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He pressed his ear to the quarter panel so that he could hear the conversation.
“Buenos días,”the man said, and Patrick knew the voice immediately. Carlos engaged him in idle chitchat, and the more they talked, the more certain Patrick became: it was Javier.
Patrick listened as carefully as he could, translating the conversation as best he could.
“Have any of your men seen a blond young man?” asked Javier. “An American?”
“No. No Americans out here,” said Carlos.
“Well, if you do happen to see him, do me a favor, will you?”
“Of course. What?”
“Kill him,” said Javier. “I’ll make it well worth your while.”
“Conmuchogusto,” said Carlos. With much pleasure.
Javier’s Jeep pulled away.
The vehicle jerked forward, causing Patrick to roll to the back of the trunk and slam his head on a metal box. A tool box, Patrick guessed. Filled with tools, some of which might make excellent weapons.
Gottaget out,he told himself.Gottasave yourself.
Chapter 24
Kate stopped at her apartment for a quick shower and change of clothes. She made it to the theater before nine. Sean told her to take a seat in the main auditorium and that Irving would be ready for her “in a minute.” Thirty minutes later, she was still alone in the auditorium. But it wasn’t a waste of time. She had Justice Roberts with her, or at least his opinion.
Sean returned, took the seat beside her, and glanced at the single-spaced text with way too many footnotes. “Now,thatlooks boring.”
Kate could have dropped it there. But her meeting with Noah had left her mind awhirl with questions. Sean probably didn’t have any answers, but it might clear her head just to hear herself talk.
“It’s a Supreme Court decision from 2019. It relates to my play, in a way.”
“What’s it about?”
“The Court said the Commerce Department couldn’t add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.”
“I have a vague recollection of that from the news,” said Sean. “What does that have to do with Nazis using Hollerith machines?”
“Here’s an interesting fact. In the early days, sometimes the U.S. census included the citizenship question and sometimes it didn’t. But starting in 1890 and going all the way to 1950—seven times in a row—the full-count census asked every U.S. resident if he or she was a citizen.”
“So?”
“I said, ‘starting in1890.’That’s where my play starts: the first time the U.S. Census Bureau used technology to process census data.”
“Interesting coincidence.”
“It’s not acoincidence.It’s the slippery slope of Big Data meets Big Government. Who’s a citizen? Who has a great-grandparent of African descent? Who has a Jewish grandparent? This is exactly what my play is about.”
“Actually, it’s not. Irving is more firm than ever that it’s about capitalism.”
“Irving can go to hell.”
“Irving will be there soon enough,” said the director himself, coming down the aisle behind them.
Kate shrank in her orchestra seat. “I didn’t know you were there.”
“Obviously. Now, if you’re done cursing me out, come with me. And leave behind whatever that is you’re reading. I need your complete focus. No clutter.”