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

We went down to their car and helped them carry things to the guest rooms. When I saw their laptops, I said, “Before you get too settled, let’s go up to the loft and get you into our cable modem network. I’m not sure how strong the signal is down here.”


“Speaking of laptops,” Sean said, “ours were in our bags on the train.”


“Not anymore,” Ian said. “Rupert’s people recovered them, and your cell phones, when the train stopped in Philadelphia.”


Internet access taken care of, we said good night to our guests. “Guys,” I said, “we were up at five and on the road by six, so it’s time for Mike and me to hit the sack. We set the alarm when we were downstairs, but because of Thor, the motion detectors in the house are disabled. Help yourselves to anything you need.”


“And, “ Mike said, “if the line for the downstairs bathroom gets too long in the morning, feel free to use the master bath up here. Sean and Paul know where it is.”


Chapter 43