“Yes, your car.”
She thanked him, hung up, and looked at her watch. A little after four.
There were only about thirty cars left in South Parking. The sun was starting to set behind the Arlington Annex buildings overlooking the national cemetery.
The dark band of an approaching weather front lurked in the west.
“Nothing?” Sherman was asking.
“Not a word. No calls. He should have been back by now.
“He take your car?”
I”Yes.’ I
“Call your car phone. See if he’s there.”
Why didn’t I think of that? she fumed, and punched in the number for the Explorer.
One ring, two rings, a pickup, and then the voice: Hello, Commander.
She almost dropped the phone when she heard his voice again. She mouthed the name Galantz at Sherman, her throat too dry to speak. Sherman reached for the phone.
“What do you want, Galantz?” he shouted into the phone.
Your dripping bloody spine on my kitchen table, the voice said. If you had one.
“Where’s Jack?-” Sherman said, his voice not quite so forceful. Karen felt an icy fist grip her insides. If Galantz was in her car, then where the hell was Train?
Jack’s with me. Want to see young Jack, do you, Aqmiral?
“Let him go, Galantz.”
Let him go? He’s here of his own free will. Although that might change, of course.
“Let him go, Galantz. You’ve done enough damage.”
Nowhere near enough damage. But I will. You want Jack?
You come to where von Rensel went. Tonight. Come alone.
No helper bees. Let’s say about nine. That suit your busy calendar? We can finish this tonight. Just you and me. But remember, come alone. Or we just keep playing.
Sherman swallowed as the phone hissed at him. He handed the phone back through her window.
“He’s offering to trade Jack for me, from the sounds of it. Wants me to come to wherever von Rensel was going this afternoon. Says we can finish this tonight.”
“Damn!” she exclaimed. “We’ve got to tell Mcnair. We need-“
“No. I have to go alone.”
“That’s crazy, Admiral. I’m sorry, but you’re no match for this guy.”
“Don’t you see, Karen, this is never going to end until I face him? And Jack.” Sherman looked away for a moment, and she suddenly had the impression that he-no longer cared what happened to himself. “Did he say anything more about Train?” she asked.
“No. So we’d better get down to Aquia.”
It was nearly 5:30 when they arrived in their separate cars.
An obviously worried Hiroshi met them in front of the house.
“No calls?” Karen asked as soon as she got out.
“One call. From a Mr. Mcnair.”
“Mcnair!” exclaimed . Sherman, joining them next to Karen’s car. Hiroshi turned to face him.
“It was for you, Sherman-sama. He said don’t go.
“That’s it?” Karen asked, frowning. Then she looked at Sherman. “But how in the world-“
“The phones,” Sherman said, kicking gravel at a tire.
They must have all the goddamn phones covered. Here and the cars, too.
Was that the entire message’, Hiroshi?”
“No. He said he was sorry about Jack. But Galantz was more important.” herman’s face paled in the evening light, as if Hiroshi slapped his face. “Sorry about Jack? Sorry about Jack!
What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Karen took him by the arm and steered him away from the cars. Hiroshi waited patiently behind them. “Mcnair is the police,” she said. “He knows that Jack has been helping Galantz commit murder. He’s obviously willing to sacrifice Jack to get the mastermind here, Galantz. But what he doesn’t know is that Train may be up there.”
Sherman shook his head. “He should know if he can listen to all these damned phones. How did you find out Train went wherever he went?”
“I called Hiroshi from OP-03’s office. Oh, right. If they’ve got devices on the phones here, he would know.”
She stopped for a moment. “And you’re sure Galantz didn’t mention anything more about Train?”
“Nope. Nothing other. than to say that I should come to where von Rensel went. Where is that, Karen?” Karen felt her heart sink
“A place called Slade Hill,” she replied. “It’s near the river. Did he imply he had Train, as … Well?”
“No. Just that one oblique reference.”
It was Karen’s turn to think hard. But then an odd thought struck her: Could Mcnair have been behind their three-hour detention in the Pentagon? Mcnair working through those two admirals? If he knew that Train had gone to Cherry Hill before they were detained, might he have arranged their detention? But how would he have found that out? Easy, the phone call she made from OP-03’s office, when Hiroshi had told her where Train had gone. And then, when he overheard Galantz tell Sherman to come to Cherry Hill, he had left this new message. Which meant the police were finally moving against Galantz.
“What?” Shermafi was asking.
Karen shook her head. “An off-the-wall theory,” she replied. “But I think the cops are about to make their move’ ‘ ‘ Sherman sighed in exasperation. “At this moment, Karen, theories don’t interest me. I want my son out of there. I have to talk to him. I have to know if he really was part of this, or if he was just a dupe. Look, the rest of my world is in pieces. I’ve got to know this. Do you understand? I can’t just sit here.”
“I do understand,” she said. “But if Mcnair has a police operation under way, and we go up there, we could screw that up. Run into a SWAT team up there.”
“Mcnair wants Galantz. I think he’s made it personal.
Jack’s just excess baggage to him. Well, Jack is blood personal for me.
I’ve got to get face-to-face with him, just once. “
Karen was wavering. If Jackwere to be killed, either by Galantz or by a SWAT team, Galantz would have succeeded in destroying everything of value to Sherman: his lover, his mentor, his career, and now his only son.
“Karen? Train’s probably up there, too.” He took her arm. “I can’t do this by myself,” he said. “You’ve been there. You know the ground. And you’ve got something of value up there, too, Karen. Either Galantz has him, too, or he’s been hurt. The cops will treat him as another cop.
They’ll try to recover him. But Mcnair is focused on Galantz, and sometimes cops get hurt.”
That did it “Hiroshi,”.she called. The old man walked over, his eyes alert. “We need some weapons.”
Train rose toward consciousness, aware now that he had been chemically silenced but not able to remember why, or where. He opened his eyes slowly, seeing nothing but a purplish halo in the darkness. He tried to rub his eyes, only to discover that his arms were constricted. Then he realized that his hands were taped back-to-back, and his wrists felt like they had been taped together and then fastened by more tape to his belt buckle. His ankles were also taped together.
His whole body was constricted, enveloped in something that had him wrapped loosely from head to toe. Only his face was exposed. He smelled rubber, and immediately he recognized the shape of the thing that held him. And he remembered where he had been when he saw it.
He turned his head, but then his face slid under the the bag left open for him to breathe, the rough edges of a zipper scratching his cheek. He didn’t do that again. The darkness was complete. He had a vague sense of being underground.
Okay. Karen managed to get through this. So can you.
Breathe. Regain sensory control.
