He had no choice but to collateralize Wirta. They were in the middle of the Cleveland National Forest, at the Black Star Octopus Lab, and had good containment of the area. He would just march this wisecracking bozo out to the woods, crank a round into his fuzzy head, and bury him in a sack of lye. End of story.

He was getting set to give that order when the phone rang in the secure HQ. He snatched it up. It was the DARPA routing officer in D.C.

"Mr. Valdez?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I have a call for you. It came into our L.A. office ten minutes ago. I had to find you through Mr. Talbot in D.C."

"I don't want any calls."

"Mr. Talbot said you might want this one. It's from somebody named Herman Strockmire Jr."

"Yes. I do want to talk to him. Have you got an STL?" Referring to the Octopus designation for Satellite Trace and Location.

"Apparently he's calling from a cell phone and he's on the move right now. Octopus has him on the Hollywood Freeway just passing Sunset."

"Okay. Vector some units in on that location and put him through."

"I already have a team rolling on Mr. Talbot's instructions."

Then Vincent heard some clicks and the hiss of a cell phone.

"This is Valdez," he said sharply.

"Mr. Valdez," Herman said. "Are you the one quarter-backing this disaster?" Herman was in the passenger seat of another rental car looking at Susan, who was driving. They had just left Shane Scully at the Hollywood station where he had volunteered to scare up some friends to go out to the Cleveland National Forest and help look for Jack. The lights from the freeway signs strobed across the windshield. Herman pressed the phone tightly to his ear.

"Let me make you aware of something, Mr. Strockmire," Valdez said softly. "You are committing federal crimes and disrupting your country's national security."

"You're the one breaking laws and committing crimes," Herman snapped. "Kidnapping happens to be a crime; so is murder. I know you're holding Jack Wirta. I know you're evaluating your options. Before you commit to something you can't undo, I just wanted to tell you to be sure and read the Metro section in the LA. Times tomorrow morning. There's going to be an article about my restraining order against DARPA and the hybrid chimeras, including a great drawing my friend made of the one who attacked us. It's going to be about Jack Wirta and how he mysteriously disappeared after a federal arrest orchestrated under your command. Jordan Phoenix, a witness to the bust, has already given her sworn affidavit. In view of all this, I know you're going to want to keep Mr. Wirta in good condition."

"Is that it?" Valdez's voice was cold and menacing.

"That's it," Herman said. "Hurt him and you're going to have a lot of 'splaining to do, Lucy."

Valdez hung up without responding.

"Dad, I think somebody is following us… a gray sedan." Susan had been watching it suspiciously in her rear view mirror while listening to Herman's side of the conversation.

"Get off on Melrose and head back to the Hollywood Division," Herman instructed.

It took five minutes before they finally pulled into the Hollywood station on Wilcox Avenue. Herman asked the lot guard for Shane Scully and gave their names. After the officer made a call inside they were allowed to park behind the chain-link security fence. As they got out, the gray sedan cruised past.

"You know what pisses me off most?" Herman said as the sedan turned the corner at the end of the block and disappeared. "Those fucking guys are doing all this with my tax dollars."

"Dad, stop it. You're beginning to sound like a Republican."

They hurried past the parking guard and into the brightly lit lobby.

Valdez stood in the Black Star HQ with the phone still in his hand, listening to an update from his L.A. field unit. They had followed Herman and his daughter to the Hollywood police station and had just told Valdez that the Strockmires were inside.

"Okay, wait there," he ordered. "Call me when they move."

Valdez hung up the phone thinking he had to get rid of Jack Wirta, regardless. The man knew too much. He was troubled by Strockmire's threat of press coverage, so he would have to alter his plan-do it in a way that wouldn't produce too many questions. Wirta's medical file was in front of him. It included the blood work they had done on him out at Groom Lake. The file indicated that Wirta had a high level of some kind of powerful painkiller in his bloodstream. Apparently the ex-cop was taking a triple-hit narcotic. Percodan or Percocet. If that was the case, there would also be a medical record of the doctors who prescribed it. If he had run out of doctors who would write him, which was often the case with pain-pill addicts, then maybe there was even a trail of street dealers who could be found and convinced to make statements. If he couldn't find one of those, he'd get a volunteer of his own to make the allegation. People with drag histories made believable traffic fatalities.

He picked up the phone. "Get me Captain Pettis. He's in the lobby, out front."

"Yes sir," Pettis's voice came over the phone a moment later.

Valdez told the commando what he wanted: "We'll need to give Wirta a few tabs of Special K. Use the new designer stuff, the Ketamine-twelve, and round up a few unimpeachable witnesses. Get this done quickly. I need it set up in less than an hour."

"Yes sir."

Valdez hung up the phone. Anger swirled inside of him, filling him with poison. Valdez, a man who exhibited no emotion, was now seething. He knew that uncontrolled anger was dangerous… angry people made mistakes.

But no matter how hard he tried he was furious. For the first time in his life Vincent Valdez was dangerously out of control.

Shane Scully made five calls and got five volunteers, all cops who had worked with Jack Wirta. They started streaming into the Hollywood station an hour later. Most were carrying ordnance-laden gym bags that tented suspiciously. Even Jack's old boss, Lieutenant Matthews, showed up. Shane's wife, Alexa, had arranged for them to use the department's large Bell Jet Air Unit.

At a little past ten, the gray and black six-passenger chopper landed on the roof of the station house, settling down on the helipad like a giant, nesting insect. The squad of volunteers who were waiting with Shane climbed aboard, leaving Herm and Susan standing on the roof.

"I'll call once I get my hands on him," Shane yelled from the helicopter over the rotor noise. "Alexa's on her way over to give you a lift."

"Thank you," Susan shouted back.

Shane nodded and waved, then the helicopter engine roared as the blades picked up rpms. The big chopper lifted off and flew into the night sky.

Alexa Scully arrived ten minutes later. She pulled up to where Herman and Susan were now waiting by the back station entrance, reached over and unlocked the rear door of her black-and-white D-car, then shoved it open.

"I'm Alexa. You guys look like you need a ride," the surprisingly beautiful black haired woman announced.

Herman and Susan introduced themselves, then got in the back seat of the car. They ducked down out of sight as Shane's wife pulled out of the Hollywood station parking lot and drove past the unmarked government sedan.

"Four guys in a gray Lexus," Alexa reported as she left the DARPA vehicle behind. "They're doing lot of hand-wringing. Got some confusion going on there."

After they were a mile away Susan and Herman sat up.

"You and Shane have been unbelievable," Susan said. "Without you, I don't know what we would have done."

"Jack's our friend. Of course we'd help."

Alexa drove them to the Van Nuys Airport and dropped them at the Peterson Executive Jet Terminal. After saying good-bye she waved and drove off.