He looked at the others. “Now what? We just wait for the first nuke to launch?”

Royce shrugged. “What’s the alternative?”

Shaw rose. “We do a little digging on our own.”

Frank said, “What kind of digging?”

“In the dirt,” Shaw answered as he closed the door behind him.

Katie looked at the other two men.

“What’s with him?” Royce wanted to know.

“He’s been through a lot,” she said defensively.

“We’ve all been through a lot,” snarled Frank.

Katie didn’t hear this. She’d already hurried out after Shaw. She caught up with him as he strode down the hall.

“Shaw?”

He stopped, waited for her to catch up.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Just like I said. Dig.” He started walking again.

She had to skip along to keep up with his long strides.

“But how, where? It’s not like you can just pull this guy out of a hat.”

“You never know.”

“Do you have to be so damn secretive? Because let me just tell you, it’s frustrating as hell.” She put a hand on his arm. “And can you please stop for a sec? I haven’t run a marathon in a while.”

He faced her. “I’m not asking for you to help.”

“I know,” she said more calmly. “But I want to help. I thought we could flush this guy out with my plan.”

Shaw’s angry features cleared. “Your plan was great, Katie. And we almost got him that way.”

“So can I help? I mean, I don’t have anything else to do right now. And the whole ‘world at stake’ thing, you know.” She attempted a smile.

“Okay, do you have any ideas?”

“All we have is that video of the car. And I think it’s worth another look. We might have missed something.”

Shaw finally shrugged. “I’ll scrounge up a copy and we can go through it again.”’

“A copy? Why not just go back and watch it with Royce and Frank?”

Shaw didn’t answer her. He was already walking back down the hall.

CREEL HELD UP A SMALL RECORDER. He turned it on and Pender listened to his phone conversation with Katie James all over again.

A gray-faced Pender said weakly, “You knew about it?”

“Of course I knew about it, Dick. I know everything. You should have realized that by now.”

Pender started to sputter. “I was just trying to take care of it without bothering you, Mr. Creel. I have the money. It’s all ready to go.”

“I appreciate your effort, I really do. The problem with the blog was unfortunate, however. I would’ve hoped with the amount of money I was paying you that that would not have happened. But such is life. The unexpected sometimes comes along. I know that as well as any man living.”

“But once we pay her-”

Creel stopped him. “Unfortunately it’s not that simple. I seriously doubt that someone like Katie James suddenly cares that much about money. I researched the woman thoroughly before deciding to use her in my little plan. Years ago she could’ve made a fortune becoming a morning TV news personality for any of the major networks, but she refused. She cares more about the story than she does about money. So no, not even twenty million dollars will change that picture.”

“Then why did she contact me?’

“To get you to call her. When Ms. James told you to pull off the road, my friend here tells me you almost ran off the highway.”

Pender stared at Caesar. “He was following me?”

“Just answer the question, Dick.”

“Yes, I did. It was unnerving. It was like she was watching me.”

“Someone was watching you, Dick. And it wasn’t just me.”

“What are you talking about? Who was watching me?”

“There are cameras all over the toll road. She made that comment to get you to react. And you did. Now they look at the video, time the conversation, and they see you almost wreck at the precise instant James said what she did. That way they can pinpoint the car.”

Caesar added, “And then she told you to pull off. And you did. Right through the tollgate.”

“Oh my God. They could be at my house right now. It’s been two days. I…”

“Calm down, Dick. If the road cameras had gotten a clear shot of you, you’d already be under arrest. So it obviously didn’t.”

“But the toll. I paid electronically. There’ll be a record.”

“Fortunately, we learned of this development in time. I had some of my best hackers target the firm that operates the electronic toll pay. Quite soon after you went through the gate, they suffered a complete crash of their recordation system.”

Pender let out a relieved breath. “As usual, you thought of everything.”

“Now I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“We’ll have to shut the entire project down. Right now. I want you to tell your employees in the war room to go home. We’re going to clear it out of everything that shows your connection to the Red Menace.”

“My people can do that, Mr. Creel. I can make the call right now.”

“In light of recent events, I’d prefer my people to handle the cleanup. I’m sure you understand.”

“All right, if you insist.”

“And best of all, you won’t have to pay the money, Dick.”

“I guess that’s right. But then she’ll write the story, the real story.”

“Let her. I believe things have gotten to a point-of-no-return stage. The contracts are signed and China and Russia are still only a few steps from going to war, regardless of this recent diplomatic effort. The only thing James can do is back off her original story. ‘I was duped,’ she’ll claim. But with no corroboration her credibility is zero. She’ll simply look incompetent.”

“Then we’ve won.”

Creel put an arm around Pender’s shoulders. “Yes, Dick, we’ve won. Now call your employees and let’s finish this.”

THEY SAT IN KATIE’S HOTEL ROOM going over the video for the hundredth time. A room service table was stacked with plates and cups since they had not bothered to leave the room to eat. The drapes were drawn and the room was dark so they could see every detail on the screen better. They had enlarged all angles of the shots on the laptop and dissected them grid by grid.

And they had come up with absolutely nothing.

Shaw lay on the floor gazing at the ceiling. An exhausted, red-eyed Katie was on the unmade bed moodily doing the same. She slipped off her pumps, padded over to the room service table in her stocking feet, and poured out a cup of coffee.

“You want one?” she asked Shaw.

He shook his head and kept his gaze fixed on the ceiling.

“Frank checked the overseas account he set up for the money drop. No twenty million yet.”

“Great,” Katie shot back. “I’m clueless and still poor.”

She sat down at the desk chair, sipped her coffee, and stared at the screen.

“What’s the latest on the diplomatic efforts?” Shaw asked.

Katie hit a few computer keys, accessed the Internet, and read the news. “They’re still meeting in London. China and Russia haven’t even agreed to send delegations. But they’re hopeful of some sort of peaceful resolution.”

She clicked off the Net and ran the video of the Mercedes again, this time in slow motion.

Shaw glanced over at her.

She was dressed in a skirt, stockings, and a blouse and her face was wrinkled in concentration.

“Katie, we’ve done that to death and gotten zip. And the damn toll people still can’t tell us anything. And every minute that goes by…” He didn’t have to finish the statement.

Katie wasn’t listening. Her gaze was suddenly riveted on the screen.

“Shaw! Look!”

He hopped up and joined her at the desk. “What?”

“There.” She pointed the bottom of the screen where she’d enlarged the grid section.

“It’s the rear fender of the Mercedes. So what?”