“What changed?”
“Now we are more desperate than afraid.”
Special Agent Garza, whose specialty was psychology, problem solving and code breaking, let the child hear the echo of his own desperation reverberate off the corners of the stark interrogation room before continuing.
Chapter 81 More Than Meets the Eye
“Tell me about your sister.” She watched the boy’s face carefully as the tension there heightened drastically.
“Meg is about three years older than me. Her seventeenth birthday was three days ago.” He looked even sadder, if that was possible.
“Do you have a picture of her?”
Evan looked up at the agent with wide, red-rimmed eyes. “Yeah, I do.” He pulled from his front jacket pocket a four by six regular photo and put it on the table to slide toward the agent. The agent looked carefully at the dark-haired girl sitting between Evan and another young man. They looked as if they were laughing at something just out of the reach of the frame. She was a beautiful girl with a wide, contagious smile.
“That’s a great picture of you three. Is the other boy your brother?”
“Yes, that’s Alik.”
“Where is Alik now?”
Evan’s face looked tight and irritated. “He didn’t leave an itinerary with me but he’s in the area, somewhere.”
“Does he know you and Dr. Mor have come to the authorities ‘to represent the family,’ as you previously stated?”
“Of course, he does. This was a big decision that affects all of us. We made it together—as a family.”
“Where is the rest of your family, Evan?” Agent Garza knew the answer, but she wanted to show the boy she could be someone interested in the people in whom he was interested.
“Everyone’s safe except Meg.”
“But where are they?” Garza pushed.
“I’ve already told you this,” Evan glared.
“You said they’re in the vicinity. Be more specific.”
“I have made my terms clear. You release Dr. Mor and me at exactly 2pm local time and we’ll be happy to see that we’ve established trust. Two more members of the family will return tomorrow at 10am—but I’ve already said all this,” Evan narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t we just play back the video?”
Agent Garza raised one eyebrow determinedly, giving Evan another chance to answer the question.
Evan sighed. “Alik, Farrow, Creed, Drs. Winter and Andrews, Danny, Cole and Maze are in a safe house. Sloan and I are here. Our family friend Greg Burns was to meet us at the US Embassy. Where is he?”
“Let’s get back to Meg. What happened in Kentucky?” Garza asked. She had been watching through a one-way window before she even walked into this room and had heard the second telling of the story from beginning to end. She had to admit, his detailed recollection had her wondering if he were actually telling the truth…though some of it was so far-fetched, she cringed at the thought of writing the report on this one.
“Well, Williams wasn’t working alone. All this time we thought he was the only one hunting us, but we found out the hard way, there was another.”
Garza looked up from her keyboard to look directly at Evan, waiting for him to say a name.
“Well? With whom was he working?” she asked anxiously, her fingers poised over the keyboard ready to type it in.
“You’re not going to believe me.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a well-known politician.”
“Of course, he is.”
Evan rubbed the bridge between his eyes.
“Well, spill it. If he’s well-known, finding him won’t be too difficult.”
“It’s Senator Donovan Arkdone.”
Rosario Garza’s eyes narrowed, but she kept the rest of her reaction to herself. She’d heard of Arkdone before, and he wasn’t always connected with the most reputable people. She also knew of him from his time as a professor of psychological warfare. He gave many lectures on how to interrogate effectively. One of those lectures was attended by aspiring junior agent, Rosario Garza.
“Keep talking, Evan,” she said through gritted teeth. Her fingers flew across her keyboard taking notes and writing questions she was planning to ask of the boy.
“The day he came to attack my family in our home, he left the remaining members to find a video recording. At the time, we didn’t know it was designed to only play once, so no—in case you were going to ask—we don’t still have the recording.”
“What was on the recording?”