“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Patrick replied. “Are you secure?”

“I’m here with our new partners,” Jon said.

“Then buzz me once you’re by yourself.”

“I can’t do that, Patrick,” Jon said. “They’re our full partners now—they’ve got to be told about what we’re doing. They have the proper clearances. I have no choice.”

Patrick paused for a long moment; then: “All right, Jon. We’re going to turn up the heat a little. I need some gadgets to fly a mission.”

“You got it,” Jon replied. “Just tell me where, when, and how much.”

“What about your new partners?”

“I said I have to tell them—I didn’t say they had a vote,” Jon said. “Don’t worry about it. Whatever you want, you get, as long as it helps bring back Wendy.”

“It will either help bring her home—or punish the ones that took her,” Patrick said. “I’ll transmit the order of battle to you in a few minutes. They’ll need to launch within the next sixteen hours.”

“I’ve had the crews standing by ever since this went down,” Jon said. “Everything will be ready. If your .. . benefactor can keep the feds off our back while we generate, it’ll be much better for us.”

“Getting a lot of heat out there?”

“Ever since the new partnership deal, we’ve been getting shit on...Jon looked sheepishly at the Duffields and shrugged an apology. Cheryl Duffield looked mad enough to scold him for the rest of the day, Kelsey just giggled. “Yes, we’ve been getting a lot of attention—from everyone.”

“Our benefactor should be heading off most of the heat,” Patrick said. “Hang in there.”

“We’ll do whatever we need to do to get Wendy back. You just watch yourself. We’re praying for you.”

“Thanks, Jon.”

“Good luck, Patrick,” Jon said. “We’ll be ready. Count on it.” He closed up the phone.

“Was that General McLanahan?” Cheryl Duffield asked. Jon nodded as he opened the phone again and dialed a number. “Where is he? What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain everything on the way back to Blytheville,” Jon replied. On the cell phone, Jon said, “Paul? Listen, we’re expecting— You got it already? Good. Any problems ... ? Excellent. We’re heading back now. We should be there in four hours.” He hung up the phone, then made another call to the flight crew of the corporate jet, then to the driver of their car waiting to take them back to Tonopah Municipal.

“Kelsey? Where is Kelsey?” Cheryl asked. The sound sent chills through everyone—especially through Sandy, the security guard ... ,

... because it wasn’t until just then that she noticed that Sasha wasn’t right beside her. “Sasha!” she shouted. “Aspetta! Fermi! ”