Ronald? Who the hell was Ronald? And who was Mr. Potter? What was going to happen now? Was Vince really dead? Had he been killed tonight back at the college? All of these questions were exploding inside Francis’s throbbing skull. So actually it was easy for him to cry in Potter’s arms, and even to hold on to him for dear life. To press his face into the fragrant black leather and whisper over and over again, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Oh, my God, I’m sorry.”

And Potter answered, “I love you too, Ronald. I adore you. You’ll never leave me again, will you?”

“No. I promise. I’ll never leave.”

Then Potter laughed and pulled away sharply from the boy.

“Francis, dear Francis,” he whispered. “Who the hell is Ronald? I’m just playing with you, boy. This is just a game of mine. You’re in college, you must have figured that much out. So let’s play games, Francis. Let’s go out to the barn and play.”

Chapter 64

Chapter 64

I RECEIVED A STRANGE E-MAIL from Monnie Donnelley at my temporary office. An update of sorts. She hadn’t been suspended, Monnie said. Not yet anyway. Plus, she had some news for me. Need to see you tonight. Same place, same time. Very important news.—M

So I arrived at the Command Post Pub just past seven and looked around for Monnie. What was this mysterious news she had? The bar area was crowded with customers, but I spotted her. Easy—she was the only woman. I also figured that Monnie and I might be the only non-Marines in the Command Post.

“I couldn’t talk to you over the phone at Quantico. Does that suck or what? Who do you trust?” she said when I walked up to her.

“You can trust me. Of course I don’t expect you to believe that, Monnie. You have news?”

“I sure do. Take a load off. I think I have some good news, actually.”

I took a stool beside Monnie. The bartender came and we ordered beers. Monnie started up as soon as he walked away. “I have a good friend at ERF,” she began. “That’s the Engineering Research Facility at Quantico.”

“I know what it is. You seem to have friends everywhere.”

“That’s true. I guess not at the Hoover Building, though. Anyway, my friend alerted me to a message the Bureau got a couple of days ago but dismissed as a crank call. It’s about a Web site called the Wolf’s Den. Supposedly, you can buy a lover at the Den, as in, have someone abducted. The site is supposed to be impossible to hack into. That’s the catch.”

“So how did he get in? Our hacker.”

“She’s a genius. I suspect that’s why she was ignored. Want to meet her? She’s fourteen years old.”

Chapter 65

Chapter 65