your office, you will tell your people to let the women go. When the women are free, we will turn over Wolff’s key and Kilkenny’s decoding program.’
‘These terms are unusually generous, Cooper. Why?’
‘Write it off to goodwill. All we care about are the hostages. Kilkenny’s got copies of maybe a dozen pages from Wolff’s notebooks, so the key doesn’t really do his people a lot of good. Like I said earlier, you won. Let’s settle up and call it a day.’
‘Agreed. I look forward to meeting you tomorrow, Mr Cooper.’
‘Likewise.’
Cooper set the phone back in its cradle. ‘I haven’t had to do something like that in a while.’
‘An impressive performance,’ Kilkenny said.
‘Now we just have to wait for the call.’
A moment later the phone rang. Kilkenny quickly snatched it off the table.
‘This is Nolan Kilkenny,’ he answered.
‘Nolan, it’s Kelsey.’
‘How are you and Elli?’ he said loud enough for the others to hear.
‘We’re fine. They haven’t hurt us.’
‘We found Wolff’s key, so they’re just going to hold you both until we can make a trade. It’ll all be over tomorrow, I promise.’
‘I love you, Nolan.’
‘I love you, too, sweetheart.’
The line went dead.
‘They cut her off,’ Kilkenny said as he switched off the phone. ‘She sounded okay, just scared. She said they’re both fine.’
‘They should stay that way until tomorrow,’ Cooper said reassuringly. ‘Now, I have to make my next call.’
Cooper took the phone from Kilkenny and punched in a number.
‘Gardner, it’s Cooper. Did you get a trace on that last call?’
‘Yes, sir. It originated in Arenac County, Michigan, near a town called Standish. I’ve got an address and precise coordinates.’
‘Read them off to me.’
Cooper took notes as Gardner read off the trace results.
‘Gardner, this is a hostage situation with national-security implications. Get in touch with the folks in Research. I want a full package on this property, everything you can get your hands on. And I need it yesterday. I got an E-mail address for you.’
‘I’m ready,’ Gardner replied, his adrenaline up.
Cooper read off Kilkenny’s address carefully. ‘Got that?’
‘I got it, sir. I’ll have something for you in thirty minutes.’
‘Good. Next thing, I need some discreet surveillance of this property. See if you can’t get a little time on one of the satellites to pull some images. Send them to the same address.’
‘Sir, has Kilkenny been cleared for satellite imagery?’
‘Yes, he has, on my authority. If you like, I can have DCI Barnett call you to confirm it.’
‘I can accept your word on it, sir,’ Gardner said meekly.
‘Good.’ Cooper hung up and set the portable phone on the desk.
‘I got the GPS mapping program up,’ Grin announced. ‘I just need the coordinates.’
Cooper read off the precise longitude and latitude figures that Gardner had given him; Grin typed in the coordinates and pressed ENTER . The global positioning satellite program rendered a globe on the screen that began to spin and grow large, as if the viewers were flying toward Earth from space. North America filled the screen, then the mitten shape of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula came into view. Finally, the program zoomed in on the northern shore of Saginaw Bay, where the Rifle River flowed out into the bay.
‘I canoed that river as a Boy Scout,’ Kilkenny said, looking over Grin’s shoulder. ‘Once, we followed the river all the way out to the bay. It’s mostly wetlands and trees in this area, with a few cabins along the shore. A lot of duck hunting up there. I think my friends will be able to handle this.’
52
Moscow, Russia
The phone rang, breaking the silence that filled the room where Orlov was waiting. He answered it quickly, fully aware it was Dmitri Leskov on the other end.
‘The call to Kilkenny is done.’
‘Any problems?’
‘ Nyet. We kept it short, not enough time for a phone trace. Newton said nothing other than what we told her to say.’
‘Good. Put Josef in charge of the hostages. With Kilkenny and Cooper coming to Moscow, I want you here handling security. Your tickets are waiting for you at Tri-City Airport. Flight arrangements have been made that should get you here a few hours ahead of our visitors.’
As he wrote down the flight information, a surge of anger flushed Leskov’s skin. Kilkenny’s hands touched nearly everything that had gone wrong with this operation, including the death of his brother Pavel. He toyed with the idea of letting his men rape Kilkenny’s woman just for spite, but such an action didn’t fit in with Victor Orlov’s plans.
‘I’m on my way, sir. Any change to our plans for the hostages?’
‘None.’
‘Do you expect any trouble from Kilkenny or from this Cooper?’
‘No, but I want you here to make certain that things go smoothly. Once I have the ciphers, you can settle things with Kilkenny.’
‘I understand, Victor Ivanovich,’ Leskov replied. ‘ Spasiba. ’
53
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Kilkenny stood outside the airport hangar and watched the small, military passenger jet taxi off the runway. The pilot deftly brought the aircraft to a stop over the painted markings on the tarmac just a few feet from where he stood. The twin-jet engines mounted on the tail slowly wound down, their high pitch dropping in both tone and volume.
The door of the aircraft shuddered, then slid open. The copilot lowered the built-in stairs and stepped aside to let his passengers disembark. First off was a muscular man of about fifty with dark ebony skin and a close- cropped Afro flecked with gray. He stood a few inches shorter than Kilkenny; the collar of his battle-dress uniform bore the stars of a newly frocked rear admiral. Over his right breast was the gold pistol and trident emblem of Navy SEALs.
Kilkenny greeted Rear Admiral Jack Dawson with a crisp salute.
‘Good to see you, Nolan,’ Dawson said as he returned Kilkenny’s salute. ‘Sorry it’s not under better circumstances.’
