notebook.
‘What the hell are you promising him?’ Leonie said. ‘Anna won’t believe us.’
‘We’re not delivering a body to them. Just proof. She wants that notebook more than she wants anything else.’
I’ve read the notebook, so I’m a dead man. So are you if you read it. They’ll draw you in to give you back your kid and then they’ll kill you. There is no way out of this that works for you. If you let me go I can use the information in the notebook to bring them down. That’s the best I can do for you.
No, I wrote.
The CIA is going to find you before you find me, Sam.
Leonie said, ‘I feel sick.’
Is there mention of a man named Ray Brewster in the notebook?
A pause. No.
That’s the name of the man who’s after you, we think.
I don’t know that name.
I know you don’t trust me. I know. All I’m trying to do is save my son.
We waited for Jack’s words to appear.
‘If they find him first and they tell him that you offered him a deal… ’ Leonie started then stopped.
I waited, fingers poised above the keyboard for him to answer. He didn’t. I typed into the void: Please don’t let my son die. He’s never had a chance at life. He’s only a few months old. Please.
They won’t let Daniel live. I feel certain. You don’t know how bad these people are.
Daniel. He knew my child’s name. A cold fear struck me: Is there something in the notebook about my son?
Yes.
Behind me, Leonie sucked in breath. What?
No. I won’t tell you.
That was his insurance then, to stay alive at my hands.
All right. But then you know I’ve told you the truth. This is our only chance, for both of us. Let’s meet.
Silence for the thirty longest seconds of my life. What do you propose?
We meet. You give me the notebook. We pose you in some photos to appear dead, which I take. I deliver the notebook and proof of your death. I get my son back. Nine Suns thinks you’re dead and they never touch you again.
I have to have money.
That was why he went to the CIA, I realized. He wanted to sell the notebook. I can get you money, I wrote.
How much?
A half-million. And a new name, and a place to hide.
Thirty long seconds. All right, meet tomorrow at the Statue of Liberty. 3 p.m.
Then the machine whirred, the hard drive reformatting. He seized remote control of the system and he blanked out all the files. Leonie hit keystroke combinations, but nothing worked. The screen went gray and blue and a reformat pro gress window appeared. ‘I can’t stop it,’ Leonie said. ‘Damn it to hell.’
‘It’s all right.’
‘I can’t believe he agreed to meet us.’ She sounded stunned.
‘Oh, he didn’t,’ I said. ‘It’s completely a trap. He’s going to tell August that’s where we will be. He knows we’re after him, and so is August. This ties up both sides as pursuers. Maybe if someone inside Nine Suns tries to warn us it’s a trap, Jack will tell August that information will ID who the mole is. Everyone who’s chasing him tangles and then Jack’s running and gone.’
‘But he needs money.’
‘The one thing we know about Nine Suns is that it’s global. So he didn’t sell the information to the Americans. He can sell it to the British, the French, the Chinese. Someone will pay. And then Jack hides, and our kids are gone.’ I leaned back. ‘The only trump I had was his mother.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He might really want justice for his mom. That might make him take a risk.’
‘But you said he wasn’t close to his mom.’
‘She’s still his mom. Don’t you think one day Taylor would do anything to save you?’
Leonie swallowed. ‘I would hope.’
‘Mrs Ming died and he’s going to feel responsible. He wants to set a trap for us; we have to set one for him. One where we can grab him and get the notebook and then draw in Anna.’
‘Kill him and take the notebook. Why is this so hard?’
‘They will not just hand us back our kids, Leonie. That notebook is our leverage. We have to have it to guarantee a safe exchange for the children.’
‘I do not like this.’
We were at an impasse.
‘I’ve told you what I’m doing. Either you want to help me or you don’t. If you think you can track Jack and kill him, then, please, by all means.’
The silence grew uncomfortable. ‘Fine,’ she finally said. ‘We’ll do it your way. Not that you’re leaving me much choice.’
‘I told you we will get our kids back.’
She nodded. ‘I’d like to eat.’
‘I’ll have food sent up. There’s a menu over there. Order whatever you like.’
Leonie got up. She stretched hands above her head. She studied the menu. ‘High end bar fare. A calamari panini? Mini caviar sliders? Yuck.’
‘Bertrand likes to experiment. I can recommend the Kobe beef burger and the fish and chips.’
She put the menu down. ‘I hope they’re feeding our babies okay.’
‘Leonie, hold it together.’
‘I am. I have been.’ She steadied her voice. ‘I’ll go downstairs and order us some food. What would you like?’
‘You order for us both, I like everything on the menu. Perks of being the owner.’ I tried to give her a reassuring smile. I supposed she might take her revenge on me by bringing back that questionable calamari panini.
She went downstairs. And I wondered what was her limit, would she break under the pressure, would she decide that my way was the wrong way?
What would she do to save her child?
57
Special Projects headquarters, Manhattan
Ricardo Braun held three different cell phones; what he was not holding was his temper. ‘Go find out who we’re dealing with beyond Capra,’ he said to August, ‘while I do my damnedest to help you keep your job.’ His normally cordial, calm voice trembled with barely contained anger.
‘I’m sorry, sir.’
‘You should be,’ he snapped. ‘Do as I told you and when you’ve got some information, come see me. I have to be on the phone with the gods in Langley, explaining how our inability to secure our informant caused a gunfight in the streets of Brooklyn and ended up on the national news.’
August tried to swallow and couldn’t. He turned. ‘August. There’s a shoot-on-sight order on Capra. You should know. No one is expecting you to shoot your friend. But he attacked you and two other officers and nearly killed Ming. We’re not chit-chatting with him again. He’s going down, dead or alive. Do you understand me?’
‘Yes, sir.’
