Hugh’s short laugh was without humor. “They figure the only way to keep us from doing the same to them is to keep building bigger and better and more weapons. And they’ve been force-fed hatred of Americans with their mother’s milk for going on sixty years now.”
“I’ve read the reports, Hugh. I am the agent in charge of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Alaska.”
“Yeah, well, I just read a news release from the Korean Central News Agency which said, in part, and I’m quoting verbatim here, that ‘the U.S. is restless with its ambition to conquer the world.”“
Kyle had to smile. “Funny. I don’t feel all that ambitious.”
Hugh shook his head. “Not so funny. That peninsula is a pile of kindling just waiting for a spark, and the first people who are going to have to respond to the fire are right now sitting up over there on Government Hill, warming up their F-15s.”
“Okay,” Kyle said, “they’re pissed and they’re motivated. What does that have to do with terrorism? Is Kim Jong II sponsoring state terrorism? What are we looking at here, another Lockerbie? Another Cole?. Another 9/11?”
Hugh drank the rest of his now tepid coffee and set the cup carefully on Kyle’s desk. “I think the men responsible for the Pattaya Beach bombing in October are planning to launch a Scud missile with a cesium-137 payload at a target somewhere on the western coast of North America. Do you know what cesium-137 is?”
Kyle’s voice failed him. He shook his head.
Hugh told him.
“Jesus Christ,” Kyle said, stunned. “Hugh, are you sure?”
He met Kyle’s eyes and said firmly, “I’m sure, Kyle.”
“Then I don’t get it.” He aimed an exaggerated look over Hugh’s shoulder. “Where are the marines? Why aren’t you out at Elmendorf briefing the pilots so they can take these guys out? Why come to me?”
“Do you know anyone at Kulis?”
“The Air National Guard base? Sure. Why?”
“Do you know where Sara’s ship is?”
Kyle’s expression changed. “Hugh.”
“I know she’s on the Sojourner Truth. I know the Sojourner Truth’s on patrol in the Bering Sea.”
“It was,” Kyle said.
Hugh looked at him.
“The Sojourner Truth interdicted a Russian processor fishing on our side of the Maritime Boundary Line. The Coasties boarded them, arrested the crew, confiscated the vessel, and are now on their way with it into Dutch Harbor to turn it over to the authorities.”
“You sound like you’re reading a press release.”
“I am. Actually”-Kyle looked at the clock on the wall-“they’ve probably been and gone by now. I read all about it on District 17’s Web site yesterday. Wanna see?”
“No time.” But for the first time that morning Hugh couldn’t stop a grin. “That’s my Sara.”
“Ride ‘em, cowgirl,” Kyle said, and sobered. “Seriously, Hugh, what are you going to do now?”
“I can’t get my boss off the dime,” Hugh said, his smile fading, too. “I’ve got to find that damn freighter before I take another run at him. When I do-”
“If you do. There’s the hell of a lot of water to look in, Hugh, and boats don’t exactly leave tracks.”
“It was scheduled to leave Petropavlovsk on the seventh-what day is it again?”
“The ninth. Was your source on the departure date reliable?”
Hugh thought of Noortman curled into a fetal position on his living room floor, his knee swollen up to the size of a basketball. “I don’t know. He would have said anything to make us stop.”
“Stop what? Hugh?”
“Can you check to see if Sara’s ship is in Dutch Harbor yet, and if not, where it is?”
Kyle gave Hugh a long look. “Sure. I can do that.”
“And then could you call your buddy at Kulis, see if they’ve got anything going in that direction, and ask if I can bum a ride?”
Kyle shook his head and reached for the phone. “Sure. I can do that, too.” He began to punch in a number and paused. “You know, Hugh, when I suggested you figure out a way to spend more time with Sara, I wasn’t suggesting professional suicide as a means of making that happen.”
Hugh looked back without smiling. “Where are Lilah and the kids?”
“At home. Lilah’ll just be getting them ready for-” Kyle stopped. “Yeah. I see what you mean.”
He hunched over the phone with a will. Hugh slid down to rest his head against the back of his chair and enjoyed the first slackening of tension in what felt like days.
JANUARY
ANCHORAGE
KYLE WAITED UNTIL THE Hercules C-130 was in the air before he drove back to his office. He hung up his parka and stewed around a while before calling his wife.
“Where’s Hugh?” she said when she heard his voice.
“Back on the road,” Kyle said. “Listen, Lilah, I want you to take Eli and Gloria down to Seldovia for the weekend.”
There was a brief silence. “Kyle. It’s Monday.”
“Oh. Yeah. Of course. Well, then take the week.”
“I’ve got work, Kyle, as you well know.”
Lilah worked for the FBI, too. “Take some leave,” he said. “If I have to I’ll pull strings.”
“The kids have school.”
“I’ll call their teachers and tell them they’ll be back in a bit.”
Another silence. “Kyle. What’s going on?”
“I want you to take the kids to Seldovia, Lilah. Stay with the folks. You know they’d love to have them.”
“Kyle. We were there for a week over Christmas, if you recall, and I got the distinct impression that that was about six days too long for your father. Why this sudden urge to get me out of town? You got a girlfriend or something?” She paused. “Has this got anything to do with Hugh showing up in the middle of the night?”
“No,” he said, “nothing at all. Where on earth did you get that idea?”
“That response is so totally feeble I’m not even going to comment on it.
“Lilah.” Kyle rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. “Just take the kids to Seldovia. Rent a bed-and-breakfast, I don’t care. Just go. Today.”
When she spoke again her voice was softer. “You’re scaring me, Kyle.”
“Good,” he said.
The seconds ticked off while she made up her mind. “I’ll take them to Seward,” she said finally. “Is that far enough away?”
Seward was a hundred miles down the road, with the Kenai Mountains between it and Anchorage. “Yes. That should be far enough.”
“I’ll call the Edgewater. At this time of year we could probably rent the whole hotel for fifty bucks a night.”
“That sounds good,” he said, trying not to show his relief.
“Kyle?”
“What?”
“Come with us.”
“I’ve got something I’ve got to do here first.”
He hung up and swiveled to look out the window. It was a pity he wasn’t really seeing anything, because the window had a spectacular view of Denali and Foraker on the northern horizon. The day was clear and cold and icily bright for the measly five or so hours the sun was willing to poke its head up over the horizon. They’d actually had snow this year before December and it was piled in four-foot berms between which traffic negotiated streets that had gone overnight from four lanes to two. If the weather didn’t suffer a meltdown in the interim, there ought to be plenty of snow for the dogsled races.
He loved this time of year, that fleeting time before the tourists came back and you could get a table at Simon’s without an hour’s wait. He was happy to be back in Alaska, too, a duty assignment he’d been hoping for since he’d joined the Bureau. Unlike the traitorous Hugh and Sara, Kyle had stuck loyally to the West Coast, graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in criminal justice and then going to work for the Internal Revenue Service. Truth to tell, in spite of the grief he received from pretty much everyone when he admitted to his employer’s identity, he’d gotten kind of a bang out of the work. He loved catching righteous citizens-and they were always righteous-who insisted indignantly that the law didn’t apply to them. In his own small way, he felt he was contributing to the reduction of the deficit, although the current administration in Washington was doing its enthusiastic best to keep that goal well out of his or anybody else’s reach.