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“What about the little girl?” Piper added. “I’ll bet he spends money on the grid to get stuff for her.”

Alex nodded thoughtfully. Then, he opened a laptop computer sitting on his desk and typed what seemed about the length of an email message. He leaned back. “This could take a while. I’ve got a few of my best people on it. If there is a trail, they’ll pick it up.”

He had an entire network of his own hackers? Whowasthis guy? She’d heard rumors that he was some sort of espionage mastermind, but this went way beyond the rumors.

Taking a flyer, she leaned forward and asked, “Do you have someone who might be able to do a little domestic poking for me?”

The intelligence in Alex Peters’ eyes as he studied her was almost frightening. For a moment, she felt a flash of gratitude that she was on the same side of the law as him. “What are we poking at?” he asked.

“I’ve been watching a homegrown separatist group out in Idaho. I believe they’re connected somehow to the Scientist. They mostly run off the grid, but two of their leaders went to North Sudan last month. The same two men made a good faith effort to kill me and Ian at the Scientist’s lab two days ago. They may have left a footprint of some kind.”

“This bunch got a name?”

“The Patrick Henry Patriots. Or just PHP.”

Alex nodded and started typing. He typed for longer this time, and eventually, he sat back, frowning. “Not a red flag kind of outfit at a glance.”

That was what she’d thought, too. Until they sent representatives to Khartoum.

“Interesting group,” Alex commented. “They don’t seem like the types to hook up with a Palestinian biological terrorist.”

“Hence my desire to get a handle on what they’re doing.”

“You think they’ve radicalized?” he asked.

God, that was the big, unanswered question, wasn’t it? She sincerely hoped not. In response to Alex, she could only shrug. “No idea.”

A new window opened up on Alex’s computer screen. “Looks like they bought a helicopter recently,” he commented.

She stared, shocked. “But they hate technology of all kinds. They think we need to go back to the 1870’s technologically to get back in touch with the values that made us a great nation.”

Alex shrugged. “Well, they bought a helo on the 28thof last month. They used a shell corporation and nested the deal through a couple of tax shelters, but PHP is the final buyer.”

“Has it been delivered?” she asked.

“Yup. To an address in southern Nevada.”

“Nevada? Their compound is in upstate Idaho.”

“Looks like your boys are branching out. Unless they just took delivery in Nevada and are planning to fly the bird up to Idaho. Lemme see if I can track down anything more.”

Alex typed a few minutes longer. All he came up with was a description of a white helicopter with red racing stripes down its sides.

“What about the money trail on the Scientist?” Ian asked. “Any hits? He can’t go too far underground with his eight-year old daughter in tow, can he?”

Alex grimaced. “I wouldn’t want to try it with Dawn. It was bad enough getting her out of Zaghastan as a newborn when all she did was sleep and eat and poop.”

Ian laughed ruefully. “Not to mention having to get Katie out of there, too.”

Piper’s gaze snapped to Ian. Why that comment, and in that tone of voice? Because Katie was a woman? Had Ian always been this big a chauvinist and she just hadn’t noticed?

Alex shrugged. “Katie was great. I don’t know if I’d have made it out without her.”

Piper gifted him with a warm smile for his enlightenment.

“It may take a while for me to get a hit on either of your guys,” Alex said. “Can you stick around for lunch? Warning, though: Katie’s going to bend your ear over wedding stuff.”

Ian laughed. “I’ll pass. Besides, our investigation is time sensitive.”