Iris Johansen - Dead Aim

"I love you too." She hung up.

Logan sat staring into space after he hung up the phone.

Christ, it was too damn convenient that someone had called and made a special request for Monty. Where Monty went, there went Sarah. If it was a trap, then it had been baited by one clever son of a bitch.

He reached for the phone again to dial Alex Graham at the mobile home that Galen had found for her near Huntington.

"Sarah and Monty are at the site," Alex told Galen after she'd hung up the phone with Logan. "Logan's calling the local Emergency Rescue Unit to see if anyone there actually requested them to come here. He thinks they may have been brought here to be staked out."

"Could be. Betworth and his men can't be sure how much you know, but they're aware Morgan saw Morales's plans. This disaster is in the same category as Arapahoe Junction." He paused. "Are you sure you don't want to come home with me? What can you do here? You can't go digging like you did at the dam."

"I don't know. But I'm here, where the action is. I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything sitting and holding your wife's hand."

Galen chuckled. "You don't know how funny that is." He stood up. "But I have orders from Elena to stay near if you refused to come home. And I never disobey the lady. Anything I can do for you?"

She shook her head. "Tonight I'm going to hit the computer."

"And do what? Research?"

"No, I'm going to go over Powers's last words. God knows,

I'm tired of looking at them. But there might be something I'm missing." Her lips tightened. "I'm going to try to see if I can figure out why, when, or where."

The computer screen was becoming a gray blur.

Alex rubbed her eyes and tried to focus. She should probably stop and try to get a little sleep. She sure as hell wasn't accomplishing anything in this shape. She'd been working all night, taking Powers's sentences apart and putting them back together. She'd come up with half a dozen possible explanations for every word he'd spoken. None of them made sense.

Or maybe they did and she was too tired to see it. She hoped Morgan was having better luck getting answers.

She instinctively shied away from that thought. She'd been trying not to think about Morgan or the fact that he hadn't called either her or Galen.

Maybe he was too busy. Maybe he was caught in a situation where it would be dangerous for him to-

Dammit, the bastard should have phoned. Didn't the cold son of a bitch know what he was doing to her? When he came back, she was going to make him-

If he came back.

He would come back. He had to come back.

Stop thinking about him. Focus on this damn computer screen.

Morgan s hand closed on his shirt. "Answer me. Wheres Z-3?"

"Kettle…" Powers’s body stiffened and then convulsed. His mouth opened wide in a silent scream. It stayed open as life fled.

"Kettle?" Alex repeated. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" It might mean nothing. It could have been the confused meanderings of a dying man.

But he'd said Z-2 was in West Virginia, and he hadn't lied about that. He hadn't lied about Lontana.

He'd said Z-2 wasn't important. If it wasn't important, why had they buried those miners?

"West… Virginia. Not important… Z-3. Z-3…"

“And Z-3 is important? Not Z-2?"

"Z-2… It's all bunk-" He arched upward as agony struck him. "Son of a bitch. Screw him." Powers's eyes were glazing. "Screw Z-3."

Her phone rang.

Morgan?

She jumped for it. "Hello."

"Any luck?" Galen asked.

Disappointment tore through her. She tried to keep the emotion from her tone. "Not yet. Have you heard from Morgan?" "No, but I heard from Salazar. He said that Morgan had all his plans in place and was going to contact Leary tomorrow night." "Contact?"

"Well, that wasn't exactly the word he used. He said that Morgan was one tough bastard and he wouldn't be in Leary's shoes if they gave him a winning ticket to the lottery."

At least Morgan was still alive. She supposed she should be grateful for small favors. "I don't think that's why you called me in the middle of the night."

"No, I wanted to warn you. Logan checked on the request to bring Sarah and Monty to the disaster site. It was bogus."

It didn't surprise her. "Just so he's warned Sarah. And I don't think there's a chance in the world that he wasn't on the phone to her the minute he got word." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll try to figure out why Z-2 wasn't important. Why it was-" She jerked upright in her chair. "My God."

"Alex?"

"Hang up, Galen. I've got to call Logan." "What?"

"I'll call you back" She hung up on him and dialed Logan's number. Her hand was icy cold as it clutched the phone. She listened to it ring.

Please pick up. Logan, for God's sake, answer.

Morgan called her at six the next morning. "It occurred to me that you might do something reckless just because you're angry with me. So I thought I'd let you get it out of your sys tem."

Sweet Jesus, he was alive. She was almost limp with relief. "You persist in thinking I'm going to react like an idiot," she said unevenly. "When have I ever done that?"

"Touche."

"But that doesn't mean I'm not going to tear the hide off you when I see you. You bastard, how dare you lie to me?"

"I couldn't take you with me."

"So you played Spock and gave me the Vulcan knockout punch?" "Actually, it was a Tibetan blow I learned from a monk who-"

"I don't care. It was wrong and you're going to pay for it." She drew a deep breath. "When I have time to spare from trying to figure out where this damn kettle is located."

"Kettle I"

"Remember Powers said that at the end? It has to be a topographical formation of some sort. I asked Logan to try to talk to the President. He'd know. But Logan can't get through to him. And who else is he going to trust when the FBI and CIA seem to be breeding grounds for-"

"Easy. Why would the President know about this kettle?" "Bunkers. He'd have to know about the bunkers."

"Bunkers?"

"Remember when Powers said 'It's all bunk-' we thought he meant it wasn't important, that it was all bullshit. But he broke off because of the pain. He was trying to say they were all bunkers. Arapahoe Junction, Plummock Falls, and this kettle place." She moistened her lips. "Right after September eleventh it came out that bunkers had been established to make sure the U.S. government could still function if Washington came under direct attack. They were principally concerned with nuclear threats, so underground facilities were chosen."

"I recall hearing something about a facility at the Greenbrier. But that was abandoned years ago."

"But the bunker concept wasn't abandoned. When the press secretary was questioned at a news conference, she reluctantly admitted there was more than one bunker. No officials would say anything more, because it was a sensitive security issue. Later, a magazine article came out with an interview with an anonymous lower-echelon government official who described how personnel rotated into the bunkers every month and weren't permitted to tell even their families where they were going. They could only be contacted at an 800 number. Most of the time there were at least fifty person nel keeping the bunkers going, but very few high-profile members were called to serve at the bunkers. It was purely volunteer as far as they were concerned. Except for one cabinet member who was supposed to serve at all times."

"Why three bunkers?"

"There may be even more. But I don't think so. They'd need one near the West Coast in case the President was in that part of the country at the time of an attack. One in West Virginia, which is close to Washington, but not too close. The other one… I don't know. Baltimore? Those hydro vents Melis mentioned were near Baltimore."