It was another haymaker, straight to her jaw. “My father was dead when my sister was killed,” she said breathlessly. “The Alaskan Star went down in a storm out on the Bering Sea. All hands were lost. The Coast Guard confirmed that.”
“No, Skylar,” President Dorn replied. “That was a cover story to protect your father. I’ve seen the classified reports. In fact, your father is still very much alive.”
CHAPTER 28
Jack parked Troy’s SUV in the same spot on the same abandoned dirt road as they had the first time, and then sprinted for the farmhouse through the forest and the little daylight remaining.
Adrenaline coursed through him as he ran. He was still coming down off the terror of nearly being caught with Charlie Griffin bound and gagged in the back of the SUV. The razor-thin escape from the state trooper still had him spooked.
However, in a strange way, that terror had served a purpose. It had distracted him for a few brief moments from Karen’s fate. Even on the way back here from the Jensen compound, he’d called her cell phone a few times. He’d probably tried her at least five more times. But of course, there’d been no answer, just her sweet voice telling him to leave a message and then the goddamn beep.
For the last thirty minutes he’d gotten a short reprieve from imminent danger. But now he was heading right back into it. Just before turning onto the dirt road, he’d spoken to Troy, and it was still all quiet at the farmhouse. But at some point Wayne and his friend would return, and there’d be a showdown. It was inevitable, and he promised himself one thing as he dodged through the trees in the fading light: If guns were drawn, he’d be the first one to shoot this time.
It turned out Charlie was seventeen, and he’d been very willing to talk, without Troy actually doing anything. The threats he’d overheard as he’d been splayed on the ground beside the gully had been plenty of motivation for him to spill his guts.
Charlie admitted that they’d taken Little Jack from Cheryl that morning off the street in Greenwich. That “they” included his father and another man named Harold Jennings. He’d gone on to explain that his father and Jennings had taken the little boy to another location a few hours before Jack and Troy had shown up. But Charlie swore he didn’t know where that was or whom they were taking the boy to. He’d also sworn he knew nothing of a woman named Karen being kidnapped. Troy had said he was confident Charlie was telling the truth about all that, and that he hadn’t been forced to do anything terrible to be convinced — which was a relief for Jack.
Then Jack had taken Charlie to the Jensen compound.
Jack and Troy had spoken by phone a few minutes ago, and Troy’s plan was to keep looking for L.J. He didn’t intend to refocus their efforts on Karen. He reasoned that their best chance of finding Karen was finding L.J., because of the text Jack had received indicating that whoever sent it had both of them. They had significant leads on L.J., but they’d be back to square one if they went after Karen. She’d lived with Jack at his apartment in Greenwich for the last six months, and she’d obviously been taken in Manhattan or on her way to the city. So trying to pick up her trail at Jack’s apartment made no sense, and New York City was ninety minutes away through traffic. Time was of the essence right now. They couldn’t afford ninety minutes or going back to square one.
Jack hated to admit it, but Troy was right about staying on L.J.’s trail. His instinct was screaming at him to go after Karen. But he realized that it didn’t make sense — and that splitting up wasn’t a good idea, either. He’d suggested calling Jennie, but Troy was against that, because then they’d tip their hand that they thought she was involved — if she really was. Troy wanted to keep surprise on their side if that was the case, and he claimed he had a plan that could determine her involvement. And if she was innocent, she wouldn’t know anything, so there was no reason to call her — which Jack ultimately agreed was the right way to go.
The only thing Jack didn’t agree with Troy on was keeping the cops out of it. He still felt it would be better to get the experts involved ASAP.
But Troy wouldn’t hear of it. He absolutely believed that calling the cops would only diminish the chances of finding L.J. and Karen. Troy was convinced that this situation ultimately involved Red Cell Seven. And he believed that calling the cops would only make whoever had taken L.J and Karen dive deeper, maybe too deep to ever find, if the story went public and the kidnappers found out the police were working with the Jensens.
Jack stopped at the tree line in the now-long shadow of the barn to send Troy a text. The response came quickly. The coast was clear, according to the return message, and Jack knew Troy was the sender because the text had ended with **##, their agreed-upon all-clear code. The sender wasn’t someone other than Troy trying to fool Jack, because that person wouldn’t know the code. And Troy would never crack under any kind of torture or interrogation and give somebody that code. As far as Jack was concerned, Troy was the toughest son of a bitch on earth.
He was one of the luckiest, too. How the hell he’d managed to dodge Charlie’s gunshots from the pickup still mystified Jack. As Troy had predicted, Charlie had fired wildly in the chaos. But he’d shot from nearly point-blank range and fired at least three times. Surely, he should have hit Troy at least once.
Jack broke from the tree line but didn’t stop at the barn this time.
When he was past the barn, he saw Troy standing beside the F-150, which he’d driven out of the gully while Jack was gone. The vehicle was now back in front of the farmhouse, where it had been when they’d come out of the tree line together two hours ago.
“Everything go all right?” Troy asked as Jack approached him.
“Yeah, good.”
“Charlie’s locked in the cell?”
“Yup.”
“No problem with security?”
Troy had been very specific about not letting the security staff see what was going on. They were both still concerned that someone on the inside was involved in what had happened today.
“I went into the garage and shut the door before I took the kid out. They couldn’t have seen me.”
“Good.” Troy patted Jack on the shoulder. “Now you have to forget the combination to the lock on that cell door in the basement.” He grinned good-naturedly. “If you don’t, I’ll have to kill you. Technically, that prison cell is an RC7 asset.”
“I’ve known about that cell since we were—”
“You should have joined us the other night,” Troy said. “It was a mistake to walk out on that ceremony.”
“You live your life, and I’ll live mine. I’ve got to look in the mirror every morning.”
“Whatever.” Troy’s smile faded. “Next time you shoot first,” he said, tapping Jack hard on the chest. “You hear me?”
“Oh, I hear you.”
“That’s what you said last time.”
Troy might be the expert in these matters, but he was still the little brother. “I hear you.”
“You’re a good man, Jack, the best. I’ve put my life in your hands, I’ll probably do it again, and I’ll have no hesitation doing it. And that’s the ultimate compliment coming from me.”
“Hey, don’t placate—”
“But what you don’t get,” Troy cut in, “is that some of the people we deal with aren’t good. Just the opposite, in fact. They’re evil, pure evil.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Of course. I get that, brother.”
Troy shook his head. “No, you don’t. You think you do, but you really don’t. Down deep you believe everyone has good inside them somewhere, even if it’s just a crumb. You truly believe everyone can be saved if enough of an effort is made.” He kicked at the ground. “But that’s not true. Some people can’t be saved. Even worse, they don’t want to be saved. They want to be evil. They like it. They were born that way. They won’t change. They can’t change.”