Flagstaff, Arizona, is associated with John Rainbird’s private home and with the future he proposes after the McGee affair is over. In his negotiations with Cap Hollister, Rainbird turns the city into more than a personal address: it is the destination for a public journey, a meal at his favorite restaurant, and the destruction of the Shop’s incriminating records.

Rainbird’s Home

Cap knows that Rainbird has a house in Flagstaff, along with a shoe collection. The detail surfaces in their conversation as Cap contrasts Rainbird’s private possessions with the old, scuffed boots he habitually wears. Rainbird’s unblinking response leaves the remark hanging rather than explaining what the house means to him, but it establishes Flagstaff as part of his life beyond his work for the Shop.

A Destination in the Bargain

During the negotiations, Rainbird proposes that, once the McGee affair ends, the U.S. Bureau for Geological Understudies will cease to exist and its computer codings will be changed. He offers Cap a role in the aftermath: the two men will fly on a public airline to Arizona, dine at Rainbird’s favorite Flagstaff restaurant, and return to Rainbird’s house. In the desert behind it, they will burn papers, tapes, and films. Flagstaff thus anchors a concrete plan to erase the evidence of the organization’s activities, while the invitation to see Rainbird’s shoe collection echoes Cap’s earlier reference to the house and its contents.