To recap the last few chapters:
Heller: I've been in this country for less than a day and I'm already on the run for assaulting policemen. This secret mission's going great!
Mary: I am sick from lack of drugs!
Heller: Oh yeah, my heroin-abusing prostitute companion. Let's get a drink in this park.
Cop: Hey, this license plate has a bullet hole in it. Out of the way, passed-out and vomiting woman.
Paramedic: You're coming with me, lady.
FBI Guy: You're coming with me, kiddo.
Heller: I am cooperating with the local authorities.
FBI Guy: I need to make a phone call, then dance in glee to celebrate my attempt to blackmail the most powerful man in the world. Oh, and that girl died.
Heller: Seriously?
FBI Guy: Yep, the drugs killed her. Offscreen and everything. I wasn't involved, honest.
Heller: What is the drugs?
FBI Guy: Come with me so you can learn them all by taste.
Heller: So many flavors!
FBI Guy: Now let me tell you all about how this agency secretly runs the government and is able to murder anyone we want to. After that I'll teach you how to defeat security systems, run a criminal investigation, and fire heavy weaponry. These are skills you will undoubtedly use against us at some point, so pay attention.
Heller's Cleats: Clickety-clack!
FBI Guy: Those shoes are loud!
Heller's Hideous Clothes: Why doesn't anyone pay attention to me...
Mary: Apparently I just died and the hero barely noticed, quit your bitching.
The FBI tour is over, so Gris gets to fret about what the other agent was arranging for Heller while his partner stalled for time. When they return to their office, Maulin answers the phone to have another conversation with Mr. Bury while Heller sits in a chair with a bright light shining in his eyes. They aren't interrogating him, however, it's just that those goons in the FBI don't know how to talk to people any other way. And yes, the narrator is nice enough to point this out for us in case we don't understand how evil these guys are.
Stupewitz explains that they've reported that a wrecked Cadillac containing a burnt corpse fitting Heller's description has been recovered, so the manhunt is off without anyone aware of who they were chasing. He's got a new license and vehicle registration for Heller all in his name, with tags attached directing any local authorities to call up Stupewitz and Maulin if they come into contact with Heller. From this Gris immediately deduces that the agents have also set up "tail plates" on Heller's car, a surveillance order sent out to all police departments to call in whenever they spot Heller's tags.
If police actually do this, consider me impressed. Sounds like a right pain, jotting down and looking up the numbers on every single license plate that crosses your field of vision. Unless they've got some sort of scanner to do it automatically. If they don't, they should, someone get on that.
Maulin shares his last conversation - Mr. Bury was quite concerned about Rockecenter "Junior," and suggests that in order to avoid undue media attention Heller shouldn't use his (assumed) name. He's to go to a specific hotel and, rather than check in, go on to the dining room, have a nice dinner, and wait for a family retainer to pick him up. And from this Gris immediately deduces that it was Bury who was stalling for time, so he could arrange a hit to take out this impostor!
Uh... huh.
Well, I guess this conveys the power and ruthlessness of this Rockecenter guy, if his flunkies are willing to whack any idiot who tries to pretend to be a long-lost family member. On the other hand, is it strictly necessary? Wouldn't it be less effort to sneer at the claims and demand that they produce the... oh wait, Heller's got those forged birth certificates. Hmm. That would suggest that the FBI or someone like them was involved, in which case wouldn't Rockecenter have bigger concerns than one phony son? Wouldn't he be putting out a hit on the agents who dared to go against their boss? And remind me again how Maulin and Stupewitz think they can get away with this and survive until retirement?
And honestly, I'm suspicious that Gris is wrong, and there is a Rockecenter Jr. who looks just like Heller, and Bury, despite his name, is earnestly trying to pick him up. Guess we'll see!
The FBI guys give Heller directions to the Howard Johnson's he's due at, and warn that daddy has the Slinkerton Detective Agency in the area to make sure he stays out of trouble. Then they usher him to the FBI garage and say goodbye, with a tremulous Heller thanking them for giving him a chance to go straight.
So while Heller enjoys rush-hour DC traffic, Gris gets to sprint to Faht Bey and demand to get in touch with Raht and Terb. The Apparatus mooks aren't aware anything's wrong, and reported that Heller got scooped up by the FBI as originally intended. And unfortunately they don't have any way of receiving messages from Gris, so... damn that is stupid. They've got equipment that lets them send reports, but not receive them? Why wouldn't their communicators be two-way? It isn't for security reasons, since they're able to send messages without detection, so what the hell?
Rather than doing something drastic, like hopping in his spaceship and rushing off to America, Gris slumps in his seat and despairs how Heller is doomed, and then Earth will be invaded, and then the Apparatus' plans will be foiled and he'll end up in an unmarked grave.
He hasn't considered turning on Hisst or anything, though. No attempt to escape the Apparatus' sinking plans and save his own neck by selling information. Or attempt to go to ground under an assumed identity. Interesting.
Back to Chapter Four
Both police and parking enforcement vehicles DO have cameras which are mounted on the roof, pinned at an angle on both sides of the street (there is also one in police vehicles like a dashboard camera which just gives them a frontal view) which basically do on-the-fly OCR of license plates as they drive by parked cars for ticketing or booting purposes. I think some repo people have them as well. So yes, there is a system which, for police at least, will alert them if it encounters a stolen vehicle or wanted suspect's vehicle etc. Not every car has one, of course, but unless they have gotten funding to make them smaller, they're easily seen on the tops of their cars...like 2 big old CCTV cameras.
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