…continued from Part 2…

—

Before Jake could open his mouth to explain, the pair of detectives were interrupted by the trilling of Shelby’s cellphone. Shelby pulled a government-issued Blackberry from his pocket and answered. Jake couldn’t make out the words, but he could hear the urgency in the voice coming from the phone. Shelby listened in thin-lipped silence.

“I see. Of course. As soon as possible, sir.” Shelby hung up the phone. He smiled wryly.

“Do you hear that?” he murmured, amused. Aside from the distant sound of traffic on the Nashville turnpike and the hum of a fan in the front room, it was silent in Jake’s office.

Jake raised an eyebrow.

“That is the sound of ten thousand moralistic scolds who got elected into office on a family values platform collectively shitting their pants.”

“Another hack?”

“Ashley Madison.”

Jake whistled. “Wow.”

Shelby fidgeted with his collar.

“Did they just turn up the heat on you?”

“Indeed they did. But you said you figured out the router path.”

“Oh, certainly. There are actually a bunch of them.”

Jake scribbled the names of the cities into the pentagram he’d drawn before. “We start here in Cairo,” he began, and proceeded to show Shelby a few different paths through the maze of routers that would get them back to Cairo without skipping or doubling any cities.

“But there’s only one path that really matters.”

Jake opened the top drawer in his desk and pulled out his car keys. He opened a bottom drawer and pulled out a snub-nosed revolver. He opened a middle drawer and pulled out a pair of pants.

“Let’s go bring this sonofabitch in.” Jake pulled the pants on one leg at a time.

“You know where he is?”

“I know what city.” Jake put his shoes on, then put the revolver into a hip holster.

“Just from looking at that?”

“Correct.”

Jake stood up, ready to leave.

“Shouldn’t you write it down? Won’t you forget?”

“I don’t need to,” Jake smiled. “He wrote it down for me.”

—

LINK TO PUZZLE SOLUTION

Hint (highlight to see – or copy and paste if you’re on a mobile device): Note that Jake took his car keys – that means it’s somewhere within driving distance.  No, he’s not driving to the airport.  Because I wrote the puzzle, that’s why.  It’s somewhere close.  Probably even within the same state.