“What?”
“He said the woman was shot in the back from point-blank range.”
“That’s ridiculous. Those attacks were spray-and-away deals. We know that.”
“That’s what I told him.”
“But?”
“She has two bullet wounds, one in her shoulder and one in her back. The doctor figures the wound in her shoulder was caused by a bullet fired from an automatic weapon during the initial burst. But he thinks the second one, the one in the middle of her back, was made by a bullet from a pistol that was literally pressed against her body when it was fired.” Troy waited for a response or a reaction from the other end of the connection, but nothing came. “Dad?”
“Yeah, was there anything else?”
“The doctor said the wound in the middle of her back came from a one-in-a-million shot.”
More dead air from the other end. What the hell?
“What did he mean by that?” Bill finally asked.
“That the wound should have killed her. Several vital organs are located right around the area where the bullet entered her body, but it didn’t hit any of them. It was like the bullet had eyes in terms of avoiding anything life-threatening. Hell, he said I’ll probably be able to talk to her in a couple of days.”
“Huh.”
“I put bodyguards outside her room. I don’t want the terrorists sneaking into the hospital to finish the job.”
“Good idea.”
“Who knows, Dad? Maybe she saw something that’ll help us catch the bastards.”
“Did you tell the guys you put in there to shoot to wound if there’s an attempt?”
“Absolutely. They get it. We’ll want to interrogate that guy immediately, and they understand that.”
“Did you tell them to get the guy out of there fast? We don’t want local authorities or any of the Feds getting him, because they won’t use the right techniques to assure answers.”
“The guys I put there to protect her understand, believe me, Dad. They’ve got a van in the hospital parking lot, and they know exactly who to call and where to take anyone they snare.”
“So, what’s his name?”
“Who?”
“The doctor.”
That was an odd question. “Uh, I think it was Harrison. Why?”
“I may want to talk to him.”
“Why would you want to—”
“You said there was something else,” Bill kept going. “You said your visit to the hospital was strange in a couple of ways. What was the other thing?”
Troy hesitated. The airport was getting close. Maybe now wasn’t the time to go into this.
“Son?”
“The woman who was shot,” Troy answered hesitantly.
“What about her?”
“She…she reminds me of Lisa.” Troy took a deep breath. “She actually looks like Lisa.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, son. I know where you’re going with this.”
Troy hadn’t expected that. He’d been ready for a tough response or no interest at all. “I’m not. It’s just—”
“There’s nothing you could have done for Lisa. You were on a mission for your country. You were thrown off the Arctic Fire. You were fighting for your own life. You couldn’t have saved hers. You were thousands of miles away when she was killed.”
“She was killed because she knew me, Dad. I can’t ignore that.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
“I do.”
“She could have stepped in front of a bus on Fifth Avenue, Troy. People die in many ways for many reasons. It was her time. I know you think it was Maddux, but it might not have been. We simply don’t know for sure, and you can’t assume anything. It could have been just a random act of violence. Her neighborhood wasn’t great.”
“Come on, Dad.”
“You can’t get mired down in the emotion of it. It wasn’t your fault. You have to put it out of your mind.”
“Yeah, but…”
“But what?”
Troy heard impatience creeping into his father’s voice for the first time, but he had to say this. He had to hear himself say it. “I loved Lisa.”
“You barely knew her.”
“I barely know anyone, Dad.” The words had come from his mouth without his even thinking about them. “I don’t have time. I never stay in one place long enough.”
“Son, you’ve got to—”
“We had a connection. It was real. I…I was actually thinking about asking her to marry me, and not just because of L.J.” The cab slowed down as it pulled up to the Dulles main terminal. This was the hard part. “I told her I was completely committed to her before I took off. But I…well, I was with a woman in Mexico before I went to Alaska.” He hated himself for that. “I can’t believe I did that.” The silence was deafening. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that.
“I know how you feel,” Bill finally spoke up quietly. “I understand. In fact, I more than understand.”
Unbelievable. Troy had never gotten that kind of compassion out of the old man — or that kind of subtle though clear admission to committing a wrong himself.
“Troy?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Don’t get killed tonight. You hear me? You come back safe.”
“I will.”
“Your mother couldn’t handle it if you were gone, too. She just lost one son. She can’t lose another.”
Troy smiled wryly. He’d never heard this kind of worry from his father, either.
“Troy?”
“Yes, sir?”
“I couldn’t handle it, either.” Bill paused several seconds. “There, I said it.”
After climbing out of the cab Troy was still distracted by the conversation with his father. For a few seconds he didn’t notice anything unusual as he walked into the terminal. Finally it hit him, and he stopped to take it in. The show of force inside the terminal was incredible. He’d never seen so many police and military personnel in a U.S. airport at one time. Many of them had their weapons drawn as they moved about the huge building, even though there was no immediate emergency.
Life in the United States had changed forever.
Maddux had taken nearly an hour to thoroughly clean up the basement of the Pennsylvania house. Not that anyone official would ever come looking for anything, but he wanted to make certain the place was spotless out of respect for the associate who’d made the site available. The man wouldn’t have been very happy if he’d known what had happened here today. But fortunately, he hadn’t asked, so Maddux hadn’t needed to lie. Besides, Maddux had taken care of an abusive fiancé for the man — permanently — so what was he really going to say? He had the man by the balls, and they both knew it. And the man had to know Maddux wasn’t using the house for R&R.
Maddux chuckled. That was always a problem with getting into bed with the devil. It felt good at first, but there was no such thing as divorce when it started feeling bad.
He liked being the devil. He always had. And you had to like a job to do it well.
Imelda’s interrogation had ended up yielding nothing of significance except the fascinating revelation that she’d recognized Jack Jensen’s name. What she’d said was irrelevant — that she did recognize it. She could easily have been lying. It was the look in her beaten eyes that was important. They couldn’t lie, and they told the same story. Imelda had recognized the name.
She hadn’t told him anything more, and he’d done everything in his power to get her to talk. He’d done things to her that most men he’d tortured hadn’t been able to stand up to and had quickly begun to babble information to try to stop the horrible suffering they were enduring any way they could. In some cases, those men had been tough intelligence officers, even battle-tested terrorists.