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

“Not anymore, Dad,” Paul said. “Next time we go to our cabin, I’m gonna be armed with the strongest herbicide I can find. Then it’s good-bye, blackberries.”


“They both have winter clothing here at our cabin,” I said. “We’ll bring them some.”


“Captain Martin,” Randy said, “this is Col. Richardson speaking. Randy, if you will.”


“Have you called the local authorities?” Randy said.


“Not yet. Your boys didn’t want us to do so.”


Chapter 36