this stuff. I'll ask Brass if she's got anybody. And this William Bing-that name hasn't come up before."
    "My guess is that he is a doctor. Terry was coming over here and probably wanted to have a name in case something went wrong."
    "Rachel, when we get back, can you just run that down? I know what Alpert said, you're an observer and all, but if that's just a loose end, then it will be good to nail it down."
    "No problem. I can do it from my hotel room if you don't want him seeing me working a phone."
    "No, stay in the FO. If Alpert doesn't see you he'll start wondering what you're up to."
    Dei, who was in the front passenger seat, turned and looked back at Rachel, who was behind the pilot's seat.
    "What was with you two, anyway?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "You know what I mean. You and Bosch. All the looks, the smiles. 'I hope you are taking appropriate precautions.' What's going on with that, Rachel?"
    "Look, he's outnumbered here, okay? It's natural that he'd pick one of us to play to. It's covered in the manual on interview techniques and tendencies. Check it out sometime."
    "And what about you? Are you playing to him? Is that in the manual, too?"
    Rachel shook her head as if to dismiss the whole discussion.
    "I just like his style. He acts like he still has the badge, you know? He didn't stand down to us and I think that's sort of cool."
    "You've been out in the boonies too long, Rachel, or you wouldn't say that. We don't like people who won't stand down to us."
    "Maybe I have."
    "So does that mean you think he's going to be a problem?"
    "Definitely," said Zigo.
    "Probably," added Rachel.
    Dei shook her head.
    "I don't have the people for all of this. I can't spend my time watching this guy."
    "You want me to keep tabs on him?" Rachel asked.
    "You volunteering?"
    "I'm looking for something to do. So, yeah, I'm volunteering."
    "You know, before nine-eleven and Homeland Security, we used to get whatever we needed. Bagging serials were the best headlines the bureau got. Now it's terrorists twenty-four-seven and we can't even get overtime."
    Rachel noted how Dei pointedly did not say whether she wanted her to check up on Bosch or not. A nice way to have deniability if something went wrong. She decided that once back at the field office she would get Dei alone and get her to run a check on whether Bosch really had a home in Las Vegas. She'd try to find out what he was up to and keep a loose watch on him.
    She looked out her window and down at the black asphalt ribbon that cut through the desert. They were following it back to the city. At that same moment she saw a black Mercedes-Benz SUV heading in the same direction. It was dirty from off-roading in the desert. She knew it was Bosch making his way to Vegas. Then she noticed the drawing on the roof of the Mercedes. He had used a rag or something to draw a happy face in the white dust on the roof. The drawing made her smile, too.
    Dei's voice came in through the earphones.
    "What is it, Rachel? What are you smiling at?"
    "Nothing. I'm just thinking about something."
    "Yeah, I wish I could smile knowing that there might be a psycho-agent out there waiting to put a plastic bag over my head."
    Rachel looked at Dei, annoyed by such a snide and brutal remark. Dei apparently saw something in her eyes.
    "Sorry. I just think you better start taking this more seriously."
    Rachel looked at her until Dei had to look away.
    "You really think I'm not serious about this?"
    "I know you are. I shouldn't have said anything."
    Rachel looked back down at the I-15 freeway. They were long past the black Mercedes. Bosch was gone, far behind them.
    She studied the terrain for a while. It was all so different yet all the same. A moonscape carpet of rock and sand. She knew it was full of life but all life was hidden. The predators were underground, waiting to come out at night.
    "Ladies and gentlemen?" the pilot's voice said in her ear. "Switch to channel three. You've got an incoming call."
    Rachel had to take her headset off to figure out how to change the frequency. She thought that the headset had a stupid design. When she put the set back on she heard Brass Doran's voice. She was talking rapid-fire the way Rachel remembered she always did whenever something big came up.
    "-cent