“Never mind how, Mr. Stackhouse,” said the man calling himself Tim, “and never mind the queen bitch here. We need to make a deal, and we need to do it fast. Can you shut up and listen?”
“Yes.” Stackhouse drew a notepad in front of him. Drops of sweat fell on it. He mopped his forehead with his sleeve, turned to a fresh page, and picked up a pen. “Go ahead.”
“Luke brought a flash drive out of this Institute place where you were holding him. A woman named Maureen Alvorson made it. She tells a fantastic story, one that would be hard to believe, except she also took video of what you call either Ward A or Gorky Park. With me so far?”
“Yes.”
“Luke says that you are holding a number of his friends hostage along with a number of children from Ward A.”
Until this moment, Stackhouse hadn’t thought of them as hostages, but he supposed that from Ellis’s point of view . . .
“Let’s say that’s the case, Tim.”
“Yes, let’s say that. Now here comes the important part. As of now, only two people know Luke’s story and what’s on that flash drive. I’m one. My friend Wendy is the other, and she’s with me and Luke. There were others who saw it, all cops, but thanks to the queen bitch here and the force she brought with her, they’re all dead. Most of hers are dead, too.”
“That’s impossible!” Stackhouse shouted. The idea that a bunch of small-town cops could have taken out Opal and Ruby Red combined was ludicrous.
“Boss lady was a little too eager, my friend, and they were blindsided in the bargain. But let’s stay on point, shall we? I have the flash drive. I also have your Mrs. Sigsby, and a Dr. James Evans. Both of them are wounded, but if they get out of this, they’ll mend. You have the children. Can we trade?”
Stackhouse was dumbfounded.
“Stackhouse? I need an answer.”
“It would depend on whether or not we can keep this facility secret,” Stackhouse said. “Without that assurance, no deal makes any sense.”
A pause, then Tim was back. “Luke says we might be able to work that out. For now, where am I going, Stackhouse? How did your pirate crew get here from Maine so fast?”
Stackhouse told him where the Challenger was waiting outside of Alcolu—he really had no choice. “Mrs. Sigsby can give you exact directions once you reach the town of Beaufort. Now I need to talk to Ellis again.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“As a matter of fact, it’s vital.”
There was a brief pause, then the boy was on the secure line. “What do you want?”
“I assume you have been in touch with your friends,” Stackhouse said. “Perhaps one friend in particular, Mr. Dixon. No need to confirm or deny, I understand that time is short. In case you don’t know exactly where they are—”
“They’re in the tunnel between Back Half and Front Half.”
That was unsettling. Nevertheless, Stackhouse pressed on.
“That’s right. If we can reach an agreement, they may get out and see the sun again. If we can’t, I will fill that tunnel with chlorine gas, and they will die slowly and unpleasantly. I won’t see it happen; I’ll be gone two minutes after I give the order. I’m telling you this because I feel quite certain that your new friend Tim would like to leave you out of whatever deal we make. That cannot happen. Do you understand?”
There was a pause, then Luke said: “Yes. I understand. I’ll come with him.”
“Good. At least for now. Are we done?”
“Not quite. Will Mrs. Sigsby’s phone work from the airplane?”
Faintly, Stackhouse heard Mrs. Sigsby say that it would.
“Stay close to your phone, Mr. Stackhouse,” Luke said. “We’ll need to talk again. And you need to stop thinking about running. If you do, I’ll know. We have a policewoman with us, and if I tell her to contact Homeland Security, she will. Your picture will be at every airport in the country, and all the fake ID in the world won’t do you any good. You’ll be like a rabbit in an open field. Do you understand me?”
For the second time, Stackhouse was too dumbfounded to speak.
“Do you?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Good. We’ll be in touch to fine-tune the details.”
With that, the boy was gone. Stackhouse set the phone down carefully on his desk. He noted that his hand was trembling slightly. Part of that was fright, but it was mostly fury. We’ll be