When Falling called, Kelly and her people were ready. The team—Vicki and Charlie included—arrived at the house within twenty minutes. They had already prepped David on the equipment he was to use. Kelly personally wired David. The microphone—a button on his shirt—was so sensitive it could pick up a voice on a pay phone. He stood nervously in the kitchen as she fixed his shirt and reviewed the features on the large black case he would carry the cash and diamonds in. For the moment the others were in the living room. Vicki saw that Kelly had an established relationship with the Techers and let her act as the FBI’s primary liaison.

“We’ve sewn a tracking chip into the top,” she said. “It’s virtually undetectable. He’d have to rip the thing to pieces to find it. And we’ve left the money and diamonds unmarked. But we have a chip in your car. If he instructs you to lose us, you won’t be able to. Do you have any questions so far?”

David sweated. He had read the ransom note; he was scared. Amy stood nearby and showed not an ounce of sympathy. She just wanted her baby back, and God help her husband if he failed to bring the child home. Kelly heard Charlie arguing with Vicki in the other room, something about helicopters and visibility. Kelly planned to follow David in her own car with Charlie. The high stakes had the air charged with tension; excitement as well. Kelly felt nervous but alive—more alive than since the Acid Man had baptized her with his unholy waters.

“But when he gets the case he’ll examine it,” David said. “He’ll know we called the FBI. He might kill Jimmy.”

“Once again, he’ll have a hard time finding the chip,” Kelly said. “But it’s not our plan to let whoever picks up the money just walk. This person has had your son too long. We cannot simply cooperate, we might never hear from him again.”

Amy did not like that. “But you said we were going to cooperate?”

Kelly shook her head. “I told you it had not been decided. But yesterday, Agent Bane—in conjunction with our top people back East—decided that the long lag between the kidnapping and the ransom means this person is unusually unpredictable—even when it comes to kidnappers. And I’m forced to agree with them. Whoever picks up the money, we have to nab him.”

“But he could just be a stooge,” David said.

Kelly hesitated. “True.”

“What’s a stooge?” Amy asked.