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Poppy finally appears. “He’s still on the vent. The nurse said he might be able to hear you, but don’t count on it.”
The hospital room is a tangle of tubes and equipment with indicator lights flashing in the dim light. Mac lies there like he’s sleeping. He’s aged. A lot. Michael supposes they all have.
He takes his old friend’s hand, careful not to pull out the tubes.
“You’re really embracing the suck on this one,” he says.
Mac’s favorite expression during their tours was “embrace the suck” for the countless hours they spent doing shitty tasks in that desert.
Mac shows no reaction.
“You’ve got quite the daughter there,” Michael says.
Again, no reaction. “I need your advice, soldier,” he says, trying to hold back his emotion. “I need to protect my daughter. But I want to make these bastards pay: They took out Ken.”
The machines in the room beep a little faster. Maybe his old friend can hear him. “I’ve got a few options, as I see it.”
Michael continues, sharing his decision points with his old friend.
It’s when he tells Mac the last item—the one Michael knows is the only hope of giving Sophia her life back—that he feels it.
The squeeze of his hand.
75
“We’ve got to get going. The meet is set for five thirty,” Poppy says to Michael when he returns to the hospital waiting room.
He has a faraway look in his eyes. Poppy doesn’t have any recollection of this man who meant so much to her father. She doesn’t remember Dad and Michael Lane hanging out. But Poppy’s father was most definitely there when Michael needed him: the night Alison was abducted and two men were killed and ended up at the bottom of Suncatcher Lake.
“Where’s the meet?” Michael asks.
“An Econo Lodge about five minutes from here.”
Michael shakes his head. “No way.”
“They don’t want you to come to a field office.” She doesn’t say why, but it’s obvious: O’Leary has someone on the inside.
Ryan and Alison are on their feet now, listening.
“I want somewhere public,” Michael says. “And I’m going on my own. I need to make sure all this is square before I put her on the line again.” He looks at his daughter, and nods like she’ll understand what he means.
“That’s not what I discussed with my contact and I—”
“I’m sorry. But tell them that’s the deal. We meet somewhere public or we disappear again. And tell them I’m not bluffing. We’ve disappeared before and can do it again.”
Poppy frowns. “I need to make a call.” Poppy pulls out her phone, hesitates. “Where do you want to do it?”
“Somewhere public. Crowded with people.”
Poppy frowns again. Leavenworth isn’t exactly a bustling metropolis. “Give me a minute.”
Poppy heads outside, calls Agent Fincher.
“Hey,” the agent says. “You have the packages?”
The packages? Poppy doesn’t like stupid Federal agent–speak. “Yeah, but there’s a change of plan.”
“What do you mean?”