Randy White - Dead Silence

“Every time I close my eyes, I feel like I can’t get enough air. Like it’s me inside that coffin. When the agent described the convict shoveling dirt, the girl hysterical inside the box… my God, that’s what happens when I start to drift off. I hear dirt hitting the lid”-she touched the palm of her hand to her nose-“this close to my face. God!”

She stood, too agitated to sit, and began to pace and talk.

Her staff still had a hell of a lot to do and was working around the clock. Everything in the cartons the kidnappers wanted was being cataloged and copied. A team had been assigned to arrange for a plane and crew to deliver the cartons-through the military or State Department possibly-hoping Barbara could convince her committee, along with other layers of government, to cooperate with the kidnappers.

“They have to,” she said, but in a wistful way that told me she knew it wasn’t true. “God damn them! They wanted me! Why did they have to take a fourteen-year-old boy?”

I stood and took her hands in mine. Held her, trying to stem an escalating panic that signaled hysteria. “Maybe someone on your staff has a sleeping pill or something. You need rest.”

I was startled by an unexpected mood change. Barbara yanked her hands free and turned her back.

“Are you okay?”

“Ford, I need to ask you something. I want an honest answer.”

“I’ll try.”

“I was hoping for a yes.”

“A maybe is better than starting with a lie.”

“If that’s the way it has to be… The vacation video they were using to blackmail me… you said you discovered it accidentally?”

“Not accidentally. But it wasn’t a priority. I knew there were videos of other people, some powerful.”

“You said you took it because it was the right thing to do. A good deed for a stranger. You wouldn’t accept money and didn’t want anything in return from me.”

I hesitated before putting a hand on her shoulder, thinking she might shrug it away. She didn’t.

I said, “All true. But I was aware there are benefits to having a U.S. senator for a friend. Power radiates. I won’t pretend I didn’t know. You’ve done favors for me that you probably aren’t aware of.”

That’s when she shrugged my hand away. I let it fall from her shoulder as she turned, looking up into my eyes. “I’m aware of more than you realize. Did you know that James Montbard is a British intelligence agent? Covert. He’s been with MI6 for years.”

“I didn’t think the UK was our enemy.”

“If you’re going to play word games, I’m leaving.”

I took a step back. “I’m sorry.” I meant it. Then stupidly tried to add, “But I wasn’t sure that Hooker was-”

The woman cut me off. “If you can’t tell the truth, I’d prefer you said nothing.”

I cleared my throat, said nothing.

Barbara faced the window, the reflection showing her eyes as she stared out, the night air cleaner now that it had stopped snowing. “What about Harrington?”

“You see him more than I do. What are you asking?”

I took a seat on the bed, with a bottle of water, as she said, “I’m curious about your relationship,” then explained that her subcommittee relied on Harrington for information. He was a respected analyst in the world of intelligence gathering-also true. She didn’t know, of course, it provided the perfect cover for Harrington’s covert work.

Barbara said, “When I wanted you checked out, Hal was the person I asked. He gave you full marks. Do you know what strikes me as odd?”

She wasn’t going to wait for an answer so I didn’t offer one.

“I find it odd that you and Montbard, and Harrington, are all here, in New York, the same week I agreed to meet the boy. And only a few days after the court assigned control of the Castro Files to me. My subcommittee, I mean.”

She cut me off when I tried to remind her that we’d made our date weeks before.

“I also find it strange that you know each other. Some might even say that you and Montbard made an effort to ingratiate yourselves. Returning the video, for instance. A coincidence?”

I was tempted to comment on the egocentric slip- my subcommittee- but said instead, “Or saving your life? If that’s currying favor, your friendship bar is pretty high.”

“You know I didn’t mean that.”

“I know you’re making too much of it. Tomlinson’s lecture was booked months ago. When Hooker found out, he decided to visit the Explorers Club while I was in town instead of coming in March. Seeing you was a nice perk, but-”

“Tomlinson,” she said, “is someone else I find oddly suspicious.”

I said, “Who doesn’t?,” unsettled that she’d made the connection, hoping she would smile. She didn’t.

Instead, she got out of the chair, sighing as she stood over me, communicating something-disappointment? suspicion?-then went to the phone on the nightstand. She opened the drawer and took out a palm-sized tape recorder. Surprise! I overcame the urge to sit up straighter.

“This is voice-activated, a common security measure for rooms I book and pay for. When Sir James said he needed a phone, I gave him the key. Have you ever felt like someone is spying on you?”

“As of now.”

“Good. I want you know what it’s like.” Barbara hit FAST REVERSE and waited for the garbled voices to stop. “I haven’t listened yet. Your call, Doc. Should I? You know things about me no one else knows. I find that scary.”

She tossed the recorder onto the bed, stared at me. “Is there something in the Castro Files that scares you? I’ve had a look through those cartons, remember.”

I cleared my throat again.

She sighed, this time communicating I thought so, then sat on the bed close enough to put her hand on my arm but didn’t. I hadn’t earned her approval. “I’ve heard rumors about a covert cell that’s more like a secret society. Clandestino, in Spanish. Wouldn’t that be filed under Cn? If it’s true, how many countries do you think would demand extradition? There’s no statute of limitations on murder.”

I was sitting straighter now, my brain alternately scanning a list of lawyers while reviewing an escape procedure put in place long ago.

Her voice softened but not her tone. “But that’s ancient history. The important thing, Doc, is that we work together. I don’t care what you’ve done or who you’ve worked for, I need your help now.”

I said, “What?,” not trusting the surge of relief I felt. She’d used the same finesse to manipulate the policewoman.

“You think I’m being tricky.”

“Aren’t you?”

“My motive is right up front. It’s an offer. Find Will Chaser. Find him alive and bring him back. I don’t give a goddamn what it takes. I’m halfway through my first term. Three years in a row, my staff expenses were way under budget. I can afford you.” She let that settle a few beats, then added, “Or would you rather barter?”

“I don’t understand what that has to do with-”

“I’m hiring you as a special consultant. At least twice a day, every day, you will report by phone. I’ll give you every piece of information my contacts provide.”

“But the FBI, the New York police-”

“They’ll do a brilliant job… but within the constraints of the law. The boy, if he’s still alive, doesn’t have time for legalities. You’re working for me now, understood?”

I was thinking, Jesus Christ, what about Harrington?

The woman swung her legs onto the bed and leaned in close enough that I could smell her shampoo. “When the FBI agent left the room to take that phone call, it was Ruth Guttersen, Will’s foster mother. Fifty-eight years old, a Minnesota native. Her husband may be a fake cowboy but she’s pure Middle America. When the agent gave her the bad news, know what she said? She said, ‘God help them.’ Can you imagine? Worried about Will, but also the kidnappers, asking God to forgive them.” Barbara’s expression was a mix of admiration and remorse.