“There’s that possibility. It’s a bad deal, Troy, but that’s the way it’s going to be.”
“Why are you doing this?” Troy asked incredulously.
“Stewart Baxter told me everything.”
Troy gazed at Travers, even more perplexed. “You met with Baxter?”
“Yeah, and he convinced me that your father and Roger Carlson knew about and backed the assassination attempt on President Dorn. That it wasn’t just Shane Maddux’s idea. It was a whole RCS deal. It came down from the top.”
Troy was convinced that wasn’t true and that it had originally been Maddux’s idea. But did it really matter? In the end, Carlson and his father had definitely backed the plan. “How would Baxter know that?”
“Maddux told him.”
“What?” That made no sense at all. “Baxter knows Shane Maddux?”
“Apparently, his kid and Maddux go way back. Anyway, Baxter told me all about the two original Executive Orders. Baxter had no idea where this one was, but I figured this was what we were coming out here for. Carlson spent his summers out here as a teenager, and he was a mountain climber. He knew this area very well. I checked it out. It all made sense.”
“Does President Dorn have the other original?”
“Yes.”
“You know what that means, don’t you?”
“What?”
“It means Baxter had Carlson’s wife killed.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“She’s missing. No one’s seen her for a week. Baxter must have had her killed. It’s the only explanation, Major. President Dorn may even know about it.”
“No way,” Travers said firmly, raising the Taser. “I don’t believe that, either.”
“Major, if you take this original and give it to Baxter, you’re destroying Red Cell Seven forever.”
“If RCS is trying to assassinate the president of the United States, then that’s what I should be doing. That’s what my instincts tell me, and they’re usually right.”
“No,” Troy shot back. “Think about what we accomplished in Florida. Think about how many people we saved.”
Travers swallowed hard as he gazed steadily at Troy. “It’s…it’s a hard decision. I’ll grant you that, Troy.”
“Don’t do this, Major. Forget about me; I don’t matter in all of this. But think about the country. You’re putting it in terrible danger if you take this Order to the president.”
He was sounding exactly like his father now, but Bill was right. Not about assassinating President Dorn, but about everything else. Troy understood that now. Bill and Carlson should not have backed the assassination attempt, but Red Cell Seven had to survive. It was too important to national security. What had happened in Florida had proved that to him. Maybe RCS wasn’t for him personally anymore, maybe he’d lost the edge. But the country absolutely needed the cell. It was a vital piece of the intelligence puzzle. Traditional U.S. intel units might have taken weeks, maybe even months, finding Daniel Gadanz and the death squads. Many more people would have died. More schools probably would have been attacked. The economy would have imploded. The spiral would have been catastrophic. The enemies would have won.
“You’re a good man, Major Travers,” Troy said. “Don’t weaken the country you love so much. President Dorn doesn’t understand what needs to be—”
The dart struck Troy in the side of the neck, and he dropped like a sack of dirt.
Travers slid the Taser quickly back into his belt, then leaned down and picked up the bag Troy had just dropped. “I promise I’ll have someone come back and get you, kid.” He slipped the bag into his coat pocket, grabbed a coiled length of rope from over his shoulder, and began to kneel down next to Troy’s shuddering frame. “I’m sorry, Troy. I don’t like—”
“Major Travers.”
Travers bolted up when he heard the voice coming from directly behind him in the cave. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded, turning quickly to face the person.
A man with dark good looks smiled an easy half smile as he calmly leveled a .44 Magnum at Travers from ten feet away. “I’m Jack Jensen, Major Travers. Troy’s older brother.” Jack nodded to his right as an attractive brunette moved up beside him. She was training a .44 Mag on Travers as well. “And this is Karen Morris. She’s going to be in charge of you for the next few minutes while I take care of my drooling kid brother. I’d advise you to do exactly as she orders. She’s the one who saved you in North Carolina. As I believe you saw there at the Kohler farm, she’s good with a gun. She’s very accurate and not at all afraid to pull the trigger.”
“We’ve got to get going,” Troy muttered as he sat with his back against the cave wall, right beneath the spot that had hidden the Executive Order for so many years. It had been nearly half an hour since Travers had tased him, and he was feeling better. “Seriously.”
“You need a few more minutes,” Jack countered with a wry grin as he crouched beside his younger brother. “Seriously.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Troy murmured as he glanced at Karen.
She was a few yards away keeping an eye on Travers. Jack had hog-tied him and put him into Troy’s Dark Star sleeping bag. They were going to leave him here — as he had been going to leave Troy. They couldn’t trust him on the trail.
“I’m not really here,” Jack answered. “You’re hallucinating, Troy. I’m just a figment of your imagination.”
“Thank God. I was worried there for a second I might have to share Mom and Dad’s estate with you.” He glanced up into his brother’s eyes. They’d already gone through the initial emotional backslapping scene as soon as Troy’s tremors had settled enough for him to grab Jack. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”
“Watching out for you. Someone has to. You can’t seem to do it for yourself.”
“I mean,” Troy said quietly, “on earth. What are you doing alive?”
Jack chuckled. “Oh, that.”
“Yeah, that.”
Jack’s grin faded. “It was all Dad’s idea. He figured Maddux would come after me, so he beat the bastard to the punch. I was wearing Kevlar on the porch that afternoon.”
“But I saw the blood coming from your mouth.”
“It wasn’t real. Just one of those prop cherries.”
“But you—”
“You took off across the field right after the shot to chase down the shooter. I was into the ambulance and gone by the time you got back.”
“That’s right,” Troy murmured as he thought back on it. “It was instinct.”
“The plan was for Dad to yell at you to do that, but he didn’t even have to.”
“No, he sure didn’t.” Troy thought back on how Bill had been about to tell him something in the office. This had to be it. But in the RCS tradition, he’d kept the secret. “I was sure I could run the bastard down.”
“The only people who knew were Dad, the guy who shot me, and the EMTs. Even Mom didn’t know.”
“They didn’t even tell Karen,” she called out loudly. Her voice echoed in the cave. “And when everything calms down again, your brother and I are going to have a very long conversation about that, Troy.”
Jack laughed. “Sorry, baby.”
“You ever do that to me again, Jack, and I’ll shoot you myself. And you won’t have Kevlar on when I do.”
“Good to know, Karen.” Jack touched his chest. “I’ve still got a bruise from where the bullet hit me, even with the Kevlar.”
“I bet.” Troy glanced up as it occurred to him. “So you were the one who got Maddux in the cemetery. You were the one who took him to the house and put him in that cell in the basement.”
“I was keeping an eye on Karen from the shadows, too. I really think he would have killed her if I hadn’t shown up.”