State of Siege - Tom Clancy [15]
He allowed himself the pleasure of forgetting the details they'd had to remember for this morning. The armored car's route, the timing, alternate plans in case the police got through, an escape by the river in the event the chopper didn't make it. A deep feeling of satisfaction came over him, and he savored it the way he had never enjoyed anything in his life.
* * *
FOUR
Chevy Chase, Maryland Friday, 9:12 A.M.
Under a bright sky, Paul Hood, his wife Sharon, their just-turned- fourteen-year-old daughter Harleigh, and their eleven-year-old son Alexander eased into their new van and set out for New York. The kids were hooked to their respective Discmans. Harleigh was listening to violin concerti to get herself in the mood for the concert; every now and then, she would sigh or mutter a mild oath, awed by the composition or discouraged by the brilliance of the performance. She was like her mother in that respect. Neither woman was ever satisfied with what she'd accomplished, Harleigh on the violin, Sharon with her passion for healthy cooking. For years, Sharon had used her charm and sincerity to lure people away from bacon and doughnuts on a half-hour weekly cable TV show, The McDonnell Healthy Food Report. She had left the show several months before to devote more time to putting together a healthy-eating cookbook, which was nearly finished. She had also wanted to spend more time at home. The kids were getting older faster, and she felt they should all spend more time doing things as a family, from having dinner weeknights to taking vacations whenever they could. Dinners that Hood had missed more often than not and vacations that he'd had to cancel. Alexander was much more like his father. He liked personal challenges. He enjoyed computer games-the more complicated, the better. He liked crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. As they drove, he listened to some flavor-of-the-month singer and worked on an acrostic puzzle. Beneath the puzzle book, on his lap, was a short stack of comic books. To Alexander, there was no outside world right now. There was just what was in front of him. Paul couldn't help but feel proud of the kid. Alexander knew his own mind.
Sharon Hood was sitting quietly by her husband's side. She had left him a week before, taken the children, and gone to stay with her parents in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She'd returned for the same reason that Hood had resigned from Op-Center: to fight for their family. Hood had no idea what he'd do next in his career, and he wouldn't be putting out feelers until they returned to Washington on Wednesday. He'd cashed in some stock he'd bought during his years as a broker, enough to run the household for two years. Income wasn't as important as satisfaction and banker's hours. But Sharon was right. The wholeness of what he felt in the car, imperfections and all, was something very special. One of those imperfections-the largest one-was still between Hood and his wife. Though Sharon took his hand and held it as they started the trip, he had the feeling that he was on probation. There was nothing he could pinpoint, nothing that seemed different from any other drive they'd taken. But there was something that stood between them. A resentment? Disappointment?
Whatever, it was the reverse of the sexual tension he felt with Ann Faros.
Paul and Sharon talked a little at first about what they were going to do in the city. Tonight was an official dinner with the families of the other violinists. Maybe a walk through Times Square if they got done early enough. On Saturday morning, they'd drop Harleigh off at the United Nations and then do what Alexander had requested: visit the Statue of Liberty. The boy wanted to see up close how it was "erected," as he put it. At six they'd head for the soiree, leaving the young man in the Sheraton with its built-in video game system.
Paul and Sharon wouldn't be permitted to attend the United Nations reception, which was being held in the lobby of the General Assembly Hall building. Instead, they'd