Patriot games - Tom Clancy [198]
"Thanks for bringing him over."
"Hey, no big deal. It's good to see her home, pal."
The two men walked back into the house. Jack peeked around the corner and saw that Sally was already demolishing a peanut-butter sandwich.
"Sally " he said. His wife was already looking at him with an open mouth. His daughter's head came around just as Jack set the puppy on the floor.
It was a black Labrador, just old enough to be separated from his mother. The puppy needed a single look to know to whom he belonged. He scampered across the floor, mostly sideways, with his tail gyrating wildly. Sally was on the floor, and grabbed him. A moment later, the dog was cleaning her face.
"She's too little for a puppy," Cathy said.
"Okay, you can take him back this afternoon," Jack replied quietly. The remark got him an angry look. His daughter squealed when the dog started chewing on the heel of one shoe. "She's not big enough for a pony yet, but I think this is just the right thing."
"You train it!"
"That'll be easy. He comes from good stock. Champion Chesapeake's Victor Hugo Black for a father, would you believe? The Lab's got a soft mouth, and they like kids," Jack went on. "I've already scheduled him for classes."
"Classes in what?" Cathy was really befuddled now.
"The breed is called the Labrador Retriever," Jack noted.
"How big does it get?"
"Oh, maybe seventy pounds."
"That's bigger than she is!"
"Yeah, they love to swim, too. He can look after her in the pool."
"We don't have a pool."
"They start in three weeks." Jack smiled again. "Doctor Schenk also said that swimming is good therapy for this kind of injury."
"You've been busy," his wife observed. She was smiling now.
"I was going to get a Newfoundland, but they're just too big-one-fifty." Jack didn't say that his first wish had been to get a dog big and tough enough to tear the head off anyone who came close to his daughter, but that his common sense had prevented it.
"Well, there's your first job," Cathy pointed. Jack got a paper towel to clean up the puddle on the tile. Before he could do it, his daughter nearly strangled him with a ferocious hug. It was all he could do to control himself, but he had to. Sally would not have understood why her daddy was crying. The world was back in its proper shape. Now if we can just keep it that way.
"I'll have the pictures tomorrow. I wanted to get them done before the trees fill in. When they do, you won't be able to see the house from the road very well." Alex summarized the results of his reconnaissance.
"What about the alarm?"
Alex read off the data from his notes.
"How the bloody hell did you get that?"
Dobbens chuckled as he popped open the beer. "It's easy. If you want the data for any kind of burglar alarm, you call the company that did it and say you work for an insurance company. You give them a policy number-you make that up, of course-and they give you all the information you want. Ryan has a perimeter system, and a backup intruder system 'with keys,' which means that the alarm company has keys to the house. Somewhere on the property they have infrared beams. Probably on the driveway in the trees. This guy isn't dumb, Sean."
"It doesn't matter."
"Okay, I'm just telling you. One more thing."
"Yes?"
"The kid doesn't get hurt this time, not the wife either if we can help it."
"That is not part of the plan," Miller assured him. You bloody wimp. Sean had learned a new word in America. What sort of revolutionary do you think you are? he didn't say.
"That's from my people," Alex continued, telling only part of the truth. "You gotta understand, Sean, child abuse looks bad over here. It's not the kind of image we want to have, you dig?"
"And you want to come out with us?"
Dobbens nodded. "It might be necessary."
"I think we can avoid that. It just means eliminating all the people who see your faces."
You're a cold little cocksucker, Dobbens thought, though his words made perfect sense. Dead men told no tales.
"Very well. All we have to do