Herbert got back on the Autobahn, though the Mercedes didn't race as smoothly as it had before. He could only manage fifty miles an hour-- "slower than mud," as his Grandmother Shel used to say back in Mississippi.

And then the phone beeped. Coming so soon after Alberto called, Herbert guessed that this would be Paul Hood ordering him back. But Herbert had already decided he wouldn't return. Not without somebody's pelt being in somebody's canoe.

Herbert answered the phone. "Yes?"

"Bob, it's Alberto. I just got a new photograph, a 2MD of the entire region."

A 2MD was a two-mile-diameter view with the van at the center. The satellites were pre-programmed to move in or out at quarter-mile intervals with simple commands. Different incremental views required a different, more complex set of commands.

Alberto continued, "Your party has gotten off the Autobahn."

"Where?" Herbert said. "Give me a landmark."

"There's only one landmark, Bob. A small, wooded area with a two-lane road leading northwest."

Herbert glanced along the horizon. "There are a lot of trees and woods out here, Alberto. Is there anything else?"

"One thing," said Alberto. "Police. About a dozen of them surrounding what's left of a blown-out vehicle."

Herbert's eyes fixed on a point ahead, but he didn't see it. He was only thinking of one thing. "The movie trailer?" he asked.

"Hold on," Alberto said. "Stephen's downloading another photo."

Herbert clapped his lips together. Op-Center's link with the NRO allowed Alberto to see the photograph at the same time as Viens's people did. The CIA had the same capacity, though without operatives in the field here they wouldn't be able to get anyone over, either officially or undercover.

"I've got a quarter-mile view," Alberto said. There was chatter behind him. "I've also got Levy and Warren looking over my shoulder."

"I hear them." Marsha Levy and Jim Warren were Op-Center's photo reconnaissance analysts. They were a perfect team. Levy had an eye like a microscope, while Warren's talent was the ability to see how details fit in the overall picture. Together, they could look at a photograph and not only tell you what was in it, but what might be under it or out of sight, and how everything got there.

Alberto said, "They tell me there are the remains of wooden furniture in there, which the movie trailer had. Computer magnification of the wood, Marsha says the grain looks like larch."

"That would make sense," Herbert said. "Cheap and durable for getting banged around the countryside."

"Right," Alberto said. "Jimmy thinks the fire started on the right rear at what looks like the gas tank."

"A fuse," Herbert said. "Give them time to run."

"That's what Jimmy says," said Alberto. "Hold on-- we've got another one coming in."