"Sir?"

"No, thanks. Is there an air charter service here?"

"Yes, sir. Over there. They're closed, but they have a phone."

"Thanks." He went to the charter service counter, picked up their telephone, and dialed the indicated number. It rang, and a recording told him to leave his name, number, and his message. He hung up, remarking to himself that getting out of Saigon with communist tanks approaching the American embassy had been easier than getting out of Toledo on a Sunday night.

He went to a pay phone and called the Ingrams. Terry answered, and Keith said in his most upbeat voice, "Hi, Terry."

"Keith! Where are you? Is everything?.."

"Everything's fine. We're about to fly out. Annie is at the gate, and I just wanted to say thanks again and goodbye."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you. I'm so happy we could help, and..."

"Hold on... okay, they're announcing our flight. I just want to say a quick goodbye to Larry."

"Sure. He's right here."

Larry came on the line, and Keith said, "Larry, without worrying your wife, can you tell me if you've heard anything?"

"I did. Hold on."

Keith heard him say something to Terry, then Larry came back on and said, "Okay, I can talk. I heard about ten minutes ago — they broadcast an all-points bulletin, and I got a call to see if I wanted to go out on patrol tonight."

"All right... what and who are they looking for?"

"Green Chevy Blazer, this year's model, your plates. They're looking for Annie Baxter and Keith Landry."

Keith nodded to himself. Obviously, they'd found her car in his barn. He asked, "Anything about possible locations?"

"Well, the usual — car rental places, airports within a two-hundred-fifty-mile radius of Spencerville to be increased each half hour, bus terminals, train stations, all roads and highways — like that."

"Why are they looking for us?"

"Kidnapping. Major league. Seems they found her car in your barn."

"Would you advise me to go to the police and explain?"

"Nope. Don't do that. They'd hold you until he arrives and tells his side. He's a cop, they're cops."

"But if she signs a statement saying..."

"I spoke to Baxter. He says he's got his kids on the way in from college. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, and if they all wind up at some station house with you two, it could get real messy and emotional. If you can get away, do it."

Keith considered this. Annie would never go with Baxter — but why put her or her children through that? He had other, cleaner options. Or he thought he did. He said to Larry, "Okay. Thanks again."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. We're about to fly out."

"Do that. Good luck."

Keith hung up. Ten minutes ago. That gave him about no minutes to get out of the airport.

He walked quickly through the empty terminal, wondering if he shouldn't have tried for Dayton or Columbus airports. But if he had, he'd still be on the road, and even if he'd gotten to one of those airports, they'd be looking for him and Annie by the time they arrived. In fact, they'd be looking for them here within minutes.

So there was no use second-guessing decisions; you made them based on what you knew and what your experience and intuition told you. Plan A hadn't quite worked; Plan B was simple. Hide.

He went outside and saw an airport security man standing at the curb near the Blazer. The man looked at him and walked over. "This your car?"

"Yes."

"The lady says you're flying to New York. I don't think so."

Keith saw Annie get out of the Blazer and walk toward them. Keith said to the security man, "I guess not."

"Nope. I told her the last flight left over an hour ago."

"Right. I just found out."

Annie stood beside Keith and said to him, "This gentleman says we missed the last flight."

"Yes. Let's go home." He took her arm and walked her back to the Blazer.

The security man followed and pointed to the license plate. "I see you got this car in Toledo."

Keith glanced at the plate, whose frame had the name of the dealer advertised on it. "That's right."

"Lady says you drove in from Chatham County."

"Right. I bought the car in Toledo." He opened the passenger-side door, and Annie got inside.

Keith noticed the two-way radio on the man's belt and didn't want to be around when it broadcast an all-points bulletin. He went around to the driver's side and opened his door.

The security man followed and said, "You should have called for reservations before you made that drive."

Keith had faced too many of those kinds of questions around the world, and he knew the mentality of the people that asked them. He had no idea what Annie had already told the guy, except that they wanted to go to New York and were from Chatham County. Meanwhile, Keith had already inquired about a flight to Washington.

Keith glanced at Annie, and in his best midwestern accent, he said, "I told you we should have called up ahead for reservations."

She nodded in understanding and leaned toward the open window, addressing the security man. "Like I said, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing to go to New York. Like you see people do in the movies." She added, "We never flew before."

The security man advised them, "You can get a motel and stay over. There's a USAir flight to New York in the morning."

Keith replied, "The hell with it. We're going home." He opened the door, got in the Blazer, and drove off. He watched the security man still standing at the curb. Keith said, "He was a little too nosy."

"You've lived in Washington too long. He was trying to be helpful. He was very concerned when I spoke to him."

"I guess." Either way, the man would remember them and the car.

Annie asked, "What are we going to do now?"

"Get a motel."

"Can't we just drive to New York?"

"I don't think so." He glanced at her and said, "I spoke to Larry. There's an all-points bulletin out on us and this car."

She didn't say anything.

Keith left the airport and turned east on the airport highway road, toward Toledo.

She said, "Could we rent a car?"

"I thought we could before I heard about the all-points. We have to be careful where we go and what we do."

She nodded.

There was an Airport Sheraton up ahead, and Keith pulled up and parked out of sight of the lobby. "Wait here."

She tried to smile and said, "Just like old times."

"Sort of." He went into the lobby. Near the front desk, sitting on a shelf, he found the 800-number reservation telephone. He picked it up, got the reservation operator, and made a late-arrival reservation for the Sheraton at Cleveland Airport and confirmed it with his American Express card. He then went to a pay phone and called the 800 number for USAir. He reserved two seats on the eight-fifteen morning flight from Cleveland to New York and gave his card number. He wasn't used to escape-and-evasion in his own country, but he was reasonably sure his toll-free calls couldn't be traced back to the Toledo area. And even if they were, the police would be looking for him on the interstate to Cleveland, or more likely waiting for him at the Airport Sheraton in Cleveland. Red herrings were so stupidly simple they sometimes worked, and only two things were necessary for success — a police force efficient enough to pick up on the reservations, but gullible enough to think it was real. As for the latter, he assumed the police thought they were looking for John A. Citizen, not someone who'd once done this for a living.

He left the lobby, went to the Blazer, took his briefcase out of the rear, and got back behind the wheel. "Could you hold this?"

She took the briefcase, and Keith pulled out of the motel parking lot, continuing east on the highway.

Annie asked, "Aren't we staying there?"

"No." He explained what he'd done.