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 just love success stories,” Mike said.


“Babe, that’s a bit premature, isn’t it?” George said.


“I don’t think so. Didn’t you see how those two were looking at each other during dinner?”


“Well, now that you mention it…,” George said.


“I wish we could give Jared a day off tomorrow,” I said.


“Why don’t we let our guests go run on the beach tomorrow?” George said. “If they can shower and change at Pete’s apartment, we can pick them up and go somewhere.”


“Yeah, we haven’t taken Robbie down to St. Augustine for a while, and you know how he loves to visit the old fort.”


“You guys wanta watch a movie?” George said. “There’s two or three over there by the DVD player.”


“Yeah,” Mike said, “we’ve gotta go upstairs and get Robbie ready for bed. He’s more than capable of taking care of himself, but he loves it if we sit in the bathroom while he plays in the tub.”


Chapter 69