"And you made him an offer he couldn't refuse."
"Something like that," Templer said coyly. "Let's just say he prefers the vineyards of California to the prisons in England."
Alex nodded in understanding. "How'd you find him?"
"Telephone records."
"That's impossible," Alex said, shrugging off Martin's answer.
"Never underestimate the power of silicon," Martin said crypti- cally.
"Computers? No way," Alex said defiantly. "Every year there are almost 40 billion calls made within the United States alone. There's no way to trace that many calls."
"Who needs to trace?" Templer enjoyed the joust. Thus far. "The phone company is kind enough to keep records of every call made. Both local and long distance. They're all rather com- plete. From what number, to what number, if it's forwarded, to what number and at what time and for how long. They also tell us if the calls were voice, fax, or other types of communications. It even identifies telephone connections that use encryption. Believe me, those are flagged right off."
"You monitor every conversation? I thought it was just the overseas calls. That's incredible. Incredibly illegal."
"But necessary. The threat of terrorism inside the United States has reached unacceptable levels, and we had the capability. It was just a matter of flipping the switch."