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

“Tomorrow, after we go to the Y,” George said, “we’re gonna drive you out to the beach, so you will a) know how to get there, and b) get a feel for what’s available. It’s a little too cold to swim, but the skies are supposed to be sunny and clear most of the week.”


“Just remember one thing when you’re on the beach,” Mike said. “You can get a nasty burn, even on an overcast day.”


“Yeah,” George said, “we see a lot of Canadian tourists this time of the year who look like freshly scalded lobsters.”


“If you want to go sightseeing,” Mike said, “St. Augustine is just thirty miles south of here. But I think your folks would be more comfortable if you didn’t stray too far from home base. And for that matter, so would we.”


Chapter 65