Games of State - Tom Clancy [92]
Herbert looked ahead, watching for an exit. The van hadn't had that much of a head start. It would have to be coming up soon. He wondered if it were by design or coincidence that the van had come this way.
"Bob," Alberto said excitedly, "we just got a quarter-mile view to the east of the wreck. Marsha says she sees part of a rough dirt road and what could be a person in one of the trees."
"Could be?"
Marsha came on. Herbert could picture the tough little brunette wresting the phone from Alberto.
"Yes, Bob, it could be. There's a dark shape under the leaves. It's not a branch and it's too big to be a hive or bird's nest."
"A scared kid might hide in a tree,," Herbert said.
"Or a cautious one," Marsha said.
"Good point. Where's the white van now?" Herbert asked.
"It was in the picture with the trailer," said Marsha. "None of the police are looking over."
That'd be a kick in the head, thought Herbert. The local police in cahoots with the local neo-Nazi militia.
There was an exit coming up on the right. Beyond it, Herbert saw a wooded area, the beginning of a magnificent sprawl of countryside.
"I think I'm where I need to be," Herbert said. "Is there any way to get to that tree without being seen by the police?"
There was a muted conference on the other end of the line.
Alberto came on. "Bob, yes. You can exit, pull to the right off the road, and take that dirt road."
"I can't," Herbert said. "If the kidnappers headed into the woods instead of out, I don't want to run into them. Or them into me."
"All right," said Alberto. "Then you can circumvent them by going-- let's see, southeast uh, roughly one third of a mile to a stream. Cross to the east, to about a quarter of a mile to shit, there's no landmark there."
"I'll find it."
"Boss--"
"I'll find it. What's next?"
Alberto said, "Then you go northeast about seventy-five yards to a gnarly old whatever-it-is. Marsha says it's an oak. But that's pretty rough terrain."
"I once climbed the steps of the Washington Monument. I went up backwards, on my ass, and came down frontwards."
"I know. But that was eleven years ago, and it was here at home."
"I'll be fine," Herbert said. "You take a paycheck, you gotta do the shit work as well as the easy stuff."
"This isn't 'shit work,' Boss. This is a man in a wheelchair trying to climb ledges and cross streams."
Herbert felt a flash of doubt, but he flushed it away.
He wanted to do this. No, he needed to do this. And in his heart, he knew he could.
"Listen," Herbert said. "We can't call the police because we don't know if some of them are in with these gorillas. And how long will it be before the girl decides to turn herself in because she's hungry or tired? We don't have any other options."
"We do have one," Alberto said. "Larry's people are probably drawing the same conclusions from these photos that we are. Let me call over and see what they want to do."
"Nix," said Herbert. "I'm not gonna cool my seat while someone's life is in danger."
"But you'll both be in danger--"
"Kid, I've been in danger just sitting in my damn car today," Herbert said as he exited the Autobahn. "I'll be careful and I'll get to her, I promise. I'll also be taking the phone. The vibrating ringer will be on, but I won't be opening my yap if I'm worried that someone'll overhear."
"Of course," Alberto said. "I'm still against this," he added, "but good luck, Boss."
"Thanks," Herbert said as he pulled off the two-lane roadway. There was a rest station with gas, food, and rooms: no vacancies, the sign said, which told Herbert that they were either full of visiting neo-Nazis or that the owners didn't want them around. He swung into the lot and parked behind the modern, one-story building, then crossed his fingers as he pressed the button to release his chair. He feared his bumper-car chase might have affected the mechanics of the Mercedes. But it didn't, and five minutes later he was rolling up a gentle slope in the blue-orange light of approaching dusk.
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