“I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night,” she said. “You can take on some of the driving today while I kick back and relax. When you get tired, I’ll take over.”
Noah shrugged and slid behind the wheel. There was a small truck stop situated where the two-lane road met up with Interstate 70, so he stopped there so they could grab some breakfast. The food and coffee were both good and the service was quick, so they were finally on the way at just before seven.
The road was just as boring as it had been the day before, and it wasn’t long before Noah was the only one awake. He listened to Neil and Moose snoring in the backseat for a few minutes, then set the cruise control at seventy-five and turned the radio on low so that he could listen to the news reports.
The national news services were almost going into fits. Between the massive explosion in Columbia and what seemed to be some sort of terrorist attack on a small town in Colorado, the announcers were using up all of the most horrific adjectives they could think of.
The FBI had issued a statement the day before regarding the explosion, announcing that all of the victims who’d died in the blast had been identified as members of the Angelos Michoacan drug cartel, and that the explosion was suspected of being the work of a rival cartel. They also found the wreckage of the van in the quarry and were speculating that the perpetrators may have accidentally blown themselves up. The blast was so hot that it was difficult to determine whether anyone had been within range of it.
The attack in Kirkland, on the other hand, seemed to be something of a mystery. The E & E offices were publicly known as the headquarters of Brigadoon Investments Corporation, a privately held company that administered investments of retirement funds for many different companies. The agents handling the investigation had come to the conclusion that Brigadoon had been targeted because of its investments in military technologies. They had no specific suspects, and had not yet managed to tie the attack to any known terrorist groups. Nevertheless, the attacks were being treated as acts of terrorism, which kept them firmly under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Colorado state investigators were complaining that the feds were not bothering to share any information, but the FBI reiterated that acts of terrorism fell under United States jurisdiction, rather than that of any particular state in which they might occur.
“Brigadoon CEO Allison Peterson,” said one announcer, “and CFO Donald Jefferson were both wounded in the attack and are currently listed in critical condition at separate hospitals. Nineteen people died in the attacks, and an additional forty-eight were wounded. The military-style attack took place in broad daylight, and authorities believe there were at least fifteen attackers involved. Seven of them died during the attack, after exchanging gunfire with local police and security personnel.”
There was no mention of the three attackers who were captured, which told Noah that Doc Parker was keeping that information to himself. He had mentioned to Noah that they had been turned over to E & E’s interrogation team, so it was highly unlikely that the FBI even knew they existed. The thought made Noah wonder if the interrogation was making any headway, and he reached into his pocket for his phone.
“Brigadoon Investments, how may I direct your call?”
“Doc Parker, please, Noah Wolf calling.”
“Yes, sir, one moment, please.” The hold music began playing, but it was less than thirty seconds before the call was picked up.
“Parker,” the old man barked. “Little early for you to be calling, isn’t it? Or have you got something for me?”
“Just checking in, sir,” Noah said. “We’re currently on the way to Alexandria, Virginia. That’s where my old friend lives, so it’s the most logical place to start our search for Nicolaich. I was wondering if your interrogation has turned up any new information.”
“Nothing yet. So far, our three guests are proving to be as stubborn as we expected. We do these things in stages, to break down their reluctance, rather than their resistance. The idea isn’t to force them to say something they think we want to hear, but to persuade them to tell us what they truly know.”
“Yes, sir, I understand. I don’t suppose there’s any other news?”
“Well, one thing. Allison got her hands on a telephone somehow this morning and called me while I was still in bed. Took me ten minutes to figure out what she was trying to say, but what it boiled down to was to tell you to keep your head down. I explained that you were actively looking for Andropov, and that he’s our most likely suspect. She agrees, but she’s afraid you’ll be walking into a trap.”