Page 72 of Booked for Theft

“We’ll loiter around Manhattan if you’re going to be engaging with politicians.”

I recognized her tone: she would not take no for an answer. “You can nurse your son back to health, as we will be going to our new favorite Indian restaurant. I will be in no condition to nurse anyone back to health. I will be sobbing from the spice.”

“We’ll drive you to and from the venue, and we’ll have dinner somewhere nearby while you work magic on their wallets.”

Well, it beat trying to figure out where to park on a Friday night. “I’m accepting that offer, as it makes my life a lot easier.”

“It does.”

“Also, I’m going to need all Hamptons over here on Saturday morning, where you can meet our kittens while we discuss some of that nasty ceremony stuff nobody wants to deal with.”

“Do the kittens have names yet?”

I eyed my fiancé. “Have you named our new daughters yet?”

He shook his head.

“You can help name them if he hasn’t decided on something by Saturday.” I promised. “They are Ajani’s kittens, and they’re sleeping off a busy day of chasing the laser pointer. And you can even come up and meet them on Friday, as you’ll be providing free transportation.”

“Do you want that attorney to come with us?”

“Perhaps you should encourage the attorney and Jez to get into private trouble while you’re gone.”

While both were part of the cell and helped with our activities, after my kidnapping, Bradley’s mother had tried to keep her adopted daughter a safe distance from the nastier elements. For the most part, it worked well.

She and her attorney carried their weight on general investigations without getting their hands dirty—and neither were inclined to delve into the depths of felony, especially after Jez had developed an interest in working in software security.

“I’ll do that. They could use some time without us hovering. I’ll even remind them they have all the appropriate paperwork signed should their birth control be misplaced.” Bradley’s mother sighed. “I’m not sure where I’m going wrong with those two. They turn red when I mention birth control. I think his parents, worthless creatures that they are, have raised him to be skittish about enjoying the company of women. I don’t know why Jez is turning red. She got the talk the day she came home with us. She has him under contract. She can indulge with him all she wants.”

My eyes crossed. “Try to settle with a reminder every few weeks. They’ll figure themselves out at a pace good for them. But a quiet night where they’re not fretting about cell stuff might be good for them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. We’ll come over Friday afternoon, so warn that son of mine we’ll be around. Try to get some sleep. I’ll put together a list of why all the books were put on the banned book list, as I’m sure the background of their exclusion from society will fascinate you.”

“Perfect. Thanks. We’ll see you Friday.” Before his mother could drag out the conversation for hours, I hung up. “When your parents come over on Friday afternoon, brief them on what we need to do and start making a plan. They can scheme while we’re fending off politicians and acquiring more books for my collection. I feel like this is the first time we might actually be getting somewhere with this investigation.”

“It’s impossible to solve a mystery when you are missing most of the puzzle pieces. It just happens we were given a bag with most of the pieces. We just have to figure out what to do with them. But if the list we were given is true, we have a major problem on our hands. It’s one thing to battle the government. The military doing the government’s dirty work is an entirely different matter.”

I thought of my precious copy of Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October, and I shook my head. “The military has always done the government’s dirty work. But think about my new Clancy book, Bradley. What if the military doesn’t want to be doing the government’s dirty work? What if those who are involved in the killings want to be found, not by the government, but by us? The whole point of that book is how a rogue naval officer and some conspirators killed a government spy so they could defect to the United States.”

Bradley frowned, and he checked his notes, pulling out one of the scraps. “Well, that might explain this, in that case.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought it was just a red herring, but there was a scrap of paper that just says The Hunt for Red October on it. It was with the list of people in Schindler’s Ark. As you have the book already, I didn’t think it was all that important—well, I should have mentioned it, but it just didn’t seem as important as the list.”

I wondered what could be hiding within the book—and what Representative Forsythe attempted to tell me with the cryptic message. “Maybe it’ll make more sense after we read these books.”

“Maybe. But I wonder if he’s trying to hint that it really might be a good idea to get out while the getting is good.”

“Or that there are naval officers willing to betray their country among us.”

We both eyed the precious list that might help us get to the bottom of the assassinations.

After a few minutes, Bradley sighed. “Or just people in the military, period.”

I could believe that. “If the military is aware that the government is having those who are doing the hits killed, that probably isn’t sitting well with them. But the military is funded by the government and is controlled by the government. And if the government is murdering politicians for stepping out of line, the upper echelons of the military likely understand they could be next.”

Bradley lifted one of the pages listing the causes of death of all military personnel potentially involved with the killings. “Are next. There’s no ‘could be’ involved with it. If you divide the deaths by groups required to handle the killings, it certainly looks like there is a consistent pattern. The government is making the evidence disappear.”

“But who is killing the military personnel?”

My fiancé shrugged. “We’ll have to look into it. And honestly, I’ll be having my dad do a reading of these books, and I’ll try to do a reading, too. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Staring at the books and the pieces of paper failed to result in the whole problem resolving itself. “Maybe we should just accept that we have no idea what we’re doing, how we’re going to fix this, and that we’re in way over our heads.”

“While all those things are, at least in part, true, we’ll figure it out. We know a lot more than we did yesterday. And when you think about it, all this makes a sick sort of sense. If the government wants to hold and maintain its power, it needs to remove everyone that steps out of line and tries to change the plan. And if the politicians can’t make change happen with their efforts, then why not try to get a librarian elected? But we’re fighting hundreds of years of control and forced stagnation.”

“Do you think it can be done?”

For a long time, he stared at the books. “I truly don’t know, but for better or for worse, we’re going to find out.”