'I was hired by Mr. Stone, but to escort the senator to another location,' Mandor said. 'And I happen to know where Admiral Link is.'
'I'm listening,' Rodgers replied.
'My partner has him. If I tell you where they are, can we cut some kind of deal?'
'No,' Rodgers said. 'If you don't, I'll do my damnedest to make sure the state of California adds obstruction of justice to whatever else you may have done.'
Mandor considered that for just a moment. Then he told Rodgers where Kenneth Link had gone.
FIFTY-FOUR
San Diego, California Wednesday, 5:15 p.m.
Rodgers and his marine unit charged back up the stairs to the roof of the hotel. They left Stone, Kendra, and Man-dorin the custody of the local police. The three were charged with assault, a felony weapons charge, and conspiracy to kidnapping. Kat remained with Senator Orr and the hotel physician. Rodgers had questions for Kat, but this was not the time or place to pose them. He needed more information and suspected that only Kenneth Link had it.
Thomas Mandor had directed them to a cabin in the mountains of nearby Fallbrook. The pilot phoned the address to the county sheriff. The marine explained that they needed to get to the site without the chopper being seen or heard, which meant landing some distance away. He said that he did not need backup, just a spotter, someone to point out the residence. The sheriff sent Deputy Andy Bel-mont ahead to meet them. He said the young man would be waiting in an open field at elevation 1963 feet, three miles due northwest of the Mission Road exit in the foothills of the Coastal Range. That was just a quarter mile or so from the target. The dispatcher said that Deputy Belmont was familiar with the area and also had met Mr. Richmond. He would be able to point out the cabin. The pilot was told to look for a black Jeep with a large white star on the hood.
The Apache flew over Highway 163 and then followed 15 east. The pilot kept the helicopter under five hundred feet. Navy fighter pilots trained along this corridor, and he did not want to risk a collision. He ascended when he reached the foothills. Rodgers was sitting behind the pilot, watching for the deputy's Jeep. There was one marine to his right and three more in the snug jump seats behind them. They were actually more like paddles, recent additions to the Longbows that allowed them to shuttle small special ops units into hostile territory. The seats, even the fixed ones, vibrated like those old quarter-fed motel beds, and removing the headphones was guaranteed to leave a passenger's ears ringing for a week. This was not an aircraft designed for comfort. As the pilot proudly put it, 'The Longbow was built for roughing things up.' In addition to the chain gun, the helicopter could be equipped with air-to-surface Hellfire missiles on four-rail launchers and air-to-air Stinger missiles. This particular Apache did not carry Stingers. Part of that was a virtue of the quick launch protocol the crew had used to reach Rodgers as quickly as possible. Part of that was to protect the civilian population in the event technical failure brought the chopper down.
The pilot spotted the Jeep first and swung toward it. He set the Apache down two hundred yards away. Rodgers opened the door and ran over. The deputy climbed from the Jeep and offered his hand.
'You must be General Rodgers,' the deputy said.
'That's right.'
'It's a pleasure, sir,' Belmont told him. 'What do you need from me?'
'Tell me about the target,' Rodgers said.
'It's a traditional log cabin set back about three hundred yards from a ridge,' the deputy told him. 'There are oaks all around a real firetrap, but shady. May I ask what's going on there?'
'Hostage situation,' Rodgers replied. 'What is the best way in?'
'Are you looking to surround and siege or charge it?' Belmont asked.
'We're going in.'
'There are more windows on the north side, the ridge side,' the deputy told him. 'You'll be safer coming in from the south.'
'Is there someplace closer to set down for extraction?'
'There's a three-acre clearing off the point, just above the cabin,'
Belmont told him. 'Good surveillance point, too.'
