Professor and secret government analyst Ian Sanderson's bad day gets worse when he arrives home one miserable November evening to find an apparently incriminating photograph in a FedEx envelope in his doorway, followed by increasingly threatening photographs over the next two or three weeks. It isn't just Ian being set up: his partner, Randy, a lieutenant colonel working on a top-secret Pentagon project, is also at risk. Someone obviously wants something, but what? And from whom?<br><br> Soon, a mysterious caller demands that Randy disclose information about the project he's been working on. When he refuses, Ian's and Randy's sons, David and Paul, are kidnapped from an Amtrak passenger train. Resourceful and intelligent, the boys manage to escape-only to find themselves lost and alone in a remote wilderness. With time running out, can Ian and Randy track down their blackmailers? Or will the man known only as The Broker claim another set of victims?

The Burdens of Truth

“I’m Robbie,” a little voice said.


“I just told them that, kiddo,” I said.


“Hi, Robbie,” Sean said. “Pleased to meet you.”


“While that soup cools, and before I take some statements from you,” I said, “isn’t there someone you need to call?”


I set the kitchen phone on the table, pushed the speaker button, and said, “What number shall I call first?”


“Only one number to call,” Sean said. “Our dads are a couple, and they’ll be together.”


“That’s not for publication,” Paul said. “Uncle Ian teaches at Georgetown, and those Jesuits aren’t too fond of gay men. My dad is a lieutenant colonel at the Pentagon, and he’s at even greater risk, DADT notwithstanding.”


“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” I said.


“Oh, I should have figured that out,” he said. “I don’t pay much attention to the news, but didn’t they just repeal that?”


Chapter 35