Die Trying by Lee Child

McGrath’s turn to be quiet for a second. Unsure of the implications.

Did Webster mean search for a hideout, or search for another body?

“My gut says no,” he said. They must know we could search the area. My

feeling is they moved her somewhere else. Maybe far away.”

There was silence on the line again. McGrath could hear Webster

thinking.

“I agree with you, I guess,” Webster said. They moved her out. But

how, exactly? By road? By air?”

“Not air,” McGrath said. “We covered commercial flights yesterday. We

just hit a private field. Nothing doing.”

“What about a helicopter?” Webster said. “In and out, secretly?”

“Not in Chicago, chief,” McGrath said. “Not right next door to O’Hare.

More radar here than the air force has got. Any unauthorized choppers

in and out of here, we’d know about it.”

“OK,” Webster said. “But we need to get this under control. Abduction

and homicide, Mack, it’s not giving me a good feeling. You figure a

second stolen vehicle? Rendezvoused with the stolen sedan?”

“Probably,” McGrath said. “We’re checking now.”

“Any ideas who they were?” Webster said.

“No,” McGrath told him. “We got pretty good pictures off the video.

Computer enhancements. We’ll download them to you right away. Four

guys, white, somewhere between thirty and forty, three of them kind of

alike, ordinary, neat, short hair. The fourth guy is real tall,

computer says he’s maybe six-five. I figure him for the ringleader. He

was the one got to her first.”

“You got any feeling for a motive yet?” Webster asked.

“No idea at all,” McGrath said.

There was silence on the line again.

“OK,” Webster said. “You keeping it real tight up there?”

Tight as I can,” McGrath said. “Just three of us.”

QQ

“Who are you using?” Webster asked.

“Brogan and Milosevic,” McGrath said.

They any good?” Webster asked.

McGrath grunted. Like he would choose them if they weren’t?

“They know Holly pretty well,” he said. “They’re good enough.”

“Moaners and groaners?” Webster asked. “Or solid, like people used to

be?”

“Never heard them complain,” McGrath said. “About anything. They do

the work, they do the hours. They don’t even bitch about the pay.”

Webster laughed.

“Can we clone them?” he said.

The levity peaked and died within a couple of seconds. But McGrath

appreciated the attempt at morale.

“So how you doing down there?” he asked.

“In what respect, Mack?” Webster said, serious again.

“The old man,” McGrath said. “He giving you any trouble?”

“Which one, Mack?” Webster asked.

The general?” McGrath said.

“Not yet,” Webster said. “He called this morning, but he was polite.

That’s how it goes. Parents are usually pretty calm, the first day or

two. They get worked up later. General Johnson won’t be any

different. He may be a bigshot, but people are all the same

underneath, right?”

“Right,” McGrath said. “Have him call me, if he wants first-hand

reports. Might help his situation.”

“OK, Mack, thanks,” Webster said. “But I think we should keep this

dentist thing away from everybody, just for the moment. Makes the

whole deal look worse. Meantime, send me your stuff. I’ll get our

people working on it. And don’t worry. We’ll get her back. Bureau

looks after its own, right? Never fails.”

The two Bureau chiefs let the lie die into silence and hung up their

phones together.

The young man strolled out of the forest and came face to face with the

commander. He was smart enough to throw a big salute and look nervous,

but he kept it down to the sort of nervousness any grunt showed around

the commander. Nothing more, nothing suspicious. He stood and waited

to be spoken to.

“Job for you,” the commander said. “You’re young, right? Good with

all this technical shit?”

The man nodded cautiously.

“I can usually puzzle stuff out, sir,” he said.

The commander nodded back.

“We got a new toy,” he said. “Scanner, for radio frequencies. I want

a watch kept.”

The young man’s blood froze hard.

“Why, sir?” he asked. “You think somebody’s using a radio

transmitter?”

“Possibly,” the commander said. “I trust nobody and I suspect

everybody. I can’t be too careful. Not right now. Got to look after

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