Chapters (53)
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE FOR TEDDEKKER’S NOVELS
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
- DEDICATION
- TABLE OF CONTENT
- PROLOGUE
- CHAPTER ONE
- CHAPTER TWO
- CHAPTER THREE
- CHAPTER FOUR
- CHAPTER FIVE
- CHAPTER SIX
- CHAPTER SEVEN
- CHAPTER EIGHT
- CHAPTER NINE
- CHAPTER TEN
- CHAPTER ELEVEN
- CHAPTER TWELVE
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN
- CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- CHAPTER SIXTEEN
- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
- CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
- CHAPTER NINETEEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY
- CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- CHAPTER THIRTY
- CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
- CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
- CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
- CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
- CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
- CHAPTER FORTY
- CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
- CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
- CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
- CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
“Personally, sir, I don’t think we have a bomb to find. But if there is a bomb, finding it in seventy-two hours will be extremely difficult. Every bill of lading identifying merchandise which entered our country from South America during the past three months will be reviewed, and those that indicate merchandise which could possibly harbor a bomb will be traced. Merchandise will be tracked to its final destination and searched. It can be done, but not in seventy-two hours. That’s why we start with southeastern and western seaports.”
“Why not just take the cartel out?” Masters asked.
Friberg nodded. “We’re also recommending positioning to move on the cartel’s base of operations. But as you say, if the threat is legitimate, all it would take is a flip of a switch somewhere and we could have a catastrophe on our hands. You bomb them, and you’d better be sure that first salvo will kill them or they might twitch their finger and detonate. You don’t play strongman with someone who has a nuclear weapon hidden somewhere.”
“No? And how do you play?”
He paused. “Never been there.”
The president stared at a window across the room. “Then let’s hope we aren’t there now.”
No one spoke. Finally the president stood from the table. “Issue the appropriate orders and have them on my desk right away. You’d better be right about this, Friberg.” The president turned and walked toward the door.
“This is only a threat. We have been here before, sir,” Friberg said.
“Keep this sealed. No press. No leaks,” the president said. “God knows the last thing we need is media involvement.”
He turned and left the room, and Friberg released a long, slow breath.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
SHERRY FOLLOWED Casius up a long flight of stairs behind the hotel he’d taken earlier on a weekly basis. She was certain the assassin’s mind had left him during the trip.
On the river they had talked only once about their captivity. A riveting conversation in which he mostly stared off to the passing jungle, grunting short replies. He had shut her out. She had once again become baggage.
Now his eyes remained open only as a matter of courtesy to his brain, which was thoroughly engrossed with what he would do next. And what he would do was return and kill Abdullah. Destroy the compound and slit Abdullah’s throat. When she asked him why, he had simply drilled her with those dark eyes and told her the man was a drug runner. But the explanation hardly made sense.
She asked him again what he thought she should do if there actually was a nuclear weapon in the jungle. But he dismissed the notion outright, so strongly that she began to question her own memory of the vision.