He hung up. Next to him, Ed sat ramrod straight. A thick vein stuck out on Eds forehead. He was sweating.

We gotta get around this traffic somehow, Luke said.

Ed reached into the glove compartment and pulled out an LED siren light. He mounted it on the dashboard, turned it on, and then hit the siren switch. Outside the car, the shriek of the siren was impossibly loud.

WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH.

Go! Ed said.

Luke pulled into oncoming traffic and laid on the horn. He tapped the accelerator, raced to the next light, then veered back into his own lane. He stomped on it now and the car took off like a missile.

Go, man! Go! Ed screamed.

Up ahead, cars at the next light pulled off to the right like a herd of animals. Luke blew through the intersection, going seventy miles per hour.

The phone rang.

Swann?

The voice had a subtle twang. Luke, its Don Morris.

Don, I have to keep this line clear.

Son, what are you doing? They told me you killed a man in a hospital in Baltimore.

Luke shook his head. I didnt kill anyone. Theyre going to attack the White House. Thats what this has been all along.

Thats not true, Luke. In the past ten minutes, they arrested two Arab kids, one at Grand Central and one in Hoboken. They were both carrying pressure cooker bombs in knapsacks. NSA is tracking down their identities and affiliations right now.

Pressure cookers arent dirty bombs! Luke said. He heard the shrillness in his own voice. He sounded like a crazy person. He had barely slept in twenty-four hours. He knew that. His perceptions might be off. But this far off? Could it be? He glanced at the speedometer. They were going eighty-five miles an hour on city streets.

The pressure cookers were cats paws, Don said. The bombs werent even operational. The bad guys sent the kids in to see what the response would be. Now they know the targets are compromised.

Luke tried to slow his voice down, so that he and Don could have a rational conversation. He wanted to make Don understand what Luke thought was painfully clear. Don, we talked to Eldrick Thomas. He was one of the thieves. We didnt kill him. He died of radiation poisoning. He told us the target is the White House.

Luke, I know who he was. The intel we have is that besides everything else, Eldrick Thomas was a professional conman. He was playing you, thats all. Thats what conmen do. They play people right up to the end. He tells you its the White House. Security gets beefed up, and people think hes cooperating. If he lives, maybe he gets a better plea deal. The man was in and out of prison his entire life. But he knows the target is the White House. Do you think the people behind this would trust a low-level hoodlum with that kind of information?