Now Mac for sure heard a voice from the back. Male. Chang's statement was true, but was it one for true and two for false or the other way around? He hesitated, listening while creeping to the top of the stairs.

"Mac would know this," Chang said. "One if true, two if "

Mac pressed one quickly.

"Could have been a lucky guess," Chang said, and Mac closed his eyes. Come on!

"You have a contact in a very strategic location. Give me a beep for the number of letters in his sister's maiden name"

What? Chang would be so clever at a party. Okay, Chang's the contact. His sister is Ming Toy. Three. Wait! Maiden name. Same as Chang's. Wong. Four. Mac punched them quickly, now peeking out of the darkened shack toward the back. He could see nothing.

"Okay, Mac, right. Now listen. Talked to Stefanich as Konrad.

He's going to make his guys bring Sebastian to you, so stay put but don't waste time. He claims they've found the underground headquarters and will raid it at midnight. I don't have any numbers on the Co op people there. Do you? One if yes, two if no." Mac pressed twice. "I don't even know that they have phones. Can you send somebody to help? One if " Mac beeped once. "Are you in immediate danger?" Mac beeped twice. "Okay, so you're somewhere where you can't talk. GPS shows you still where I talked to you last. Someone there with you?" Twice. "Outside?" Once. "See them?

Twice.

"Okay, you hear them. Have you got personnel outside?"

Onc e.

"Both? "

Onc e.

"I'll let you go. You want me to stay on?"

Twi ce.

"Check in when you're clear. I want to know we're doing something for the Co op there."

Mac put his phone away and crept outside. Half a dozen armed Peacekeepers milled about by the car.

"I say we take it. We've hiked for hours."

"No keys."

"So hot wire it."

"Come on! Supposed to be only five hundred more meters." The Peacekeepers headed east. Mac circled around to the front. So Ste fanich sent backup. Wonder if that's all of 'em?

Neither Hannah nor Chloe was by the tree. Mac made a noise through his teeth, in case they were close by. Nothing. He knelt in the darkness. The Fifty was in place. The DEW was gone. It felt to George as if Aristotle had turned left onto the road and driven east for about twenty minutes before pulling off to the side and waiting. He had once been able to keep track of the pa.s.sage of time, but now he had to fight sleep. If he had to guess, George would have said they sat, not moving, for more than an hour. But neither would it have surprised him if it were actually twice that long.

Finally Aristotle said, "What do you think?"

"We could have gone long ago," Elena said. "The place clears out early, and there aren't that many people there anymore anyway."

"Plato? "

"Yes, go! We've got to get back up here before long."

It seemed to George that they eventually made their way out of the woods and off the gravel road to a main road and were heading south. Then they went east, and he had the sense, from ambiance and sound, that they were in a populated area, maybe town.

"Get him out of sight," Aristotle said a few minutes later. Plato reached and grabbed George by the right shoulder and pulled him over to where his head now lay in the big man's lap.

Aristotle soon slowed and seemed to be parking. "No, no!" Plato said. "Around back." Once they finally stopped and parked, Elena said, "I'll see if we're clear." George felt a cramp in his lower back but could do nothing about it. She returned and got back in the Jeep, shutting the door. "About twenty minutes," she said.

"You got it?" Aristotle said. "Let me see it." "And it goes where? " "About a foot below the top of the right door." "I never noticed before." "Can I sit him up?" Plato said. "Better wait."

Chloe stopped fifty feet in back of Socrates and guessed they were close to five hundred meters from the shack. He was bent over, hands on his thighs, breathing heavily. His pace had slowed the last hundred meters or so, and maybe he was trying to come up with an approach to his comrades that would gain him sympathy rather than hostility. She was watching him carefully when she froze at the sound of footsteps on the gravel. Several. Not hurrying. Not sneaking. Just coning. She backed into the underbrush about ten feet off the road and knelt, the knees of her camouflage pants immediately soaked through and cold. She fought the temptation to hold her breath, fearing she would exhale right when whoever was behind her came by. Chloe knew it couldn't be Mac and Hannah. There were too many.

She was out of sight of Socrates now and hated not knowing whether he was off again. If he was, he would find his team without her knowing where. And here came half a dozen Peacekeepers, weapons in hand. They were in no hurry, chatting, a couple smoking. Chloe tried to sake it make sense. They seemed to have an idea where they were going. Same spot? She could follow them, and maybe more easily because of the noise they made.

They were ten feet past her, and she would wait another thirty seconds before venturing out. Her walkie talkie gave two quick, staticky squawks, startling her. The Peacekeepers kept walking and talking, but she panicked. Though they hadn't heard the sounds, if someone started talking to her, they'd hear that.

She reached in her pocket to turn off the radio, but in feeling for the right k.n.o.b turned it up. Frantic to shut it off, she lurched, lost her balance, and flopped onto her seat. "Johnson or Irene, come in, please."

Too loud!

Chloe leaped to her feet, yanked out the radio, squeezed the transmit b.u.t.ton twice, shut it off, and set herself, readying the Uzi. The Peacekeepers had stopped and now crept her way. Mac pulled out his radio and whispered, "Johnson here, Jinnah.

What's your ten twenty?"

"One hundred yards northeast of rendezvous point."

"You okay?"

"Ten four. GC troops in the woods, sir."

"Irene with you?"

"Negative. "

"The DEW?"

"Affirmative. "

"On my way. How many?"

"Guessing two dozen, sir."

"Come back?"

"Minimum twenty four."

"Roger. Be sure you're clear, cease radio transmission, and return to rendezvous ASAP."

"Roger. "

So much for bluffing Ste fdnich. Either he wasn't buying or he's royally stupid.

"Johnson to Irene . . . Johnson to Irene . . . Johnson to Irene.

Do you read?"