had passed on the message as a hoax.
Probably just as well. The hospital cafeteria had been a bad idea. He hadn't been thinking clearly. It was risky. They might be watching him. He couldn't see them, couldn't pick them out, but he wondered if they were here. After all, they must have taken Dixon from the hospital. If they had recognized the FBI agent from the TV news clips and saw him talking to her, they would most certainly kill Dixon.
Henry wasn't sure what he'd do now. He had five hours before they would allow him to talk to Dixon again. He had called his cell phone number anyway. It rang five times before it clicked over and he heard his own voice ask if he wanted to leave a message. He called it three more times. Each time it was the same. That meant they had left the phone on, left it somewhere to ring, probably just out of Dixon's reach, taunting him, reminding him who was in control.
Henry was worried sick about the boy. He tried to keep from conjuring up images of what they were doing to him. These were ruthless people who didn't mind blowing up innocent women and children in a shopping mall. People who had an agenda beyond what they were hired to do. He feared they would kill Dixon whether Henry 'behaved' or not.
Maybe it was the fatigue, maybe it was sheer madness, maybe it was the realization that he had nothing to lose. They could take the project and twist it into their own selfish scheme, but by God, he would not allow them to take his grandson down with them. They had crossed a line and for that, he'd send them all to hell even if it meant he had to go along with them.
A nurse had left when Henry returned to the room. He'd lost track of the in-and-out traffic. Now a white- coated doctor came in, still gowned up from surgery. Henry ignored them all unless they spoke to him first. He didn't want them interrupting his thoughts.
This doctor checked the machines, like all the others. Then she stood on the other side of Hannah and did something that surprised Henry. The doctor took a tissue from the side table and gently wiped a small line of drool that had escaped down Hannah's chin.
Henry raised his eyes to meet the doctor's.
'Hello, Mr. Lee.'
Henry simply nodded. At first he thought she was just another doctor, a polite one taking time to introduce herself. But she held his eyes and little by little he recognized her beyond the black square-framed eyeglasses and the hair that was slicked back to accommodate the surgical cap. She looked smaller in the scrubs, white coat and blue paper shoe covers, but she had donned the role of doctor or surgeon with an air of grace and confidence that had fooled him.
It was too late to hide his surprise or the sigh of relief.
She'd come, after all.
CHAPTER 52
'How did you find out my name?' Henry Lee wanted to know, but Maggie could see he was pleased rather than upset about it. 'And how did you find me?'
'There's a consult room next door. Security key card entry only,' she told him in the same calm voice she might use had she really been one of his wife's doctors, updating him, comforting him. 'It's already been swept for bugs. We have it for the next twenty minutes.'
He stared at her as if she were speaking a foreign language and he needed an interpreter. Finally he nodded. She waited while he tucked his wife's hand under the covers. He had been holding it all this time and looked reluctant to let go. Then he followed Maggie without further hesitation.
'I'm sorry about your wife,' Maggie told him as they settled into comfortable chairs in the next room. 'It sounds like she made it through surgery quite well.'
'That's what they keep telling me.' He sounded like he didn't believe them.
She reminded herself that his wife's condition wasn't her concern, though she admired his obvious devotion to her.
In the short amount of time since his phone call, Maggie had learned quite a bit about Henry Lee. With David Ceimo's connections as the governor's chief of staff, he had been able to track the anonymous phone call to Maggie's cell phone. The call had come from a waiting room in Saint Mary's Hospital's ICC.
In their brief conversation the caller had let it slip that his wife had just had surgery. On the day after Thanksgiving, there were no planned surgeries. Maggie had been able to find out that there were, in fact, only two emergency surgeries. One, an appendectomy. The other, a triple bypass. Another quick phone call to ICC?this one a bit of a finagle?and Maggie was able to get the patient's name. From there she discovered her anonymous caller's name. While David Ceimo took care of getting her hospital credentials and security clearance, Maggie searched everything she could find about Henry Lee by using her smartphone's Internet connection.
Turned out the man had an outstanding reputation as a business mogul, taking several companies and building them into national Fortune 500 successes. Now retired and remaining chairman of his empire, he used his clout to lobby for homeland security measures. He was far from the wacko she had expected.
'I'll only tell you what I know if I'm promised immunity from prosecution.' He said it like it was something he had memorized, perhaps rehearsed. There was none of his earlier passion in this request.
'I don't have the authority to make that promise.'
In the past A.D. Cunningham had backed her up with any deals she believed necessary. She was pretty sure A.D. Kunze would not.
'I can assure you that I'll talk to the authorities about your cooperation,' she told him, 'but that's as much as I can promise.'
He studied her with tired and hooded, watery blue eyes. She could see him evaluating his options. She waited while his eyes left hers, darted down to his wringing hands then back to hers.
'They have my grandson,' he said and cleared his throat, an unsuccessful attempt to hide the hitch in his voice. 'Will you at least try to get him back?'
'I'll do everything in my power to try to get him back.'
Then Maggie sat forward and waited, not wanting to throw out questions that might limit the information he gave.
'I'm a patriot,' he chose to open with.
It surprised Maggie, but she kept from showing it. One of the companies Henry Lee owned was a security provider. From the brief background search, she had expected to come here and get information from him that might involve some breach of security or perhaps a failure to report a warning.
What Maggie O'Dell didn't expect was a confession.
CHAPTER 53
Nick stood at Jerry Yarden's side as Yarden gave his long-winded and animated version of what security had done to try and foil the attack. The Chapmans nodded, thin-lipped and unblinking. Nick was relieved when his cell phone started ringing.
'Sorry, I've got to take this call,' he told them, excusing himself and escaping down the hall without even looking to see who was calling. 'This is Nick Morrelli,' he said with just a hint of importance mixed with a dab of irritation for the Chapmans' benefit.
'Finally. I can't believe you answered.'
It was his sister, Christine. True enough, he had ignored her previous calls and not returned any of her messages. He hadn't been ready to divulge any details that he suspected the news reporter in her would be wagering for.
'Yeah, sorry. It's been crazy here.'
He glanced back down the hall. The Chapmans had forgotten him already and were focused on poor Jerry.
