On the other end of the easiness factor from snatching people from a home where they least expected it was snatching people from a facility designed specifically to prevent snatchings.
“It would help to know where they intend to take her,” Boxers said.
“It would help to know who intends to take her there,” Jonathan countered.
The radio popped to life. “Scorpion, Mother Hen.”
“That was fast,” Jonathan said. “Maybe we’re about to find out.” He keyed his mike. “Go ahead.”
Venice said, “Kit, you are on with Scorpion and Big Guy. I am Mother Hen. Scorpion, I have filled Kit in on what little we know.”
Jonathan got right down to it. “So, what are your thoughts, Kit?”
“That’s us,” Maryanne said. “We’re taking her to safety. It’s over.”
Jonathan looked to Boxers. “What do you mean, it’s over?”
“It means mission accomplished,” Maryanne said. “Uncle Sam thanks you for your service, and wishes you a good day.”
“This feels way too easy,” Boxers said off the air.
Jonathan agreed. “When did you intend to tell us?” he asked.
“I’m surprised you knew,” Maryanne said. “I didn’t even know until a few minutes ago. I won’t ask how you pulled that off because Wolverine cautioned me about asking too many questions about how you do what you do.”
Jonathan found himself silently cursing the doubt that Venice had planted in his head about Maryanne. This should be good news, but he found himself not trusting it. The fact that she was blowing sunshine up his ass didn’t help at all.
Jonathan keyed the mike. “Was it you guys who swore out the warrant for interstate flight to avoid a noncrime?”
“Say again?”
Jonathan said, “The PCs were pulled over and taken into custody — but not arrested — on a charge of interstate flight to avoid prosecution. Was that you guys?”
“How do you know about all of this?”
In his head, he could see Venice getting mad. “Remember what Wolverine told you,” Jonathan said.
“I don’t get the sudden change in attitude,” Maryanne said.
“You know you’re not answering my question, right?”
“At what point in what parallel universe did the FBI start owing answers to its contractors?” Maryanne said. Clearly, Jonathan had thumped a sensitive button.
“Was that a yes or a no?” Jonathan pressed.
“We’re done,” Maryanne said, and there was a click.
“What the heck was that all about?” Venice asked. “Why dial her in and then piss her off?”
“Yeah,” Boxers said, “I was kind of wondering that myself.”
This wasn’t a discussion for the airwaves. “Mother Hen, I’ll be back to you in a while.” To Boxers, he said, “This just doesn’t feel right. It was a simple enough question. Did they cut the warrant? Why wouldn’t she answer it? I think she got pissed when she found out what we knew. But why wouldn’t she want us to know? If we’re all on the same team — and that’s what she promised from the very beginning — why is she trying to shut us out?”
“Maybe because she’s with the FBI and that’s what they do. They compartmentalize.”
“I keep coming back to Venice’s question,” Jonathan said. “How did Maryanne know so quickly about what happened to the Mitchell family? If you think about it, the gunsmoke must still have been hanging in the air when she reached out to Venice and me at the concert. How could she know so fast?”
“Well, it could have been a telephone call,” Boxers said, “but I don’t think that’s where you’re going. You’re thinking that the pretty hot thing is in on this somehow.”
“I certainly think it’s worth looking into. In fact, Venice’s looking into it as we speak.”
Boxers rumbled out a laugh. “And I bet she’s having a ball doing it, too. Full cavity search?”
“She’s looking for anything that looks like motivation.”
“What about Wolverine? What does she have to say about this?”
Jonathan groaned. “I haven’t spoken to her. I don’t imagine she’d take too well to having one of her trusted lieutenants accused of betrayal. I’ve got to be one hundred percent sure before I launch that balloon.”
“Ah,” Boxers said. “That whole loyalty thing. You know, you’d think after Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen and Edward Snowden, the three-letter groups would start looking at themselves a little more closely.”
Jonathan sensed the birth of a political rant, so he retook control. “Here’s where I see it. Kit says our work is done and that we’re off the case, and Wolverine hasn’t been dialed in. That means we’re alone if we keep going.”
Boxers grinned. “We’re not backing off, are we?”
Jonathan shook his head. “No, we’re not. At least not for a while.”
“Fine by me,” Big Guy said. “But I always like messing with people. Why are you staying in? What’s in it for you? For us?”
“Start with the stakes,” Jonathan explained. “We’ve dealt with Chechens before. I know they’ve got solid grievances with the Russians, but their methods are ten clicks too brutal even for the Hadji. The thought of them with a nuclear capability is just too much. That can’t be allowed to happen.”
“Okay.” Boxers drew out the last syllable, clearly waiting for more. “So you think that Maryanne and the FBI are going to hand the PCs over to the Chechens so that they can blow up Mother Russia? Why would they do that?”
Jonathan realized that he was thinking faster than his mouth could move. “No,” he said. “I’m not convinced that the people running the pickup are FBI. That’s the significance of Venice’s discovery that the field office or whatever it is in Chicago doesn’t know that the PC is on her way.”
“So, you think it’s a snatch,” Boxers clarified. His expression said that he wasn’t yet completely on board with that.
“No,” Jonathan said. “I don’t think that it is a snatch. But I think it could be a snatch.”
“One that’s being organized by Wolverine’s girl Friday.” Boxers didn’t seem to like the taste of the words. “I just want to make sure I got this right.”
“It all comes back to the stakes,” Jonathan said. “I keep running the outcomes through my head. If Maryanne is in fact a good guy and is in fact telling the truth, then the FBI gets their hands on our PC first, and presumably, there’s no harm, no foul. We’ll just have wasted a lot of time.”
“And if the Chechens snatch them, a lot of Russia will go boom,” Boxers said. “And Wolverine’s girl Friday would have started that ball rolling. That’s the part I’m having trouble with, Dig. I mean, God knows my cynicism has no limits, but even I have—”
“I might be wrong,” Jonathan said. “Let’s stipulate that I probably am. What are the consequences if I’m not? That’s a lot of dead people. And then there’s the retaliatory strike. How do you think President Dar-mond and his team will handle a crisis like that?”
“Jeez, Dig. That is so desperately not my problem. If I start thinking in those terms, the world gets pretty dark.”
“There’s a third possibility, too,” Jonathan went on. “The Russians by far have the most to gain by getting their hands on the PC. They kill him and the codes die with him.”
“Doesn’t that solve everything?” Boxers asked. “I mean, that would suck for him, but that might be the perfect thing for the rest of us here on the planet.”
“He’s a kid, Box,” Jonathan said. “Nothing good comes from killing a kid, I don’t care who he is. But more than that, you’re missing the point.” He felt his impatience growing. “Or maybe I’m not stating it well. These PCs — Jolaine Cage and Graham Mitchell — are just trying to survive. He’s a kid, and she’s a young vet doing her job. The Mitchells hired Jolaine to protect the kid, and then all hell broke loose. Now they’re in danger, and in one of our three outcomes, Graham is killed by Chechens after he gives them what they want, and in a second, he’s killed by Russians to keep him quiet. From the bad guys’ point of view, there’s no other option.”