It took five minutes for Nathan to tell the story and describe the plan going forward. He knew with certainty the news of the Ortega conspiracy to entrap the Bridgestones by selling them Semtex both shocked and angered his father. The only thing that surprised Nathan was how good it felt to know his dad hadn’t been in on it.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Stone asked when Nathan had finished. “I mean, absolutely sure?”

“Yes.”

“You think you know someone. Frank and I were in Korea together, fought side by side. I can’t believe this whole thing is about revenge against Ernie Bridgestone.”

“It hurts, I know. Harv feels betrayed too. There is some good news. We recovered most of the missing Semtex. Nearly three hundred pounds.”

“That’s good news.”

“Leonard still has ten bricks and some blasting caps.”

“What can I do to help? Name it.”

“We need satellite images of the location where they stashed their cash.”

“I’ll get to work on it right away. Do you have exact coordinates?”

Nathan rattled them off. “I need twenty-four by twenty-four-inch prints at three meters per inch, ten meters per inch, and one hundred meters per inch. Radial from point zero. Did you copy that?”

“Yes, I’m writing it down.”

“Get me a fourth print at five hundred meters per inch. We’ll be airborne within the hour. Communication will be critical. My cell’s tied into the NavCom of my helicopter. It usually works over urban areas, but in the more remote locations, all bets are off.”

“Nathan, it’ll be hard to keep this under wraps once the military’s involved.”

Nathan didn’t respond.

“Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.”

“Do your best, Dad, that’s all I can ask. I think Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana is our best bet to download the images.”

“I know Malmstrom well. We put our first Minutemen silos up there.”

“Listen, I’ve got to go. We’ve got a long flight ahead of us.”

“Nathan, thank you for trusting me. I’m sorry for the things I said to you the other night.”

“Me too.”

“I’ll call you as soon as I have something to report.”

“Tell Mom I love her, okay?”

“You can tell herself when this is over.”

Nathan said nothing. He didn’t have to.

“I’ll tell her,” Stone said.

* * *

After dropping off Harv, Grangeland, and Bridgestone at Sacramento Executive Airport, he returned to the Hyatt and cleaned himself up as best he could. There was nothing he could about his head-turning trek through the lobby. He grabbed the duffels, returned to the sedan, and drove back to the airport. Grangeland looked concerned and asked about his arm. He told a white lie and handed her the medical supplies he’d stopped for on the way over.

“She ready to go?”

“Ready,” Harv said.