"The Chameleon"

Chapter Seven

Blair was sitting at Jim's desk on the telephone with a man he'd just awakened. "Hello, I'm Blair Sandburg and I'm calling from the Cascade police department. Is this Jake Wilson?"

Sandburg bit his lip and told himself he wasn't lying to the man. He 'was' calling from the Cascade police department. The fact that he didn't work for the department seemed like a moot point at the moment.

A grumpy grunt was all Blair got in the way of a response.

"I apologize for calling so early, but it's regarding a life-and-death matter. You're a friend of Jim Ellison, right?"

A sleepy voice sighed and said, "Yes, I am. What the hell does that have to do with me being woke up at four in the fucking morning?"

Blair swallowed, knowing he only had moments to reach the man on the other end before he hung up on him. "Jim has disappeared and we have reason to believe it might be related to a mission Jim once led."

There was silence on the other end.

Blair pushed forward. "Did you serve with Jim eight years ago in Lima, Peru?"

"Yes. Does this have something to do with Kenny McCormack's death?"

Sandburg paused, just now making the connection between McCormack's death and Jim's disappearance. "It might."

"I heard about Kenny last night on the eleven o'clock news. It shocked the hell out of me."

Blair didn't know what to say, so he remained silent and Wilson continued after a moment. "Look, if there's some way I can help you find Kenny's murderer and Jim's location, I'd be more than happy to help."

Blair sighed with relief. He now had the man's willing cooperation. "Thank you very much for helping us. Can you think of anything that stands out from your time with Jim in Peru?"

"The first thing that stands out from that time is the raid on Enrique Villanueva's compound."

"Jim's told me some of what happened there. Maybe you can explain the situation to me."

"Well, Jim was in charge of our unit. We were to grab Enrique Villanueva, one of the most vicious drug lords around, after several terrorist threats were lodged and we determined he had the means and motivation to carry them out."

"I understand Villanueva was killed in that raid."

"Yeah, it was the mission from hell. Jim was caught in a blast following the attack. He was pretty banged up by it. In fact, he broke his arm there, but what happened after that was worse."

Blair leaned forward, anticipating new information that Jim couldn't remember. He wanted to rush the man along, but didn't want to be rude.

Jake continued. "There was another blast in an outdoor café a week after Jim was discharged from the hospital."

"Was it related to the assault on Villanueva?"

"You could say that. It was a suicide bombing carried out by Villanueva's twelve-year-old son."

"Holy shit," Blair whispered, stunned by the revelation.

"Yeah, it wasn't a pretty picture, that's for sure."

"It hit Jim hard?"

"Yeah, he went on R&R for a while after that. Then he was transferred to another unit, the one that eventually wound up crashing in the jungle and everyone assumed he was dead."

"Do you have any idea on who might want revenge against Jim and kidnap him?"

The line went silent for a long minute, and then Jake spoke up again. "Well, if it's related to that mission, the only one person I can think of would be Villanueva's woman. She was supposedly Enrique's second-in-command. Hell, what was her name?"

There was another silence. "I think it was something like Anna Cordaron . . . Anna Cordova . . . Anna something. Ah, damn, I can't remember it, but you could pull the information from the Lima newspaper. It was in April eight years ago."

"Thank you for your help. You may have just given us the information we need to find Jim."

"I sure hope it helps some. All I know is Jimmy went through a living hell when it happened. He just didn't seem the same after that."

"Thanks again. We may be contacting you again, is that all right?"

"Sure."

Blair hung up and racked his brain for a minute trying to think of the fastest way possible to get copies of that newspaper when he thought of his research assistant for the semester, Joe Munroe. The kid was an early riser and a real go-getter when it came to research, plus he was fluent in Spanish. Blair called Munroe who agreed to get online and fax him anything he found.

Blair was just giving him the telephone number for the nearby fax when Simon and Taggert walked in. The police captain was not happy to see Blair sitting at Jim's desk. "Sandburg, I thought I told you to stay home."

"Who could sleep after receiving a call like yours? Besides, I've got additional information on Jim's time in Lima. The more I delve into this case, the more I'm sure Jim's stalker is from Peru. And I don't think she just popped into town to start slipping Jim that drug of hers. She would have been following him around for a while."

Things were clicking for Blair's explanation, but the next part he wanted to tell Simon couldn't be said with just anyone listening. "Uh, Simon, can we talk privately in your office?"

Simon nodded and Blair followed him into his office, only to pop back out the door as he called for Taggert. "Joel, there should be a fax coming in soon that is very important to Jim's kidnapping. Can you bring it in as soon as you receive it?"

"Sure thing, Blair. I'll be watching for it."

Blair slapped Taggert on the shoulder. "Thanks, buddy," he said quickly before dashing back to Simon's office.

"What was that disappearing act about?" Simon said from behind his desk.

Blair could tell Simon had been up most of the night and that always worsened the man's mood. He could be cantankerous on his best days. Now he would be downright unlivable. Blair licked his lips and dived into his explanation.

"You'll see. Okay, here goes. I think this woman has been following Jim around for a while and Jim may have picked up something from her that caused the memories from the raid to resurface for Jim and that's how that rapist was able to get away from Jim-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back it up, Sandburg. I want you to start from the very beginning of this hypothesis and move along to this moment. And I want a Reader's Digest version of the events. I'm not up for one of your endless dissertations."

Blair's head bounced up and down as he started organizing his thoughts. Simon settled down into one of the chairs at the conference table and Blair began recanting recent events and how they related to Jim's situation. He was nearly done when Taggert popped in. "Here's your fax, Blair, but it's in Spanish."

"That's okay, Joel. I can read Spanish."

Blair took the document from Taggert and started reading. "Okay, okay, this makes sense. The mistress of the drug lord, Enrique Villanueva, was one Anna Cordova. That's the woman Jim's Army buddy, Jake Wilson, identified as being the best candidate searching for revenge against Jim. He said she was supposedly Villanueva's second-in-command.

"She was injured in the raid on Enrique's compound and remained in a coma until way after Jim's helicopter crash in the jungle. Now that we know her name and country of origin, we should be able to contact US Immigration and get a timeline on when she entered the States."

He paused, looking from Simon to Taggert and back to Simon again. "Well, what do you think?"

Simon stared at Blair for a moment. "I think you've been around this department long enough for it to have rubbed off on you. Pretty good bit of police work, Sandburg." He turned to Taggert. "Get on the horn with Immigration and tell them we literally needed that information yesterday."

Returning to Blair, Simon said, "It's a good start, at least. We've been spinning our wheels ever since Jim went missing."

He stared at Blair. "You look tired, Sandburg. You should go home and catch some sleep. I promise I'll call you the moment we get a lead."

Blair shook his head. "No, Simon, I couldn't sleep right now. Besides, my place is here and who knows? I might be useful at some point."

Simon patted Blair on the shoulder. "You've already been useful, Sandburg, but now you're on your way to indispensable."

Blair's mood brightened with the comment. Simon caught the change and groaned. "I must be more tired than I thought. If you repeat that comment to anyone, I'll deny it."

Blair smiled broadly at Simon. "Thanks, Simon. You don't know how much I appreciate what you said. And it will be our little secret."

Simon looked like he'd swallowed a mouthful of rancid food. "Get out of here, Blair. You look like a puppy that's just be given a year's supply of doggie treats."

Blair didn't say anything, only continued to smile as he left Simon's office. He saw Jim's desk and his smile disappeared. The connection he'd made between Jim and Villanueva's woman wouldn't amount to much if Jim turned up dead.

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