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

“Shit!” Paul said. “Not again.”


“Shut up, kid!” one of the men yelled.


“Yeah,” the other man said, “as soon as we get the old guys tied up, you boys are coming with us.”


“Like hell we are,” I said, and I began yelling at them, hoping that Jared and Pete would hear the commotion.


Paul must have read my mind, because he began yelling at them as well. They, of course, yelled back, and Dad and Uncle Randy joined in. I was facing the arched doorway that led to the living room and soon saw Jared and Pete creeping barefoot up behind the two men. Our two heroes grabbed the men from behind, and both guns clattered to the floor, fortunately without discharging. After that, it didn’t take long for the six of us to completely subdue the two intruders, and they were quickly bound, gagged, and tied to a pair of sturdy dining room chairs.


The doorbell rang, and Dad said, “I think the pizza really is here this time—I’ll get it.”


Chapter 81