America

ignite. Apparently. Then the tracking stations lost it. At that speed and altitude, it could be anywhere from Africa to the Bahamas.'

'You don't really think that something just 'happened,' do you?'

'No. I think it was sophisticated sabotage. Someone changed a few lines of software here and there. After the missile was lost, he or she went back in and changed it back. Someone else could have killed the tracking stations for several minutes. The FBI is investigating and apparently coming up dry.'

'And the Russian response to the SuperAegis disaster was to send a spy to be a member of the liaison team?'

'It's that kind of world, I guess,' Jake said lightly. 'Drop a satellite and here they come. But who knows, there's a chance — a small one, of course — that Ilin is indeed what he is says he is, a career paper pusher, a bean counter.'

'So why didn't he get a room at the Washington Hilton?'

Jake chuckled. 'The times, they are indeed a-changin',' he said. 'But they don't change overnight. Used to be a senior spook like Ilin couldn't leave the Russian embassy without an escort. They're afraid their people might defect or turn traitor or something. Presumably Bin's chock-full of state secrets that Russia's enemies would pay huge money for. He says his boss thinks he's growing up. They would like him to sleep at the embassy, but now he can play outdoors without adult supervision.'

'How senior is he?'

'Equivalent of a major general, I think. Maybe a lieutenant general. The CIA says they think he's the number- two or — three man in one of the SVR's chief directorates.'

'Are you and Toad corrupting him?'

'I'm just trying to be a decent host. Toad is probably trying to rot Bin's Cyrillic heart. I don't know. Or care. Ilin may be trying to show us that he isn't SVR because he can sleep outside the Russian embassy. Whatever. At some point you stop peeling the onion and let it be.'

'Is he going to defect?'

'God, I hope not! It would be a disaster if he did.'

'Do you like Ilin?'

Jake shrugged. 'I haven't thought much about it. He is charming, but he's way too smart. Being around him makes me nervous.'

Callie laughed. 'Phooey. You're in his league, Jake Grafton.' She shook her head. 'Just for the record, though, I wish you and I had a little more time alone to practice this husband-wife thing.'

'Me too,' Jake agreed warmly and reached for Callie's arm. 'I'm sorry the guys showed up. I could tell Toad to take him down to Ocean City this afternoon, get a hotel room with a good television and watch some football.'

'No, no. They can stay. I didn't mean that.'

'Honest. I can run 'em off.'

'I know. But it would be impolite.'

They walked on hand in hand.

'Last night was fun,' Callie said, remembering. Ilin had asked the origin of the name of the project — Super Aegis. Jake replied that the space-based missile defense system was first christened Galahad, after the good knight with the enchanted shield. 'Galahad's shield,' Jake explained, 'had a marvelous property; it would protect only those pure in heart. The president thought that this close to the Clinton era, people would think the name was some kind of political joke.'

That remark got Ilin started on political jokes. He regaled the Americans with an hour's worth, all of which Callie forced him to repeat in Russian. Then somehow the conversation turned to grandmothers. Jake Grafton grinned as he walked the beach this morning, remembering.

'My father's mother liked to invite her friends over for cards in the afternoon,' Callie had told her audience. 'They smoked and drank gin until they were so snockered they could barely walk and thought they were so wicked. Grandmother would call me over to her and announce, 'Callie is going to help me cheat. Look at the other ladies' cards, honey, and tell me if you see any jacks.' My other grandmother was also a pistol. She's the one who taught me to pee without taking off my swimsuit.' That comment brought a gale of laughter. 'She also liked to skinny-dip and would wake me up at midnight to go skinny-dipping with her in her pool. She loved splashing around naked in the darkness, listening to the crickets and frogs, speculating about what the neighbors would say if they ever found out.'

That got Toad talking about his grandmothers. He then mimicked the way they talked. Jake and Callie had never heard him mimic other voices before, so they encouraged him. He did an excellent John Wayne, good Jimmy Stewart, Jack Benny, Bill Clinton, and a passable handful of others. Although Ilin didn't know many of the voices, the Graftons did; Toad had them in stitches.

'What are you grinning about?' she asked her husband this morning as they walked the sand.

'Being alive,' he shot back. 'Like your grandmother, I enjoy it immensely. Come on, let's get our feet wet.' Jake led Callie into the surf runout area. The water was cold on their ankles. In seconds a wave forced them to retreat. Back and forth they went, like children, as the surf chased them.

Eventually he misjudged a wave, which soaked his trousers from the knees down. He grinned ruefully at his wife, who was wearing a wide smile as the cold salt water swirled around her ankles.

They were crossing the beach, heading for the boardwalk across the dune, when Jake's cell phone rang. He removed it from his pocket and flipped open the mouthpiece.

'Grafton,' he muttered and inserted a finger into his left ear to block out the sighing of the wind and surf.

Callie sat down on the boardwalk to put on her shoes as Jake concentrated on the telephone conversation. He didn't say much. Callie felt her spirits sink. The cell phone was nonsecure, Callie knew, so official business could not be discussed on it. More than likely this was a summons to return to Washington. When Jake glanced at his wristwatch, she knew.

'Okay,' he said and closed the phone mouthpiece. As he put the phone into his pocket he looked at her and shrugged. He looked tired, she thought.

'Someone hijacked a submarine — if you can believe that. Big meeting in Washington. They're sending a helicopter. It'll be here in about an hour.'

'Oh, Jake. I'm sorry.'

'Damn!' he said. 'You'll have to drive the car back to Washington.'

'A submarine?'

'New London, he said. This morning.'

'Is there any chance you could get back here tonight?'

'I don't know. Perhaps.'

'Why don't you call me from Washington, let me know? I could thaw steaks and Toad can cook them tonight on the grill. I'll thaw one out for you.'

'Okay.'

She touched his cheek. 'You seem happier than I've seen you in years, Jake. You're fully engaged.'

'They keep me jumping, that's for sure.'

'And you love it.'

He grinned. 'It's the niftiest job I've had in years. Maybe ever. The truth is that it's fun working with really smart people, like Ilin. Man, I didn't know there were this many geniuses in the world. At times I feel like I'm the dumbest kid in the class, but what the hey. I'm giving it my best shot. And yeah, that's fun.'

They found Toad and Ilin sitting on the screened-in porch drinking coffee. In his mid-forties, Janos Ilin was a tall, lean man with craggy features and lively, expressive features. He greeted Callie now with a phrase in Russian, and she fired a few words back at him.

'Good morning, Jake,' Ilin said to the admiral with a smile. Ilin liked to use first names. Apparently someone had told him that was the American custom and he took it to heart.

'So did you sleep okay?'

'Fine, Jake. Just fine.'

'I'm going back to Washington in a few minutes,' Jake said, more to Toad than Ilin. 'You guys make yourselves at home. Callie is going to thaw steaks for tonight.'