“Don’t worry about it, General. We’ll handle things from here. We’ll be fine. I understand your situation. If the roles were reversed, I’d do exactly the same thing.”

“For what it’s worth, I suggest you call your father. As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Domestic Terrorism, he’s privy to all national security issues. He’s got better intelligence resources than I do. He may even know what’s going on.”

Thorny was right. He felt a pang of guilt for not doing it sooner. “I’ll call him.”

“I may not be able to help you directly, but I’m staying in the loop. Keep me informed.”

“Will do. We’ll call you later this afternoon.” Nathan ended the call.

“While Jeremy’s unplugged,” Harv said, “we should call Holly and see if she’s got anything new.”

Holly answered right away.

“What timing. I was about to call you. We have at least one answer about Kramer, why he was in Bullfrog Bay. His brother-in-law owns a condo out there.”

Nathan looked at Harv. “That could be our crime scene.”

“Are you ready for the address?”

“Yes,” Harv said, and wrote it on the edge of his chart. “We’ll check it out as soon as we land.”

“One other thing, but I don’t know how significant it is. Kramer recently shut down his company, Energy Solutions, Incorporated. He flew home from Hungary a little over a week ago. Kramer was a loner. No wife or kids or girlfriend. As far as we can tell, his sister’s his only living relative.”

“That sudden shutdown of his firm could be significant,” Nathan said. “We should find out all we can about Energy Solutions, Inc.”

“We’re trying, but so far it’s what we don’t know that stands out. It’s a Delaware corporation and likely nothing more than a shell company. You know, a business-cards-only-type deal. Henning is scouring Delaware’s public records, but we’re not expecting to find much more than what’s required legally to be a legitimate corporation. Have you learned anything useful from Hawthorne’s connections?”

“Yes and no. His boss just ordered him to back off, in person. He also told us there are people in high places who don’t think we’ll deliver Montez alive. Which tells us three things. First, it’s pretty obvious that something big is going on. Second, it virtually guarantees that the Dalton and Kramer cases are connected, meaning Nichole and her daughters were taken by Montez. And third, someone wants Montez alive. In other words, it’s all about Montez and whoever’s calling the shots doesn’t want it getting out in the open. Whatever it is.”

“What could Montez be doing that makes defense and intelligence agency chiefs react like this?”