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

“Robbie,” George said, “you stay here with your new friends, okay?”


When George and Mike reappeared, they were each carrying a small plastic bag. I started to say something, but George put a finger to his lips and pointed toward the door. When we were in the car and a few blocks away, he explained. “When my buddy Dan said that he would ‘make a couple of calls’, that was more or less a wink, wink, nod, nod. He handed us these bags as we were leaving.”


He passed the two bags to Randy and me, saying, “These two guns officially don’t exist and aren’t traceable. Enough said. We’ll stop somewhere along the way and pick up some ammunition for them.”


“Thanks, George,” Randy said. “I’m sure we all feel better.”


“Yeah, we really appreciate this,” I said.


“If you get pulled over somewhere on the way home,” George said, “you’d better have them out of sight.”


Chapter 52